Dr. V. Gordon Lell
Feb. 10, 1935 - April 25, 2009

I remember well the December day you unexpectedly came to my office. "I have a brain tumor," was all you managed to say. In the weeks that followed, doctors confirmed a stage IV malignant brain tumor – a prognosis that left you devastated. Since then, I visited you many times, and I saw the strength, courage, and even joy with which you faced each day.

Shortly after the diagnosis, a friend reminded you that each day has 24 gold coins and you must decide how to spend them. When I asked you what a gold coin day is like, without hesitation you answered, "Visits from friends like you and hearing from former students." You seemed surprised by the cards and letters flooding your mailbox, each one expressing well-wishes and gratitude for your influence, even though decades have passed for some students. But I'm not surprised, Gordon, because you were one of those special teachers who forever becomes a part of their students' lives. You taught us to connect the course content to our lives and to weave it into the fabric of the world around us.

Your masterful teaching and passion brought Shakespeare to life for generations of Cobbers. Former students still recall hands-on projects – musical productions, original sonnets, Elizabethan feasts, period costumes, and models of the Globe Theater. Some of them even recommended your Shakespeare class to their children. Now a professor at Emory University School of Medicine, Jeffrey J. Olson '77 of Stone Mountain, Ga., explains: "From where I currently sit in my office, I can see my copy of 'The Complete Pelican Shakespeare' – clearly the most worn binding in my library. That is a credit to Dr. Lell and the lasting value his teachings have had for me. My daughters began to hear readings from that book early in childhood and, ultimately, one of them also became
his student."

You helped us become lifelong learners in the world classroom. To date, no one has led more study abroad opportunities – almost 30 – for Concordia students. Hundreds of students have seen Europe through your eyes. Kevin Urdahl '87, now a Seattle pediatrician, writes: "My mom taught me to say 'thank you,' but you were the person who taught me to say, 'grazie.'" Your influence, however, continued long after students graduated. "I never missed a Shakespeare production at the Guthrie," Urdahl writes. "Those plays gave me the opportunity to think with a different part of my brain, to laugh, and to just enjoy."   

It isn't surprising many of the letters you received begin, "You probably don't remember me ...," because you taught Shakespeare to more than 4,600 students since 1970. Still, your students never forgot you, Gordon.

You taught us about vocation, about finding that inner place from which we, too, could make a difference in the world. Leah Juhl '08 of Kalamazoo, Mich., writes: "I'm not writing to remind you who I was, but to tell who I've become because of you.  Even though I was only a face in your class a couple times a week, and I was the kind of student who probably deserved lower than the B- I received, you let me know I was a worthwhile person. I want you to know that this year, I am a first-year teacher, teaching Spanish in a high school. And I have done my best to reach out to my students who are falling through the cracks, the way you reached out to me."

The very example of your life influenced students as much as your passion for the topics you taught. Mary Cameron '04 of Chicago had you for a British literature course that met on Sept. 11, 2001. "Yours was the only class I had the day the Towers fell. I remember being very upset with you for holding class that day – I wanted to be glued to the TV, watching the latest developments. I don't know when I actually realized it, but you taught me a very important lesson that day. In the face of adversity, when life is literally crumbling around you, or so it seems, life must go on," she writes.

Gordon, when you told me about your brain tumor, four class sessions remained in the fall semester. At the suggestion that another teacher could finish for you, you answered, "No – I'm going to be with those students until the end." Once again, you modeled triumph in the face
of adversity.

Thank you for teaching me about Shakespeare many years ago, and for teaching me about living with dignity, grace, and joy, and for reminding me that gold coin days are about the people in our lives. You inspired me to be a teacher who provides opportunities for my students to weave their own connections in the world.

From the final lines of "Sonnet 30," one of your favorites, "But if the while (we) think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restored and sorrows end." 

Joan

Dr. Joan (Whitchurch) Kopperud '75 of Moorhead is chair of the English department. She shared this letter with Dr. Lell during his final days. / Photos: Carl B. Ylvisaker Library Archives