Norman Kurt Risjord

MADISON-Norman K. Risjord, age 87, died on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019. Norman was born in Manitowoc on Nov. 25, 1931, and grew up in Kansas City. He attended the College of William and Mary, 1949 to 1953, was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa society in his junior year, and was a three-year letterman on the varsity swimming team. He served in the Counterintelligence Corps in Berlin, 1954 to 1956, and returned to school at the University of Virginia where he earned his Ph. D. in 1960. His research and writing was in the field of early American history, specializing in the birth and development of political parties after the Revolution. His first teaching job was at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. In 1964, he was invited to join the history faculty at the University of Wisconsin. In his first year in Madison, he won the Kiekhofer Award as "best teacher" in the university. Beginning in 1967, Wisconsin Public Radio broadcast his classroom lectures, and it continued to do so periodically until 1989. He was twice awarded Fulbright Lectureships at universities in Uppsala, Sweden (1968) and Singapore (1983 to 1984). He served as a visiting professor at Columbia University (1966), Dundee, Scotland (1973 to 1974), and the U.S. Naval Academy (1989 to 1990). In 1979, after publishing his second research book, Chesapeake Politics, 1780-1800, a study of the evolution of political parties in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, he wrote a textbook on American History for use in secondary schools. He followed that in 1984 with a college-level textbook. After his retirement in 1993, Norman applied his love of teaching as a volunteer under the auspices of PLATO (Participatory Learning and Teaching Organization). He continued in that highly satisfying role until within three months of his death. His lectures were very popular, and after outgrowing facilities in the Madison Senior Center and Capital Lakes, his class ended up in the auditorium of Oakwood Village West. His teaching career lasted a total of 60 years. In his retirement years he decided to undertake the writing of history for a general audience. He began with a book of biographical sketches that grew out of a course he taught at the university, Representative Americans. It grew into six volumes, stretching from the Colonial Period to the Twentieth Century. He then became interested in his native area, the upper Midwest, and he published popular histories of Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Lake Superior. By the time he died he had written more than twenty books on American History. Norman and Connie resettled in the retirement community at Oakwood in 2012. He died in the loving care of his wife of 59 years, content with a highly eventful and richly satisfying life. Norman is survived by his wife, Connie; his brother, John; his son, Mark and Mark’s wife, Barbara; and granddaughters, Andrea and Hannah. He is also survived by Jacqueline, widow of his son Eric, who preceded him in death. Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com. Gunderson West Funeral and Cremation Care 7435 University Ave. (608) 831-6761