Erick Peter “Rick” Trethewey, Ph.D.
Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1943, Eric "Rick" Peter Trethewey hitchhiked, at seventeen, to Kentucky State College after being awarded a full scholarship for track & field.Rick was a great sampler of life, and his unofficial resume includes his work as lead singer of a band, songwriter and guitarist, reporter, longshoreman, and Louisiana Golden Gloves boxer--a light heavy-weight who threw a mighty punch. A veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy, Rick's sense of mirth existed tenuously, a slight notch above his profound sense of the necessity for righting wrongs. All of his life experiences richly influenced his well-respected poems, essays, and stories. Along with his winsome smile, his adventures and his telling of them made him a much-admired and revered Professor of English at Hollins University for nearly three decades. Rick earned his B.A. from Kentucky State College, his M.A. from the University of New Orleans, and his Ph.D. from Tulane University. He joined the Hollins faculty in 1985 and enjoyed a distinguished career as an author and an educator. His five acclaimed collections of poems include Dreaming of Rivers, Evening Knowledge (winner of the 1990 Virginia Prize in Poetry), The Long Road Home, Songs and Lamentations, and Heart's Hornbook. His poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. The Home Waltz, a screenplay, won the Virginia Governor's Screenplay Competition in 1988. Rick also gave back to the community at large through the annual Writers' Harvest Reading, in which Hollins faculty writers read from their work to raise money for the hungry, as well as by teaching poetry to inmates at the Roanoke City jail. Above all, Eric Peter Trethewey loved and is survived by his children, Natasha Trethewey--Pulitzer Prize winner and 19th Poet Laureate of the United States; and her 8-year-old brother, Silas Trethewey, a future Cleveland Indians baseball player. He is also survived by his siblings, Sherry Caldwell, Joy Trethewey, Cathy Richards, and Stephen Trethewey; and the mother of his son, long-time former partner and close friend Kelley Shinn.A Memorial Service will be held at 4 p.m.on Saturday, September 13th, in the Green Drawing Room, Main Hall, at Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia.
---Poet Eric Peter Trethewey was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1943. He had three sisters and one brother: Sherry Caldwell, Joy Trethewey, Cathy Richards, and Stephen Trethewey. At the age of seventeen, he was awarded a full scholarship for track and field by Kentucky State College (now University) where he received his B.A. He earned his M.A. from the University of New Orleans and his Ph.D. from Tulane University.
He held many jobs before becoming a poet and professor including the lead singer of a band, songwriter and guitarist, reporter, longshoreman, and light heavy-weight Louisiana Golden Gloves Songs and Lamentations by Eric Tretheweyboxer. He was also a veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy.
While in college at Kentucky State, Trethewey met social worker Gwendolyn Turnbough, who was also a student at Kentucky. At that time (1960’s), because he was white and she was black, it was illegal for them to marry. They went to Cincinnati to marry and returned to the South, eventually moving to Mississippi, where interracial marriage was also illegal, a fact referred to in their daughter Natasha’s poetry.
They are the parents of the Pulitzer Prize winning poet and 19th Poet Laureate of the United States Natasha Trethewey, who was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, on April 26, 1966. Eric Trethewey (known as Rick to his friends) and his wife Gwendolyn divorced when Natasha was six. His ex-wife moved to Atlanta, and he moved to New Orleans.
In 1984, he became Professor of English at Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia, where he taught for almost thirty years. He wrote six collections of poetry. One of his collections, Evening Knowledge, was awarded Virginia Prize in Poetry in 1990.
His poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, including The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, The Hudson Review, Poetry, Parnassus: Poetry in Review, The New Republic, The Southern Review and Canadian Literature.
The Home Waltz, a screenplay, won the Virginia Governor’s Screenplay Competition in 1988.
In 1985, when his daughter Natasha was a freshman at the University of Georgia, his ex-wife Gwendolyn (and Natasha’s mother) was shot and killed by her second ex-husband'
This tragedy affected the poetry of both daughter and ex-husband, Eric Trethewey, who had remained friends with his ex-wife Turnbough and wrote moving poems about her. Natasha turned to writing poetry to assuage her grief. As Natasha’s career grew, Natasha, now an English professor at Emory University, and her father gave readings together. Their poetry as a whole is often historical and autobiographical.
Trethewey was a participator in the annual Writers’ Harvest Reading in which Hollins College faculty writers read from their work to raise money for the hungry. He also taught poetry to inmates at the Roanoke City jail.
When he died in 2014 at the age of 71, Trethewey was residing in Catawba, Virginia. He had a son, Silas, with Kelley Shinn, a resident of Ocracoke, North Carolina.
