Emil Abramovic's Essays

FOUNDING TEACHER Emil Abramovic's son Karl, in the bio he wrote for MLC's 50th Anniversary publication in 2018, described his dad's post-retirement years as follows:

"After meeting renowned wood sculptor Leroy Setziol on a summer ship voyage to Europe, Emil developed a passion for wood sculpting and retired from teaching in the early 1980s to pursue that interest full time. After fifteen years as a hard-working and successful artist, Emil began writing personal essays in favor of the physically demanding work of wood sculpting. He completed close to 350 essays over the following fifteen years. His writing themes included memoir stories, personal insights, political perspectives, and philosophy."

To be precise, Emil seems to have left 343 essays, written between 1998 and 2016, a year or so before his death at age 99. Karl or his sister Lisa would type them up and email them out to Emil's friends and associates, this practice and the essays' interest, their sincerity, quantity and diversity, over time lending the collection a feel of worthiness for posterity.

By his protegé Ken Dragoon's account, Emil was proud that he was "never bored." As his golf and swimming days grew fewer and his ankles gave out, Emil proved this by re-examining and exposing in his essays every corner of his long experience, never failing to find another topic, never growing repetitive or shallow.

Some essays were lost then found, but all are now safe and sound, and they may eventually be shown to the world. They may not be up for Pulitzers, but they offer an impressive glimpse into the active brain and spirit of the beloved man who helped bring us all together.

Here are eleven essays, a small representative sample selected for the relevance of their topics, furnished and approved for release by Lisa and Karl. Click each title to view the .pdf.

[Thumbnail photo: Emil in the classroom, early '70s—photo by Pete Lowry]