Robert A. Durr

Alaska author and artist Robert A. Durr died suddenly Feb. 10 of congestive heart failure at his home in Talkeetna. He was 83.

Durr was born Aug. 27, 1925, in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Grace and Alfred Durr. After serving stateside in the Army Air Corps during World War II, Durr married Carol Betty Lipps on Sept. 6, 1948, and began to pursue his education in English literature. Durr received a B.A. from Hofstra College, an M.A. from the University of Connecticut and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. As a graduate student, Durr was honored to have spent time with famed American author H. L. Mencken in that author’s last years. Afterward, Durr’s essay, “The Last Days of H. L. Mencken” was published in the Yale Review.

Durr began teaching at Syracuse University in 1957 where he eventually became a full professor of English and head of his department. In and around this time he published two book-length scholarly works, “On the Mystical Poetry of Henry Vaughn” and “Poetic Vision and the Psychedelic Experience.”

After spending a full year on sabbatical in the Wood River Lakes area of Alaska in 1963-64, Durr realized a lifelong dream when, in 1968, he and his family moved permanently to Alaska, settling initially on a remote shore of Lake Iliamna. Two years later the family relocated to open-to-entry land north of Talkeetna where Durr lived on the shores of Back Lake in a cabin in the woods until two and a half years ago when, due to health difficulties, he relocated to Talkeetna.

Durr worked as a commercial fisherman in Bristol Bay from 1964 through 1970. In the 1970s, Durr rediscovered an old love: visual arts, and went on to become well-known in Alaska’s art community in the 1980s, winning numerous awards for his artistic endeavors.

In the 1990s Durr returned to writing, publishing two non-fiction novels with St. Martin’s Press in New York: “Down in Bristol Bay: High Tides, Hangovers, and Harrowing Experiences on Alaska’s Last Frontier “(1999) and “The Coldman Cometh: A Family’s Adventure in the Alaska Bush” (2004).

His family says, “Our father was an adventurer in all areas of his life, from the decision to move his family to Alaska to his intellectual and artistic pursuits, and he lived life to the fullest. He loved nothing more than his life in his cabin at Back Lake, where he could hear the wind in the trees, the loons on the lake and the soft hiss of the fire in his woodstove. He also felt blessed to be part of the wonderful community of Talkeetna. We loved him, and he will be greatly missed.

“His daughters, Sarah and Elizabeth, would like to publicly acknowledge their older brothers, Steven and Jonathan Durr, for caring for their father in his years of poor health and allowing him to enjoy the life he loved for as long as was possible. The family as a whole would like to thank Sunshine Community Health Center, Access Alaska, Dr. Scully with the Alaska Heart Institute and the Talkeetna and Trapper Creek EMS.”

Durr was preceded in death by his former wife and lifelong friend, Carol L. Durr, and his sister, Juliet.

He is survived by his sons, Steven Durr and Jonathan Durr of Talkeetna and Robert Woods of Seattle, Wash.,; daughters Sarah Birdsall of Talkeetna and Elizabeth Kay of Grants Pass, Ore.; grandsons Christopher Birdsall of Juneau and Fairbanks and Zachary Kay of Grants Pass, Ore.; granddaughters Cara Durr of Anchorage, Jessica Durr of Daytona Beach, Fla., Jennifer Birdsall of Talkeetna and Ashland, Ore., and Annabelle Woods of Seattle. He is also survived by many friends both near and far.

Memorial services will be held Feb. 20 at 6 p.m., at Whole Wheat Radio in Talkeetna. Memorial donations may be sent to Sunshine Community Health Center, P.O. Box 787, Talkeetna, AK 99676.