When Willard McGuire led the National Education Association, he was a key player in elevating the federal government's role in education to a Cabinet-level post.
McGuire, a retired Maplewood Middle School teacher who was president of the teachers' union from 1979 to 1983, died on Feb. 1 at his Shoreview home of complications from diabetes and Parkinson's disease. He was 79.
The third-generation educator moved to Washington, D.C., in 1974 when he was elected vice president of the national union.
Working his way to the top of the union, he was motivated by "frustration over things I felt weren't positive for education," he said in a 1981 Minneapolis Star article. "I saw the association as a viable means for change."
After graduating from Macalester College in St. Paul, where he was a classmate and friend of former Vice President Walter Mondale, he taught for two years in Clarkfield, Minn.
After a couple of years, he began teaching in the North St. Paul-Maple-wood School District, where he became president of the local education association.
He rose through the ranks of what is now Education Minnesota and was elected president of the national union in 1979 and reelected in 1981.
Jeanne Thomas, a retired Richfield teacher and a former National Education Association board member, said McGuire was instrumental in elevating education to a cabinet-level post in the White House.
Bringing people together
"Willard was the type of person who brought people together," Thomas said. "He could take a contentious issue, listen to all sides, and then bring people together."
Thomas said he directed the union through difficult times, when teachers were taking over leadership of the Education Association from school administrators. Civil rights was also on the union's agenda.
Thomas said McGuire was a strong supporter of women and minorities, supporting their rise to leadership roles in the union.
"He used to call us his NEA family," Thomas said. "We'd go to conventions, and people would line up for a hug" from him.
When he returned to Maplewood Middle School, McGuire got high marks in the classroom from Larry Intveld, a former Maplewood teacher and local union leader.
"He was a very compassionate person, and he had very good rapport with students, and good discipline," Intveld said.
In the type of classroom environment McGuire created, "you have the opportunity to teach," Intveld said.
McGuire, a 1946 graduate of Long Prairie High School, served in the Army National Guard in the early 1950s. He earned his master's degree in education from Macalester. In 1983, the college awarded him an honorary doctorate.
He retired in 1985, and continued to serve as a substitute teacher for years. With his wife, Helen, of Shoreview, he ran an antiques business.
"He was so humble," said his daughter Lynn McGuire-Stupke of Circle Pines, an Anoka High School teacher.
In addition to his wife of 57 years, and Lynn, he is survived by another daughter, Laurie Shoop of Mounds View; a son, Bruce of Oakdale; seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Services will be held at noon on Saturday at North Presbyterian Church, 2675 E. Hwy. 36, North St. Paul.
Visitation will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. today at Holcomb-Henry-Boom, 515 Hwy. 96 at Mackubin St., Shoreview, and at 11 a.m. Saturday at the church.
