George Wilbon Bahlke, 76, admired teacher, died February 1, 2011, at Bassett
Medical Center in Cooperstown after a brief illness.

Born in Chicago, IL on June 20, 1934, he was the son of the late Agnes Wilbon
and William Herbert Bahlke.

He was Professor of English Emeritus at Hamilton College. Bahlke moved to
Clinton in 1969 and taught at Kirkland College until it merged with Hamilton in
1978. He was described by Hamilton College President Joan Hinde Stewart as “a
beloved professor on College Hill for more than three decades.” He was the
inaugural recipient, in 1992, of Hamilton's Teaching Award, established by the
Class of 1962, for extraordinary teaching.

He previously taught at Middlebury College, Rutgers University, and Mary
Washington College of the University of Virginia. He also held professorships at
Aberdeen University (Scotland) and Bard's Early College in New York City, and
had recently taught adult learners at the Mohawk Valley Institute for Learning
in Retirement (MVILR) at SUNY-IT.

He attended grade school in Chicago, where he began his lifelong passion for the
pursuit of knowledge. He spent his summers in the Indiana Dunes. He received
undergraduate degrees from both the University of Chicago and from Swarthmore
College, where he met his first wife, Valerie Worth (dec. 1994). He continued
his graduate studies at the University of Chicago, and received his Ph.D. from
Yale University.

He was the author of The Later Auden: From "New Year Letter" to About the House
(Rutgers University Press) and editor of Critical Essays on W. H. Auden (G. K.
Hall). He was an active member of the Modern Language Association, the Virginia
Woolf Society, and the D.H. Lawrence Society of North America. Among his
favorite authors were Woolf, Lawrence, W.H. Auden, E.M. Forster, T.S. Eliot, and
James Joyce.

In addition to his literary interests, Bahlke was a lover of opera and classical
music, art, movies and fine food. He continued to study foreign languages until
the end of his life, and was conversant in German, Italian and Russian, as well
as a student of Latin.

Mr. Bahlke is survived by his wife, Felicity Colby of Clinton; two daughters and
two sons-in-law, Catherine and Robert Hornstein, Cambridge, MA, and Margaret and
Daniel Diskin, West Chester, PA; a son and daughter-in-law, Conrad Bahlke and
Roxane Orgill, Riverdale, NY; and six grandchildren: Victoria and Rebecca
Hornstein, Emily and Teddy Diskin, and Charlotte and Nolan Bahlke. A sister,
Charlotte Escoube, and a brother, William Herbert Bahlke Jr., died before him.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 2 at St. James
Episcopal Church, Clinton, NY, to be followed by a reception in the parish hall.
Memorial donations may be considered for the George Bahlke Faculty Travel Prize
of Hamilton College, which was established by his wife, family and friends on
the occasion of his retirement. Arrangements are entrusted to the Heintz Funeral
Home, 10 East Park Row, Clinton.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

[Hamilton College]President Joan Hinde Stewart announced the passing of
Professor of English Emeritus George Bahlke in an e-mail to the campus community
on Feb. 1 [2001]:

"Professor of English Emeritus George Bahlke died on Feb. 1 of complications
from pneumonia. He was 76 and, although retired, was a frequent presence on
campus.

"Bahlke joined the Kirkland College faculty in 1969 and was a beloved professor
on College Hill for more than three decades. He retired in 2002 but continued to
teach, most recently in the fall of 2006. Bahlke’s field was 20th- century
British and Irish literature, in particular the writings of Virginia Woolf, D.H.
Lawrence and E.M. Forster. He held bachelor’s degrees from the University of
Chicago and Swarthmore College, a master’s degree from Chicago and a Ph.D. from
Yale. The George Bahlke Faculty Travel Prize was established in George’s honor
by his wife, family and friends when he retired.

“George was warm and caring. He created an engaging and intellectually
challenging environment in his classroom. In 1992, in recognition of the esteem
in which he was held by his students, he was named the inaugural recipient of
the Class of 1962 Teaching Award. George’s response, upon learning of the honor,
revealed a lot about him as a teacher, a person and a member of our
community: ‘In accepting this award,’ he wrote, ‘I know I am also accepting it
on behalf of the alumnae and alumni of Kirkland and Hamilton College, the
administrators of the college, the staff and faculty, and the students[,]
because we are all involved in a common effort to seek what truths can be
rationally known as a part of helping others and ourselves to a more profound
awareness of our common humanity.’”

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, those wishing may donate to the George
Bahlke Travel Fund. Every member of the English department faculty honored
their late colleague with a contribution to this fund, established by Bahlke’s
wife Felicity Colby and his family and friends, upon the occasion of his
retirement from Hamilton. The fund provides support for “... faculty travel for
scholarly purposes, as it relates to the study and teaching of the Humanities at
Hamilton College.”

According to English department chair Onno Oerlemans, “We all thought it would
be nice to do something to honor George, and the idea of contributing to the
travel fund in his name seemed like a great idea.”

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 2, at 3 p.m. in St. James
Episcopal Church in Clinton, followed by a reception in the parish hall.

Postscript: On Thursday, May 26, Felicity Colby, George's wife, died peacefully
after a long illness. She was the daughter of Professor of German Thomas E.
Colby '42.