USU English professor dies after 17 month battle with pancreatic cancer

Lynn Langler Meeks worked hard, played hard, loved passionately and died peacefully.

In the end, 17 months of pancreatic cancer stopped her on Oct. 14, 2006.

When asked about the USU professor, the words people often use to describe her are enthusiastic, dedicated, stylish and passionate.

Kathryn Fitzgerald, associate professor in the English department, said Meeks’ influence can be seen most strongly in the effect she had on students.

“In the department, her most enduring influence was her mentoring of students. There are people who say she has changed their lives,” Fitzgerald said. “She pushed people who would have said they would not have thought they were capable of getting a graduate degree to get a master’s and then she’d say they have to go get a Ph.D. and teach at the college level. She’d spot people at the undergraduate level and work with them.”

Born June 4, 1946, in Jerome, Idaho, Meeks graduated from Jerome High School in 1964 and went on develop her passion for teaching by getting her bachelor of arts at the College of Idaho in 1968. In 1977, she got her master’s in English literature from Arizona State and then, while teaching in Arizona, she received her doctorate in English from Arizona State.

Her influence at USU started when she joined the English faculty in 1985. Meeks left after three years to become the language arts consultant for the state of Idaho. Her return to USU came with her marriage to history professor Norm Jones in 1994. She was a professor, director of writing and director of the Utah Writing Project.

Jones said they met after Vice President for Research Joyce Kinkead set them up. “After that I was doomed,” he said, laughing.

He recalled that his meeting her family consisted of him having to help herd cattle, and that she could “trim a cow with the best of them,” and once got stuck in the mud and knocked out a charging cow with a two by four.

“People knew her as this elegant woman who was very well-dressed with nice jewelry,” Jones said, “but one of the first things she did when we got married was get me outfitted with boots.”

Meeks was a southern Idaho girl who married a southern Idaho boy.

Other than family, her love was teaching. English Department Head Jeffrey Smitten said, “She was a very dynamic person, very enthusiastic and very, very committed to what she was doing. That was her life – teaching people how to write.”

Smitten said she left an “indescribable mark on the department” and turned the writing program at USU into a model of what a writing program should be.

Not only did Meeks develop writers at USU, she helped create statewide writing standards for all grades through the Utah Writing Project, Smitten said, and she was an “active researcher, published a number of books and a host of articles and did workshops across the country and internationally.”

“Her belief was that everyone can learn, you just have to find the way they learn,” Jones said. “Lynn was absolutely committed to the democratic ideal of education. That education is something that everyone can have and should have.”

Fitzgerald said she was always working hard. “Whatever would promote the department, she was on top of it. She did things nobody even knew about like using her book royalties to support buying goodies for graduate instructor meetings.”

According to many, Meeks created a friendly atmosphere in the English department. As the trainer for English 1010 and 2010 teachers, Lynn would hold an annual pig roast for faculty and students at her house after the week of training was over and threw Christmas parties, Fitzgerald said.

“She’ll be impossible to replace,” Smitten said. “No one can do the things she did, and do it with flair. That was Lynn’s trademark; she did everything with grand style.”

Jones said, “She was certainly no-nonsense. She insisted everyone be direct and honest in their dealings. Lynn was very systematic and direct, forthright and honest, in her personal and professional life. You always knew exactly where you stood.”

There was nothing that Meeks wasn’t interested in, Norm said. She traveled, loved to ski, play bridge and scuba dive. Lynn also collected antique jewelry.

“I have a lot of jewelry now,” Jones said wistfully.

He said Meeks loved clothing and used to make all of her clothes. She was always well-dressed, but Jones said fashion wasn’t about the dressing to her, it was about construction techniques. He said, “She took a technical interest in fashion, then inflicted it on everyone, including her doctors.”

Fitzgerald said Meeks was always stylish and once remarked, “I’m always overdressed.”

“But she loved it that way,” Fitzgerald said.

Along with her many interests, Meeks also had very strong faith.

“It’s not that she was a ‘righteous’ person,” Jones said, “it’s just that she had a certainty that God loved her. Going through the cancer, you never saw her frightened because of that. Her whole philosophy is that God loves everybody. She was committed to helping people and doing good, but there was nothing sanctimonious about her.”

Jones said he has been touched by the support people showed, saying the memorial service at St. John’s Episcopalian church was overflowing.

“You need community at times like this, and sometimes you don’t realize quite how much community you’ve got,” he said. “It was quite touching.”

Meeks’ influence will continue to be felt through the students she taught and the programs she implemented through her passionate dedication to helping students learn. She will be greatly missed, Smitten said.

-dilewis@cc.usu.edu