For the past year or so as I’ve worked hard to write more and to write better, one person that frequently comes to mind is Dan Hallberg.
Dan was an amazing young man I knew at Northland College. We became friends because we were often in the same literature or writing courses, which given the size of Northland College were always really small.
20 years ago today, Dan and three other Northland students were killed in a car crash on the way home from a Grateful Dead concert.
In my opinion, Dan was one of the best writers attending Northland College in the early 90s. He had a skill and a talent that I wished I had at the time.
A few days after Dan died, when classes had resumed, one of our professors read a piece that Dan had written the week before he died and had turned in for the latest assignment. I don’t remember the words, but I remember how it made me feel. It made me inspired and also so very sad that the person that had written it was gone.
The picture on this post was taken by Dan Nordstrom, another friend from Northland College, and is a group of trees that were planted in memory of the four students that died. They serve as a living memory to their lives.
I hope those that knew and loved Dan, Elise, Brad & Scott are available to find comfort today.
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