Stephen Henslin

Stephen Lyndon Henslin was born April 10, 1943 in Indianapolis, Indiana to Arnie and Mildred Henslin. He passed away on May 31, 2009 at Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar, Minnesota after an extended illness. He is survived by sister Kathy (Henslin) Sauter and her husband Pat Sauter, his three children; Chad and his wife Annette Henslin of Valley Springs, South Dakota, Chris Henslin of Brookings, South Dakota, Stephanie Henslin of Brookings, South Dakota, and three grandchildren, Drew, Carter, and Cailyn. He is also survived by aunts, nieces, nephews and many cousins. His early life was full of music that started with his sister while singing together in talent contests, on radio, and on TV. In his high school years he started a rock band called the Defiants, which eventually was inducted into the Minnesota Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. During his college years he started a folk group, The Tyro Singers.His education is rather extensive and it all started when he graduated from Clara City High School on May 29th, 1961. From there, he earned several other degrees including a diploma from Willmar Community College on June 4th, 1965, a Degree of Associate in Arts with Distinction from Willmar State Junior College on June 9th, 1967, a Bachelor of Science degree from St. Cloud State College on June 13th, 1969, a Master of Arts from St. Cloud State College on August 21st 1970, and finally a Master of Fine Arts from The University of Iowa December 20th 1974. His professional career included over 35 years of post-secondary teaching as a Professor in the Fine arts, of which included jewelry, three dimensional sculpture, pottery, and painting. He also taught Graphic design, Digital photography, and Video editing. He has works of art in many museums and college campuses including a sculpture in front of the Federal Building in Aberdeen, South Dakota. A replica of the sculpture in Aberdeen is housed in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. He also had many hobbies including collecting most anything Apple computer related, history, extensive reading, writing, photography, art, and traveling, especially to see the works of art he used to teach about. When he was traveling, he frequented many different places throughout the U.S. and abroad. In 2005, he retired from Minnesota West, Canby Campus to live at George Lake in Spicer, Minnesota. During his retirement he remained in constant contact with many friends and family over the internet and remained in love with living at the lake.