Giving Grief aPurpose Carrying a loved one’s inspiration to a new generation. By Robb Murray ’96
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n the days after Kathryn Cullen’s death, her five adult children spent hours going through their mother’s photos and other collections, which included a trove of writings they’d never seen. They knew Cullen was a poet, but they were unaware of the amount of written material she’d produced that never saw the light of day. “We were absolutely floored,” said Jennifer Hildebrandt, one of Cullen’s children who received her BA from Minnesota State Mankato in 1991. “We knew that she wrote, and had published a few pieces over the years, but she was very private about it.” Cullen, a single parent from Mountain Lake, worked several odd jobs at a time and relied on student loans and grants as she quietly purKathy Cullen, above, lived quietly and wrote poetry. Her family's scholarship provided help for creative writing student Holly Dodge, left.
sued both a bachelors degree in English and a creative writing master’s degree at Minnesota State Mankato beginning at age 35. She received her BA in 1987 and her MA in 1990. Before her death in late 2018, Cullen, retired, lived in St. Peter, volunteering at the Arts Center of St. Peter and a neighborhood thrift shop, all the while writing poems and essays.
to help students of humble means worry a bit less about money. Holly Dodge is the scholarship’s first recipient. Her life and situation parallels Cullen’s: Divorced, single parent, even living in Mountain Lake. She also empathized with what Cullen’s children were
Upon the discovery of her work, Cullen’s children decided to commemorate their mother’s legacy with a scholarship for other single parents in the creative writing program at Minnesota State Mankato. With help from University Advancement, they created the $1,500 Kathy Cullen Gas and Groceries Scholarship, designed
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going through. “I lost my mom in 2007 so I connected with the Hildebrandt children; they were dealing with the loss of their mother and wanted to honor her time at MSU, where her writing life was sparked.” Dodge said. “This really means a lot to me. More than the gift of the scholarship and the relief that it provides
