Major Regain - LTA 2019

From Marilyn Holt:

     Major Dan Ragain or Maj as he was fondly called by friends was born September 15, 1940 in Olney, Illinois.   He grew up along Olney’s Vernon Lake and returned yearly throughout his life.  

    As a young child Maj had polio and as David Hassler the director of the Wick Poetry Center stated, “Ragain’s life-long poetic journey began at the age of 8 when polio left him unable to walk.  In some ways he felt lucky that he was broken at such an early age where he was forced to know his own soul, and to get to know that deeper part of himself and speak through that wound.” 

    And know his soul – he truly did!   Maj graduated from East Richland High School in 1958, received his Bachelor of Arts degree at Eastern Illinois University in 1962, his Master’s Degree at the University of Illinois in 1963 and earned his PhD in Literature at Kent State University in 1990.   He is the author of seven chapbooks of poetry and five book-length collections, including Clouds Pile Up in the North; New & Selected Poems, published by Press 53 in the fall of 2018.   Ragain often wrote of growing up in rural Illinois and his arrival in Kent as a student in 1969, shortly before the May 4th shootings.  

     Maj began his teaching career at Kent State University in 1969 and taught for six decades.   He led his last writing class in the fall of 2016!   Maj worked with a veterans’ group through the Wick Poetry Center and Warriors’ Journey Home which was a healing circle for veterans.  This weekly group of veterans wrote to and for each other.  It was indeed an encouragement in the healing art of language.    Maj hosted open poetry readings in Kent for 35 years, and performed monthly readings at Last Exit Books.   Maj also hosted the annual Jawbone Open Reading which continues in Kent.   Maj hosted his last weekly reading less than a week before his death.  Maj’s poems and his full-hearted work in the Kent community expressed his own deep connection and compassion for others.  

   The Comments regarding Maj Ragain tell a story of a man with a ‘complete lack of pretense’.   ‘He was one of the most genuine people I ever had the pleasure to meet.  It sounds cliché, but he was as true as fertile soil.’   Many commented on his polio and that doctors told him not to expect to see 30, ‘but he was a fighter, and tough when he needed to be.   That was one reason he stuck with crutches for so long; he wasn’t ever going to give up.  He was an inspiration, both in his life and is his poetry.’

    David Hassler said that “Poets are the means by which a place comes to know itself, and this town has felt known by Maj’s voice, by his loving gaze, his poet’s gaze, and he taught others to give voice to their own lives and their own places.”   David referred to Kent, Ohio but one would think of The Olney Dreadnot Book which was published in 1979 and perhaps Fresh Oil, Loose Grave that was a finalist in the 1996 Chilcote Awards of Excellence for Poetry that indeed his time in Olney and on Vernor Lake in southeast Illinois made a lasting impression.

   Joe Maxe is a retired Plan Dealer sportswriter that said “His first book of poetry I read was ‘Twist the Axe: A horseplayer’s story of poems & journal’.   Maj did his best trying to figure out the human soul.   He did the same with horses when he was handicapping the Daily Racing Form.   Call it kismet when he tagged Sarava in the 2002 Belmont Stakes at 70-1.   I can’t help but smile every time I think of it.”  For those of us who don’t know – the 2002 Belmont Stakes was the last race of the Triple Crown.   War Emblem was the race favorite after winning both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes but stumbled at the start of the race.   Much to everyone’s surprise, the lightly regarded Sarava won odds of 70-1 the biggest long-shot in the history of the Belmont Stakes.  Obviously, Maj had a winner! 

And then poet George Bilgere said “A wonderful man and a true master of the poetic craft.   Every time I look at a new poem I’ve written and get the self-adulatory, delusional notion that I’m finally getting the hang of this maddeningly difficult craft of poetry, I pick up one of Maj’s books, read a few lines, and am happily put back in my place.   Everything an aspiring poet needs to know about craft can be found in a single Ragain stanza.   He’s also one of the most courageous men I know.”  

    Major Ragain was preceded in death by his mother Beatrice Lucile Summers, father Daniel Wayne and brother Michael Wayne.   He is survived by his wife LuAnn Csernotta, son Sean Kelly, daughter Megan Ryan, and grandchildren Liam Michael, Riley Danielle and Abby Aileen.    Kent, Ohio celebrated his life from Friday, June 1 to Sunday June 3 when all gathered to celebrate with open reading his poetry along with music by The Numbers Band.   

    We join today in his home of Olney Illinois to celebrate his life and to honor his work.   Major Dan Ragain put Olney, Illinois on the map and made us proud!   The Tiger Alumni Center is proud and pleased to honor Major Dan Ragain posthumously.   Indeed as noted by many poets, he was a Minister of Culture for all!  

 

 

 

 

 

Major Regain Obituary

Kent poet Maj Ragain, age 77, died in his home on April 19, 2018. He was a loving son, husband, father, and grandfather. He was loved as a teacher, friend and an inspiration to thousands of students, writers, and veterans throughout Northeast Ohio over the last 40 years.

Major Dan Ragain was born in southeast Illinois farm country in Olney, Illinois, September 15, 1940. He grew up along Olney's Vernor Lake, to which he returned yearly throughout his life.

He received his BA at Eastern Illinois University ('62), an MA at the University of Illinois ('63), and earned his PhD in Literature at Kent State University ('90). He is the author of seven chapbooks of poetry and five book-length collections, including Clouds Pile Up in the North: New & Selected Poems, published by Press 53 last fall. Maj began teaching at Kent State University in 1969 and taught continuously since the early 1980s, leading his last writing class in the fall of 2016. Maj served for thirty-five years as host to open poetry readings in Kent, hosting his last reading less than a week before his death. He also hosted the annual Jawbone Open Reading (which will go on, this May 4, 5, and 6 in Kent). And as part of the Wick Poetry Center Outreach, Maj weekly gathered a group of veterans who wrote to and for each other, an encouragement in the healing art of language. Maj's poems and his full-hearted work in the Kent community expressed his own deep connection and compassion for others.

Maj was preceded in death by his mother Beatrice Lucile Summers, father Daniel Wayne and brother Michael Roy.

He is survived by his wife LuAnn Csernotta, son Sean Kelly, daughter Megan Ryan, and grandchildren Liam Michael, Riley Danielle, and Abby Aileen.

Maj will be memorialized in Kent on the first weekend in June: On Friday, June 1, the Downtown Gallery will open an exhibit of poetry by Maj and paintings by Jessica Damen, titled, "Home to the Sargasso Sea." On Saturday, June 2, a memorial service will be held at the Kent United Church of Christ at 1 pm, followed by a reception at the church. And on Sunday, June 3, at the Kent Stage at 2 pm, all can gather to celebrate Maj's life with open readings of his poetry, along with music by The Numbers Band.

From Tom Weber, Class of '64 . . ."Many of us who were not in school at the same time with Maj, might recognize his smooth and thoughtful voice emanating over the airwaves from WVLN/WSEI as the night DJ for a few years during the early to mid '70's."

Information provided by Tom Weber and Published in The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH) - from Apr. 27 to Apr. 29, 2018