---
Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Eric “Rick” Peter Trethewey hitchhiked, at 17, to Kentucky State College after being awarded a full scholarship for track and field. Trethewey was a great sampler of life, and his unofficial résumé includes his work as lead singer of a band, songwriter and guitarist, reporter, longshoreman, and Louisiana Golden Gloves boxer—a light heavy-weight who threw a mighty punch. A veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy, Trethewey had a sense of mirth that existed tenuously, a slight notch above his profound sense of the necessity for righting wrongs. All of his life experiences richly influenced his well-respected poems, essays, and stories.
Trethewey earned a B.A. from Kentucky State College, an M.A. from the University of New Orleans, and a Ph.D. from Tulane University. He joined the Hollins faculty in 1985 and enjoyed a distinguished career as an author and an educator. His five acclaimed collections of poems include Dreaming of Rivers, Evening Knowledge (winner of the 1990 Virginia Prize in Poetry), The Long Road Home, Songs & Lamentations, and Heart’s Hornbook. His poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. The Home Waltz, a screenplay, won the Virginia Governor’s Screenplay Competition in 1988.
—From the memorial service program, September 13, 2014
Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1943, Eric "Rick" Peter Trethewey hitchhiked, at seventeen, to Kentucky State College after being awarded a full scholarship for track & field.Rick was a great sampler of life, and his unofficial resume includes his work as lead singer of a band, songwriter and guitarist, reporter, longshoreman, and Louisiana Golden Gloves boxer--a light heavy-weight who threw a mighty punch. A veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy, Rick's sense of mirth existed tenuously, a slight notch above his profound sense of the necessity for righting wrongs. All of his life experiences richly influenced his well-respected poems, essays, and stories. Along with his winsome smile, his adventures and his telling of them made him a much-admired and revered Professor of English at Hollins University for nearly three decades. Rick earned his B.A. from Kentucky State College, his M.A. from the University of New Orleans, and his Ph.D. from Tulane University. He joined the Hollins faculty in 1985 and enjoyed a distinguished career as an author and an educator. His five acclaimed collections of poems include Dreaming of Rivers, Evening Knowledge (winner of the 1990 Virginia Prize in Poetry), The Long Road Home, Songs and Lamentations, and Heart's Hornbook. His poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. The Home Waltz, a screenplay, won the Virginia Governor's Screenplay Competition in 1988. Rick also gave back to the community at large through the annual Writers' Harvest Reading, in which Hollins faculty writers read from their work to raise money for the hungry, as well as by teaching poetry to inmates at the Roanoke City jail. Above all, Eric Peter Trethewey loved and is survived by his children, Natasha Trethewey--Pulitzer Prize winner and 19th Poet Laureate of the United States; and her 8-year-old brother, Silas Trethewey, a future Cleveland Indians baseball player. He is also survived by his siblings, Sherry Caldwell, Joy Trethewey, Cathy Richards, and Stephen Trethewey; and the mother of his son, long-time former partner and close friend Kelley Shinn.A Memorial Service will be held at 4 p.m.on Saturday, September 13th, in the Green Drawing Room, Main Hall, at Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia.
---Poet Eric Peter Trethewey was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1943. He had three sisters and one brother: Sherry Caldwell, Joy Trethewey, Cathy Richards, and Stephen Trethewey. At the age of seventeen, he was awarded a full scholarship for track and field by Kentucky State College (now University) where he received his B.A. He earned his M.A. from the University of New Orleans and his Ph.D. from Tulane University.
He held many jobs before becoming a poet and professor including the lead singer of a band, songwriter and guitarist, reporter, longshoreman, and light heavy-weight Louisiana Golden Gloves Songs and Lamentations by Eric Tretheweyboxer. He was also a veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy.
While in college at Kentucky State, Trethewey met social worker Gwendolyn Turnbough, who was also a student at Kentucky. At that time (1960’s), because he was white and she was black, it was illegal for them to marry. They went to Cincinnati to marry and returned to the South, eventually moving to Mississippi, where interracial marriage was also illegal, a fact referred to in their daughter Natasha’s poetry.
They are the parents of the Pulitzer Prize winning poet and 19th Poet Laureate of the United States Natasha Trethewey, who was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, on April 26, 1966. Eric Trethewey (known as Rick to his friends) and his wife Gwendolyn divorced when Natasha was six. His ex-wife moved to Atlanta, and he moved to New Orleans.
In 1984, he became Professor of English at Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia, where he taught for almost thirty years. He wrote six collections of poetry. One of his collections, Evening Knowledge, was awarded Virginia Prize in Poetry in 1990.
His poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, including The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, The Hudson Review, Poetry, Parnassus: Poetry in Review, The New Republic, The Southern Review and Canadian Literature.
The Home Waltz, a screenplay, won the Virginia Governor’s Screenplay Competition in 1988.
In 1985, when his daughter Natasha was a freshman at the University of Georgia, his ex-wife Gwendolyn (and Natasha’s mother) was shot and killed by her second ex-husband'
This tragedy affected the poetry of both daughter and ex-husband, Eric Trethewey, who had remained friends with his ex-wife Turnbough and wrote moving poems about her. Natasha turned to writing poetry to assuage her grief. As Natasha’s career grew, Natasha, now an English professor at Emory University, and her father gave readings together. Their poetry as a whole is often historical and autobiographical.
Trethewey was a participator in the annual Writers’ Harvest Reading in which Hollins College faculty writers read from their work to raise money for the hungry. He also taught poetry to inmates at the Roanoke City jail.
When he died in 2014 at the age of 71, Trethewey was residing in Catawba, Virginia. He had a son, Silas, with Kelley Shinn, a resident of Ocracoke, North Carolina.
---
Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Eric “Rick” Peter Trethewey hitchhiked, at 17, to Kentucky State College after being awarded a full scholarship for track and field. Trethewey was a great sampler of life, and his unofficial résumé includes his work as lead singer of a band, songwriter and guitarist, reporter, longshoreman, and Louisiana Golden Gloves boxer—a light heavy-weight who threw a mighty punch. A veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy, Trethewey had a sense of mirth that existed tenuously, a slight notch above his profound sense of the necessity for righting wrongs. All of his life experiences richly influenced his well-respected poems, essays, and stories.
Trethewey earned a B.A. from Kentucky State College, an M.A. from the University of New Orleans, and a Ph.D. from Tulane University. He joined the Hollins faculty in 1985 and enjoyed a distinguished career as an author and an educator. His five acclaimed collections of poems include Dreaming of Rivers, Evening Knowledge (winner of the 1990 Virginia Prize in Poetry), The Long Road Home, Songs & Lamentations, and Heart’s Hornbook. His poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. The Home Waltz, a screenplay, won the Virginia Governor’s Screenplay Competition in 1988.
—From the memorial service program, September 13, 2014
Erick Peter “Rick” Trethewey, Ph.D.
Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1943, Eric "Rick" Peter Trethewey hitchhiked, at seventeen, to Kentucky State College after being awarded a full scholarship for track & field.Rick was a great sampler of life, and his unofficial resume includes his work as lead singer of a band, songwriter and guitarist, reporter, longshoreman, and Louisiana Golden Gloves boxer--a light heavy-weight who threw a mighty punch. A veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy, Rick's sense of mirth existed tenuously, a slight notch above his profound sense of the necessity for righting wrongs. All of his life experiences richly influenced his well-respected poems, essays, and stories. Along with his winsome smile, his adventures and his telling of them made him a much-admired and revered Professor of English at Hollins University for nearly three decades. Rick earned his B.A. from Kentucky State College, his M.A. from the University of New Orleans, and his Ph.D. from Tulane University. He joined the Hollins faculty in 1985 and enjoyed a distinguished career as an author and an educator. His five acclaimed collections of poems include Dreaming of Rivers, Evening Knowledge (winner of the 1990 Virginia Prize in Poetry), The Long Road Home, Songs and Lamentations, and Heart's Hornbook. His poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. The Home Waltz, a screenplay, won the Virginia Governor's Screenplay Competition in 1988. Rick also gave back to the community at large through the annual Writers' Harvest Reading, in which Hollins faculty writers read from their work to raise money for the hungry, as well as by teaching poetry to inmates at the Roanoke City jail. Above all, Eric Peter Trethewey loved and is survived by his children, Natasha Trethewey--Pulitzer Prize winner and 19th Poet Laureate of the United States; and her 8-year-old brother, Silas Trethewey, a future Cleveland Indians baseball player. He is also survived by his siblings, Sherry Caldwell, Joy Trethewey, Cathy Richards, and Stephen Trethewey; and the mother of his son, long-time former partner and close friend Kelley Shinn.A Memorial Service will be held at 4 p.m.on Saturday, September 13th, in the Green Drawing Room, Main Hall, at Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia.
---Poet Eric Peter Trethewey was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1943. He had three sisters and one brother: Sherry Caldwell, Joy Trethewey, Cathy Richards, and Stephen Trethewey. At the age of seventeen, he was awarded a full scholarship for track and field by Kentucky State College (now University) where he received his B.A. He earned his M.A. from the University of New Orleans and his Ph.D. from Tulane University.
