Among the shelves at the Austin Public Library is a book titled “Austin Remembers.” Among the stories is one by Larry Engelmann about how Ove Berven gym got its name, and it’s a story not many have forgotten.

Larry Engelmann — a Page Turners author, professor and Austin native — passed away April 1, 2015.

Engelmann grew up in Austin and never forgot where he came from even as he traveled the world and became a long-time professor in San Jose, California.

“I think a point of pride for my dad … was that he came from a very hard, working-class family in Austin,” Erika Carey, one of Engelmann’s daughters, said.

Engelmann was born April 21, 1941, in Austin and went to the University of Minnesota, receiving a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in American history and Economics. In 1969, he became an American History professor at San Jose State University, where he stayed for more than 40 years.

Engelmann was also a researcher and writer and published hundreds of articles and periodicals — some appearing in “Reader’s Digest” and “Life Magazine” — and five history books, including “Intemperance’ (1979), “The Goddess and the American Girl” (1988), “Tears Before the Rain” (1997), “Daughter of China’ (2000),” Feather in the Storm” (2008) and “They Said That,” a collection of quotations.

Despite living in California for many decades, Engelmann never forgot Austin.

“What was great about my dad was, he lived in California since the late 1960s, but he always stayed connected to the Austin roots, his family roots,” Carey said. “He had a huge fondness for that idyllic kind of childhood — in the 1950s especially. He had so many memories of friends and all the things they did in Austin.”

In fact, he was almost finished writing a book about growing up in Austin when he passed away. The book is tentatively titled “Sputnik and Spam.” Carey hopes to get the book published in the next few years. The book centers on growing up in a time in American History with many new discoveries and advancements, such as space exploration. The book also has stories from others who lived in Austin then, describing life at that point of time.

“It was this wonderful oral history of that time of space and international relations and juxtapositioned with life in Austin,”Carey said.

“I think it’s a great story to tell that will resonate with all Americans,” she added. “Not just people who grew up in Austin.”

Carey said her father enjoyed sharing the stories of people caught in the midst of the Vietnam War and other hard times.

 

Adventures

in Austin

Engelmann had many adventures with long-time friend Ron Anhorn growing up in Austin.

“Larry and I have been friends ever since grade school,” Anhorn said. “We went through grade school together, we went through high school. He always lived close to me.”

“We discovered the world together, two little kids,” Anhorn added.

Anhorn described Englemann as ‘one of the guys,’ a part of the football team and a very social person. He recalled being in the hospital after a car accident and Engelmann would help him keep up on schoolwork and write to him each week.

“He was a good friend,” Anhorn said. “And he had my back.”

But mostly Anhorn remembered Engelmann as an intelligent man with much humor in his life.

“I loved it when he would call me because he would always want to reminisce about the old days in Austin,” Anhorn said. “But he always added so much humor.”

Engelmann was 2006 featured Page Turners author for “Daughter of China,” which he wrote with Meihong Xu. Page Turner’s Planning Committee co-chair Bonnie Rietz remembered it was different than most years.

“It was like a real hometown boy coming back,” Rietz said. “People remembered him and would come up and talk to him.”

“There were people that knew him or knew his family, and that was unusual,” she added.

Rietz said Engelmann’s mother also came to the event, which she said organizers thought was special.

 

A storyteller

Engelmann graduated from Austin High School in 1959, and former classmate Larry Maus recalled his grand stories.

“I thought he was one of the best storytellers that I met in my life,” Maus said. “He was terribly bright and quick, quick-witted quite frankly, and clever. And like I say he could tell a story like nobody’s business, and frankly that’s why I think he was so good at what he did, which was telling stories.’

Maus recalled Engelmann’s story written in “Austin Remembers,” saying it was one of the best stories in the book. He also made note of a magazine article “The Ghost Blimp” that was published in “Time Life Publishing.”

“That was a great read,”Maus said.

According to his obituary, Engelmann was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Young Humanist Award and was appointed a visiting scholar twice at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University and Hong Kong University and in 1988-89, was chosen to be a visiting professor at John Hopkins Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjjing. Engelmann’s love for movies also resulted in him being hired as a film critic for the San Jose Mercury newspaper from 1977 to 1989.

“He loved movies,” Carey said. “He went to movies constantly, was a reporter for a little bit to review movies.”

She noted his movie collection range was incredible.

Among Engelmann’s other interests, he also loved the outdoors and gardening.

“He loved planting fruit trees in his backyard at his home in San Jose,” Carey said. “He was sort of just a self-taught gardener, but he was good, his stuff bloomed. He didn’t know why, but it brought him such joy.”

Carey said her father left a multifold legacy.

“I think his legacy would be to remain curious in life regardless of age, education, hometown,” she said. “Be curious, be open and look at the difficulties that we all struggle with in life with humor and sort of relate your own personal struggle with humanity in general.”

Engelmann loved his career as a professor, and Carey said he enjoyed teaching students of all ages and backgrounds, and he loved hearing other opinions.

“He never turned down a good discussion or argument about history,” she said.

“He was very well read and knowledgeable but also just passionate about sharing what he knew,” Carey said. “ … to get [students] excited about a broader world.”

For more information about Engelmann’s publications, visit www.sjsu.edu/people/larry.engelmann/publications/. To view his obituary, visit www.legacy.com/obituaries/mercurynews/obituary.aspx?n=larry-engelmann&pid=174597266. To see a video of one of his interviews, go to www.authorsroad.com/LarryEngelmann.html.