John Rensenbrink 1929 – 2022 TOPSHAM – John Rensenbrink died on Saturday, July 30. In a life that arced across 93 years, John never retired—from anything. It never occurred to him. John could not but engage the world: as a professor, philosopher, theorist, political and environmental activist, author, community builder, husband, father, and friend. These were in no way distinct roles or identities; they were the bundle of his singular and irrepressible energy. John’s 93 years were full of engagement with people and ideas and political action. Many of John’s endeavors were aided, inspired, and co-authored by Carla, his wife of 63 years. His wide and deep grasp of philosophy, literature, and politics was honed through decades of conversation with her. His three daughters also challenged and enriched John’s views, even as they learned from him. As his son-in-law remembers, normal dinner chats in the Rensenbrink household were the stuff of doctoral dissertations. If you were lucky enough to be in one of John’s classes at Bowdoin, or to be one of his daughters, you listened carefully to his stirring lectures, but you also might find him at your side a minute later, listening carefully to you. With those outsized farmer’s hands, he’d often bang the table, in class or in the kitchen. It wasn’t rage; it was his way of emphasizing a point. John taught you, showed you, that ideas have energy. Like he did. John was born in Pease, Minn. to John and Effie Rensenbrink. He was the fourth of seven children. At 14, when his father died, he and his brother Henry took over running the family dairy farm. John completed his high school education through a correspondence course, doing schoolwork at night sustained by his mother’s coffee. Effie sold the farm and moved the family to Grand Rapids, Mich. so that her children would have access to a college education. John graduated from Calvin College, then went on to earn a PhD from The University of Chicago. He taught at Williams College, where he met Carla. They married in 1959. In 1962, John took a one-year position at Bowdoin College, then the couple spent three years in East Africa where John worked for the Agency for International Development. In 1965, the family returned to Maine, and John to Bowdoin. They bought the house John would live in until his final illness. John was deeply involved in progressive politics. In the sixties and seventies, he ran for office and worked with the Reformed Democrats of Maine, which he co-founded. In 1983, he spent six months in Poland researching the grassroots Solidarity movement and returned home to throw himself into environmental activism, cofounding the Maine Green Party, the first state party in the country, and later the U.S. Green Party. He was also active in the international Green Party and the Global Green Network. In 2003 he founded Green Horizon Magazine, a journal dedicated to environmental politics. He served as its editor for many years. Closer to home, John co-founded the Cathance River Educational Alliance (CREA), which preserved 230 acres along the Cathance River in his hometown of Topsham. CREA now has an Ecology Center and, using the Cathance Preserve as its base, it provides a summer nature camp, hands-on science programs in local schools, and nature walks and programs for the public. John’s years of activism led to his inclusion in Robert Shetterly’s Americans Who Tell the Truth series. John also wrote avidly, publishing three books and innumerable, impassioned letters to the editor. At his death, his computer screen showed work on his newest project, a collection of his writings he called “60 Years of Letters to the Editor.” His email correspondence was massive, the sound of his fingers abusing his keyboard a constant until the last months of his life. John is survived by his wife Carla, sisters Kathryn and Evelyn; daughters Kathryn, Greta, and Liz and their spouses Jon McMillan, Kat Williams, and Anne Karczewski, nephew Jim Krosschell and his wife Cindy; and his granddaughter Eleanor McMillan. John’s contributions to the common good are profound and innumerable. He was fully engaged. And he never tired of it—or retired from it. A few days ago, nearing the end of this adventure, he was still engaged. This time as a poet. One of his daughters wrote down, in a scrawl much like his own, his final reflections on life: “Wonderful, wonderful! So marvelous!” Yes, it is. Yes, he was. There will be a memorial gathering in September. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to: CREA (creamaine.org) or: Green Horizon (greenhorizon.sites.community)