- Date Of Birth: September 13, 1952
- Date Of Death: April 8, 2021
- State: Michigan
Daneen Wardrop graduated from life on April 8th, 2021. A diagnosis of multicentric glioblastoma brain cancer on February 14th, 2021 underestimated Daneen’s powers of strength, good humor, and love as she spent the remainder of her earth life in the laughing place with friends and family at home.
Daneen was born in Mt. Pleasant, MI on September 13th, 1952 to Dan and Noreen Wardrop and grew up around the world as an Army brat. Travel imbedded a love of rhythm in both music and words that would carry Daneen through her Bachelors, dual Masters, and Doctorate degrees. Her lead singer and guitarist role in rock, folk, and bluegrass bands throughout her college years transformed into a tenured English professorship at Western Michigan University from 1990-2020.
At WMU, Daneen sculpted depth into the lives of graduate and undergraduate students. During her career, she earned many awards, including the Distinguished Faculty award and the National Endowment For The Arts Fellowship in Poetry. She was a nationally renowned Emily Dickinson scholar. Her tenth published book, “Trio” is to be released August 24th.
In 1997 Daneen adopted her daughter Lian from China. Together, plus their cats, they built a home that overflowed with love and laughter. Friends and family remember Daneen’s book club for Lian and friends, her Sunday readings with grand-nieces, her reverberating whistle in Sprau Tower’s stairs, her singing at a poetry reading, stimulating conversations over coffee…. She was an incredible model of intellectual power, of gracious collegiality, generosity, and empathy. She inspired her colleagues, students, and friends—from WMU to poetry and climate advocacy communities to her life at home.
Daneen is survived by her twenty-four year old daughter Lian, cats Daisy Boo and Finneus Cricket.
