Brainerd pays tribute to Jon Hassler

From the Star Tribune:

Brainerd college will rename its library to honor writer Jon Hassler

Last update: September 10, 2008 - 10:38 PM

The campus library at Central Lakes College in Brainerd will be renamed this month in honor of novelist Jon Hassler, who taught there for many years.

Hassler, who died earlier this year of a Parkinson's-like illness, was an English and humanities instructor at the college from 1968 until 1980. In those years it was called Brainerd Community College.

Hassler began writing novels while in Brainerd and later became writer-in-residence and regent's professor at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn. He wrote more than 20 books, most set in small-town Minnesota, and is probably best known for "Staggerford" and "The Love Hunter."

The dedication ceremony for the Jon Hassler Library will be at 2 p.m. Sept. 28, in the Chalberg Theatre on the college campus.

LAURIE HERTZEL