Obituaries
Carl T. Berkhout
August 28, 1944 - October 29, 2024
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VISITATION
December 4, 2024 | 3:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. - Yurs Funeral Home St. Charles
- Memorial Services
- December 5, 2024 | 10:30 A.M.
- St. John Neumann Catholic Church St. Charles
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Burial Location
Union Cemetery
Carl T. Berkhout, Professor Emeritus of English, passed away in Tucson on October 29, 2024. He was born in St. Charles, Illinois, August 28, 1944, to Carl and Palmyra Berkhout.
Carl was a scholar and teacher, with a specialty in Old English literature. Carl graduated from Marmion Military Academy in 1962. He received his B.A. in English from Benedictine College, Kansas, his M.A. from Marquette University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame, where he served as curator of the Medieval Institute Library. From 1979 to 1982 he taught at the University of Dallas. He was then employed at the University of Arizona English department until his retirement. For three years he was a visiting faculty member of the California Rare Book School at UCLA.
He was professionally active in the Medieval Academy of America, the Modern Language Association, and numerous other learned organizations. He published more than 50 articles and maintained a yearly bibliography for the Old English Newsletter. Students found Carl demanding but kind. He was also generous with his time, reviewing and improving the writing of colleagues.
Carl is survived by his sister Terry and brothers Keith (Mary), Andre, and Richard, several nieces and nephews, and by his dear friend and partner of twenty-six years, Carol Harrison. Besides his parents, Carl was preceded in death by his sisters-in-law Lorraine and Denise Berkhout, nephew Bryan and niece Barbara.
Visitation will be from 3:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M. Wednesday December 4th at Yurs Funeral Home St. Charles. Funeral Mass will be 10:30 A.M. Thursday, December 5th at St. John Neumann Catholic Church St. Charles.
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Condolences
James Stoeckl from Anthony, TX
"I am so sorry to learn of Carl's passing. We grew up together and had many good times in our neighborhood between twelfth and thirteenth streets. God bless."
Frederick Paul Kiefer from Tucson, AZ
"Carl was my closest academic friend for forty years. I shall miss him."
James R. Hall from Oxford, MS
"My future wife, Joan, and I met Carl at the University of Notre Dame in September 1969. We attended class together, dined together, and drank together at Sweeney's in downtown South Bend, Indiana. From the start Carl and I evaluated each other's papers and scholarship. I profited more than he. Carl was precocious in his understanding of academia. For perhaps the last twenty years I have called him on 28 August and wished him Happy Birthday in Old English. In 2024 I decided to shift to present-day English. Carl was shocked. "No," he said, "no. That's not how it's supposed to be." When I returned to Old English, he was pleased. But not nearly as pleased as I when his sister, Terry, told me Carl received the last rites from a bishop who happened to be visiting the hospital for other reasons. Wæs thū, mīn frēond, in freothe."
Phyllis from Cleveland, OH
"Dr. Berkhout was my professor of English at Marquette University for two years. His brilliance and kindness and discipline had a deep influence on my career as an educator. We crossed paths many years later, online, as I was teaching Beowulf. We communicated briefly and once again his brilliance touched and influenced my life. The academic world has lost a master. I am very sad knowing he is no longer with us."
Mary Blockley from Austin, TX
"I am so sorry and shocked to have this news. I met Carl in the Beinecke library at the MAA meeting in 1978 and he welcomed me to the wilds of Texas some years later, and to the BL Reading Room. He was one of the great Old Englishists, but even more than that he was a wise, lovely friend, with a dry wit, a talent for mentorship, and contagious passion for scholarship. I often think of our phone conversations."