He held many jobs before becoming a poet and professor including the lead singer of a band, songwriter and guitarist, reporter, longshoreman, and light heavy-weight Louisiana Golden Gloves Songs and Lamentations by Eric Tretheweyboxer. He was also a veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy.
While in college at Kentucky State, Trethewey met social worker Gwendolyn Turnbough, who was also a student at Kentucky. At that time (1960’s), because he was white and she was black, it was illegal for them to marry. They went to Cincinnati to marry and returned to the South, eventually moving to Mississippi, where interracial marriage was also illegal, a fact referred to in their daughter Natasha’s poetry.
They are the parents of the Pulitzer Prize winning poet and 19th Poet Laureate of the United States Natasha Trethewey, who was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, on April 26, 1966. Eric Trethewey (known as Rick to his friends) and his wife Gwendolyn divorced when Natasha was six. His ex-wife moved to Atlanta, and he moved to New Orleans.
In 1984, he became Professor of English at Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia, where he taught for almost thirty years. He wrote six collections of poetry. One of his collections, Evening Knowledge, was awarded Virginia Prize in Poetry in 1990.
His poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, including The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, The Hudson Review, Poetry, Parnassus: Poetry in Review, The New Republic, The Southern Review and Canadian Literature.
The Home Waltz, a screenplay, won the Virginia Governor’s Screenplay Competition in 1988.
In 1985, when his daughter Natasha was a freshman at the University of Georgia, his ex-wife Gwendolyn (and Natasha’s mother) was shot and killed by her second ex-husband'
This tragedy affected the poetry of both daughter and ex-husband, Eric Trethewey, who had remained friends with his ex-wife Turnbough and wrote moving poems about her. Natasha turned to writing poetry to assuage her grief. As Natasha’s career grew, Natasha, now an English professor at Emory University, and her father gave readings together. Their poetry as a whole is often historical and autobiographical.
Trethewey was a participator in the annual Writers’ Harvest Reading in which Hollins College faculty writers read from their work to raise money for the hungry. He also taught poetry to inmates at the Roanoke City jail.
When he died in 2014 at the age of 71, Trethewey was residing in Catawba, Virginia. He had a son, Silas, with Kelley Shinn, a resident of Ocracoke, North Carolina.
---
Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Eric “Rick” Peter Trethewey hitchhiked, at 17, to Kentucky State College after being awarded a full scholarship for track and field. Trethewey was a great sampler of life, and his unofficial résumé includes his work as lead singer of a band, songwriter and guitarist, reporter, longshoreman, and Louisiana Golden Gloves boxer—a light heavy-weight who threw a mighty punch. A veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy, Trethewey had a sense of mirth that existed tenuously, a slight notch above his profound sense of the necessity for righting wrongs. All of his life experiences richly influenced his well-respected poems, essays, and stories.
Trethewey earned a B.A. from Kentucky State College, an M.A. from the University of New Orleans, and a Ph.D. from Tulane University. He joined the Hollins faculty in 1985 and enjoyed a distinguished career as an author and an educator. His five acclaimed collections of poems include Dreaming of Rivers, Evening Knowledge (winner of the 1990 Virginia Prize in Poetry), The Long Road Home, Songs & Lamentations, and Heart’s Hornbook. His poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. The Home Waltz, a screenplay, won the Virginia Governor’s Screenplay Competition in 1988.
—From the memorial service program, September 13, 2014
Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1943, Eric "Rick" Peter Trethewey hitchhiked, at seventeen, to Kentucky State College after being awarded a full scholarship for track & field.Rick was a great sampler of life, and his unofficial resume includes his work as lead singer of a band, songwriter and guitarist, reporter, longshoreman, and Louisiana Golden Gloves boxer--a light heavy-weight who threw a mighty punch. A veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy, Rick's sense of mirth existed tenuously, a slight notch above his profound sense of the necessity for righting wrongs. All of his life experiences richly influenced his well-respected poems, essays, and stories. Along with his winsome smile, his adventures and his telling of them made him a much-admired and revered Professor of English at Hollins University for nearly three decades. Rick earned his B.A. from Kentucky State College, his M.A. from the University of New Orleans, and his Ph.D. from Tulane University. He joined the Hollins faculty in 1985 and enjoyed a distinguished career as an author and an educator. His five acclaimed collections of poems include Dreaming of Rivers, Evening Knowledge (winner of the 1990 Virginia Prize in Poetry), The Long Road Home, Songs and Lamentations, and Heart's Hornbook. His poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. The Home Waltz, a screenplay, won the Virginia Governor's Screenplay Competition in 1988. Rick also gave back to the community at large through the annual Writers' Harvest Reading, in which Hollins faculty writers read from their work to raise money for the hungry, as well as by teaching poetry to inmates at the Roanoke City jail. Above all, Eric Peter Trethewey loved and is survived by his children, Natasha Trethewey--Pulitzer Prize winner and 19th Poet Laureate of the United States; and her 8-year-old brother, Silas Trethewey, a future Cleveland Indians baseball player. He is also survived by his siblings, Sherry Caldwell, Joy Trethewey, Cathy Richards, and Stephen Trethewey; and the mother of his son, long-time former partner and close friend Kelley Shinn.A Memorial Service will be held at 4 p.m.on Saturday, September 13th, in the Green Drawing Room, Main Hall, at Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia.
