Obituary - Ann Karkalas, lecturer in English literature and honorary research fellow at Glasgow University

Died: May 18, 2018

ANN Karkalas, who died aged 82, was a highly gifted lecturer whose valuable contribution to adult education spanned five decades. Throughout her career, she had a deep commitment to liberal adult education and strove to implement its values in her teaching. Even after retiring in 1998, she continued to teach courses in Glasgow and Dumfries, preparing, shortly before her death, for those scheduled to begin in January 2019. She had a transformative effect on the lives of many students, broadening their horizons and helping them realise opportunities later in life.

She was born in Snodland, Kent, the only child of Alfred and Mary Draycon. Her school education was largely in Kent, with a short spell abroad when, in 1949, the family moved to Singapore where she attended Raffles Girls’ School.

On her return to England, she resumed her education in 1952 at Maidstone Girls’ Grammar School and in 1954, she began undergraduate studies at St Anne’s College, Oxford University. She graduated in 1957 with honours in English language and literature, followed by postgraduate study leading to MLitt in mediaeval English literature.

Her teaching career began in Sweden where she taught English as a foreign language for a year before moving to Aarhus University in Denmark to lecture in English literature. While attending Danish language classes, she met her future husband, John Karkalas, a renowned food scientist. Ann and John married in 1972.

In 1966, Ann Karkalas was appointed to the University of Glasgow’s department of extra-mural education as a specialist in English literature. Her particular area of expertise was the work of Thomas Hardy; and she produced, for example, notes for the Longman edition of Under the Greenwood Tree. However, her interests were diverse, her curiosity leading her to the study of different areas such as the literature of the First World War, short stories, science fiction, European novels in translation and the Bloomsbury Group. Above all else, though, her passion was poetry and one of her notable achievements was the editing of a collection of poems by Kirkpatrick Dobie in 2016.

A major part of her work in Glasgow was the department’s innovative access programme for adults, begun in 1979, which provided an opportunity for university level study and a possible route to full-time undergraduate admission. Ann interviewed and advised applicants and taught the highly popular English literature option. In Dumfries, in 1997-9, she played an important role in the design and teaching of an access programme specifically for the university’s new Crichton Campus.

From 1990 to 2009, arising from her work in these access programmes in very different geographical areas, she became co-researcher in two studies which focused on students’ experiences in education, employment, voluntary work and community life. Her long experience in adult education, and empathy with students, combined with her understanding and analysis of the research literature, and her meticulous attention to detail, meant she was an insightful and skilled researcher in this kind of investigation.

Ann Karkalas’s departmental responsibilities were varied. In Dumfries, for example, her work included arranging dramatic workshops for the Dumfries Theatre Royal Guild of Players in which tutors, having attended a performance, returned to provide a review in the role of critic. Ann was also responsible for setting up writers’ workshops and succeeded in having established and well known poets and writers take part, reading students’ work and participating in the workshop sessions.

Over the years, Ann helped to foster and facilitate the publication of the work of a number of writers. Indeed, her strong support for the writers’ workshops was perhaps her most significant contribution to adult education in Dumfries and Galloway.

For Ann, however, her links with this area were not only about teaching and organising courses. She made many long-standing and valued friendships with her students, and often with their families too, and these she maintained enthusiastically up to the time of her death.

Ann and her late husband, John, were extremely hospitable and sociable hosts and loved to welcome people to their home, making every guest feel welcome. After John’s death in 2008 and her own serious illness a year later, Ann gradually managed to resume a full and energetic life. She had many close friends, with whom she attended concerts, films, book festivals, and art exhibitions.

Tributes to her emphasise her humanity, kindness and generosity, her unassuming and modest nature, and her liveliness and good humour, reflecting the high regard and deep affection that friends, students and colleagues had for her.