Carl W. Conrad, Professor Emeritus of Classics at Washington University in St. Louis, passed away suddenly and peacefully at his home in Yancey County, North Carolina on the morning of February 20, 2025. He was 90 years old.
During his forty-year career at Washington University in St. Louis (1961-2001), Carl sought to grasp for himself, and to share with his students, the full richness of the languages, literature, and thought of Ancient Greece and Rome. Although his research into the complex verb forms of Koine Greek – the form of the Greek language in which the New Testament and other early Christian writings were composed – contributed to new understandings regarding verb usage by ancient Greek authors, and eventually to changes in the way ancient Greek grammar is taught to beginning language students, Carl’s focus was always on making the ideas and perspectives of ancient thinkers clear and understandable to new generations.
Beginning in 1998, and continuing long after his retirement, Carl served as a moderator of the “B-Greek” (Biblical Greek) online forum, engaging with students and scholars – and making new friends – from around the world. Always gracious and patient, he encouraged, explained, debated, and critiqued, continuing to heed his calling as a lifelong teacher and learner.
Carl was born in Washington, D.C. in 1934, but grew up in New Orleans, where he graduated from Fortier High School in 1952. After earning a B.A. in History (1955) and an M.A. in Classics (1956) at Tulane University, Carl spent a year in Munich on a Fulbright scholarship. His European travels as a twenty-two-year-old — which included side-trips to Austria, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Paris, Istanbul and Berlin — shaped his lifelong perspectives.
Following his return to the U.S., Carl spent a year teaching French and German at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC, where he met Velma Grindstaff, who would become his wife of sixty-five years. They married in August 1959, and shortly thereafter moved to Cambridge, MA, where Carl pursued, and in 1964 was ultimately awarded, a Ph.D. in Classical Philology from Harvard University.
In 1961, Carl joined the Classics Department at Washington University in St. Louis, where he remained for four decades. In 2001, Carl and Velma retired to the house where Velma was born and raised on the bank of the South Toe River in Celo, NC. Carl loved the place and its people, and often said he would not want to live anywhere else.
When not engaged in academic pursuits, Carl enjoyed cooking and baking, striving to perfect his French bread and croissants; growing roses and tomatoes; solving New York Times crossword puzzles; and tackling jigsaw puzzles with his family. He was an avid reader who relished a good mystery as much as the classics of English literature. He was also a baseball enthusiast who closely followed the fortunes of the St. Louis Cardinals, reveling in their victories and eager for each new season to begin. His favorite tee shirt depicted a grass-stained baseball surrounded by the phrase: “Life Begins When the Season Starts.”
As an Elder, Carl served as Clerk of Session of Second Presbyterian Church in St. Louis for ten years and was active with the Presbytery. He taught adult education classes on the scriptures both there and in his retirement as a member of First Presbyterian Church (Burnsville, NC).
In accordance with Carl’s wishes, no public memorial service will be held. Memorial donations can be made to MY Neighbors, an all-volunteer elderly care network serving Yancey County, NC which has been a source of aid and friendships to Carl and Velma in recent years:
https://myneighbors.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=305&club_id=776400&item_id=7126
Carl is survived by his wife, Velma (Grindstaff) Conrad; his son, Fred Conrad, of St. Louis; his daughter, Kathryn Conrad (Mark Corneliussen), of Tucson; grandchildren: Grace and Zac Corneliussen of Tucson, and step-granddaughter, Aleah (Corneliussen) Canchola (Luis) of Tucson, and her two children. He was preceded in death by his sister, Lillian Shepard, and his brother, H. Edward (“Ed”) Conrad.
Condolences and remembrances can be offered at www.yanceyfuneralservice.com