---Poet Eric Peter Trethewey was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1943. He had three sisters and one brother: Sherry Caldwell, Joy Trethewey, Cathy Richards, and Stephen Trethewey. At the age of seventeen, he was awarded a full scholarship for track and field by Kentucky State College (now University) where he received his B.A. He earned his M.A. from the University of New Orleans and his Ph.D. from Tulane University.
He held many jobs before becoming a poet and professor including the lead singer of a band, songwriter and guitarist, reporter, longshoreman, and light heavy-weight Louisiana Golden Gloves Songs and Lamentations by Eric Tretheweyboxer. He was also a veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy.
While in college at Kentucky State, Trethewey met social worker Gwendolyn Turnbough, who was also a student at Kentucky. At that time (1960’s), because he was white and she was black, it was illegal for them to marry. They went to Cincinnati to marry and returned to the South, eventually moving to Mississippi, where interracial marriage was also illegal, a fact referred to in their daughter Natasha’s poetry.
They are the parents of the Pulitzer Prize winning poet and 19th Poet Laureate of the United States Natasha Trethewey, who was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, on April 26, 1966. Eric Trethewey (known as Rick to his friends) and his wife Gwendolyn divorced when Natasha was six. His ex-wife moved to Atlanta, and he moved to New Orleans.
In 1984, he became Professor of English at Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia, where he taught for almost thirty years. He wrote six collections of poetry. One of his collections, Evening Knowledge, was awarded Virginia Prize in Poetry in 1990.
His poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain, including The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, The Hudson Review, Poetry, Parnassus: Poetry in Review, The New Republic, The Southern Review and Canadian Literature.
The Home Waltz, a screenplay, won the Virginia Governor’s Screenplay Competition in 1988.
In 1985, when his daughter Natasha was a freshman at the University of Georgia, his ex-wife Gwendolyn (and Natasha’s mother) was shot and killed by her second ex-husband'
This tragedy affected the poetry of both daughter and ex-husband, Eric Trethewey, who had remained friends with his ex-wife Turnbough and wrote moving poems about her. Natasha turned to writing poetry to assuage her grief. As Natasha’s career grew, Natasha, now an English professor at Emory University, and her father gave readings together. Their poetry as a whole is often historical and autobiographical.
Trethewey was a participator in the annual Writers’ Harvest Reading in which Hollins College faculty writers read from their work to raise money for the hungry. He also taught poetry to inmates at the Roanoke City jail.
When he died in 2014 at the age of 71, Trethewey was residing in Catawba, Virginia. He had a son, Silas, with Kelley Shinn, a resident of Ocracoke, North Carolina.
---
Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Eric “Rick” Peter Trethewey hitchhiked, at 17, to Kentucky State College after being awarded a full scholarship for track and field. Trethewey was a great sampler of life, and his unofficial résumé includes his work as lead singer of a band, songwriter and guitarist, reporter, longshoreman, and Louisiana Golden Gloves boxer—a light heavy-weight who threw a mighty punch. A veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy, Trethewey had a sense of mirth that existed tenuously, a slight notch above his profound sense of the necessity for righting wrongs. All of his life experiences richly influenced his well-respected poems, essays, and stories.
Trethewey earned a B.A. from Kentucky State College, an M.A. from the University of New Orleans, and a Ph.D. from Tulane University. He joined the Hollins faculty in 1985 and enjoyed a distinguished career as an author and an educator. His five acclaimed collections of poems include Dreaming of Rivers, Evening Knowledge (winner of the 1990 Virginia Prize in Poetry), The Long Road Home, Songs & Lamentations, and Heart’s Hornbook. His poems, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. The Home Waltz, a screenplay, won the Virginia Governor’s Screenplay Competition in 1988.
—From the memorial service program, September 13, 2014
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Records on Ancestry
Advertisement
