Daniel Carlson

Daniel G. Carlson, 78, longtime resident of Kalamazoo, MI, passed away peacefully on August 27, 2026, with life partner Nancy Mineweaser, at his bedside holding his hand.

Daniel George Carlson was born in Evergreen Park, Illinois, at Little Company of Mary Hospital on May 29, 1948. He grew up attending Bethesda Lutheran Church in Chicago, IL, and Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church in Manistee, MI.

Dan's father George was a Great Lakes oil tanker captain for Standard Oil of Indiana (later called Amoco Oil Company) with the home port at Indiana Harbor, IN, where the Whiting Refinery was located. His mother Alice was a homemaker and Dan has an older sister Nancy. Dan's childhood home was in the Robertsdale section of Hammond, Indiana. He attended George Rogers Clark and Franklin Grade Schools, Clark Junior High and graduated from Clark High School in 1966. Dan graduated high school in the top ten of his class, as a National Honor Society member, senior class president, and National Merit Honorable Mention.

Too skinny for football, Dan opted to play basketball and tennis, lettering in both sports.

Since both of Dan's parents grew up in Manistee, MI, and three of his four grandparents were still alive when he was born. Dan spent summer vacations in Manistee at his Grandpa and Grandma Berglunds' home. There would be numerous day excursions throughout northern Michigan to beaches, parades, horseback riding, boating, and Mackinac Island. He spent two summers working as a laborer at Morton Salt in Manistee. Dan grew close to his cousins who lived in Manistee and the other guys his age, so much that Dan often attended Manistee class reunions.

Dan's sister left for Michigan State University (MSU) when he was entering sixth grade. Numerous trips to East Lansing with his Mom and Dad to visit Nancy left no doubt that MSU would be Dan's choice for college. This was the era of the Vietnam War, so Dan's plan with the military was formulated during the fall of his junior year in college. Dan took the US Navy written OCS test, passed and was sent to Fort Wayne in Detroit where he passed the physical exam.

Dan joined the Delta Chi fraternity at MSU. He majored in mechanical engineering at MSU and graduated with honors in June 1970. One summer he was a student engineer at Inland Steel in Indiana Harbor, and the next summer he was a refinery student engineer at Amoco Oil in Whiting, IN.

After his senior year in college, Dan was undecided in his career path. When he waiting out his draft status, Dan went home to Whiting, Indiana, became a substitute teacher in Chicago while taking graduate classes at Chicago State and Purdue Calumet. Dan decided to go in the direction of teaching. It just so happened that his mother, sister, and several friends were all teachers.

Dan completed his teaching certificate through Purdue Calumet, student taught at Hammond Gavit High School, and then found a teaching position at Kalamazoo Central High School for the second semester of the school year 1971-1972. Kalamazoo Central High School was a brand new building and Dan was the youngest teacher at 23 and a half years old. Dan taught math for 39 " years and was the ski club advisor for several years. Dan retired from teaching in June of 2011.

During summer vacations in the early 1970's, Dan, his friends and cousins became interested in sailing. His first sailboat was a 24 foot Tyler Craft that he purchased in 1974. In the fall of 1977, Dan purchased a 27 foot Catalina sailboat and sailed it almost every summer until 1991, when he sold the boat. Dan always said "the two happiest days for a boatowner are the day you buy it and the day you sell it". Spending considerable time each summer cruising the Great Lakes fulfilled the family history of being on the water his Father, grandfathers, and uncles worked upon.

The summer of 1981, Dan realized his dream of becoming a Great Lakes sailor when he was called for a relief deckhand position on the 1000 foot iron ore carrier the Lewis Wilson Foy, which is now named the American Integrity. Dan always remembered that experience as one of the high points of his marine adventures. He got to sail between Burns Harbor, IN, to Duluth, MN, at the west end of Lake Superior, and through the Soo Locks.

While teaching at Kalamazoo Central High School, Dan completed his Master of Arts in Teaching Mathematics at Western Michigan University in 1980. Dan attended several summer math workshops to fulfill the requirement for the Masters plus 30 hours certificate and to prepare himself to teach the advanced placement courses in calculus. After a colleague retired, Dan took over the responsibilities of teaching advanced placement calculus and continued with that program for the last 19 years of his career.

The Kalamazoo Foundation started a program to honor the areas top students and teachers. Dan was proud of his receiving the award for being an outstanding teacher numerous times. Part of the psychology of winning the award for a teacher is to continue to work even harder to justify receiving the award and to not disappoint anyone that had signed up for the courses because of your reputation. Dan continued to work very hard to improve his teaching skills up until he retired.

During retirement Dan enjoyed volunteering to tutor mathematics to Kalamazoo Central High School students. Dan's other interests included running, skiing, tennis, golf, a member of the Fast Break basketball club at WMU, reading about ships and WW II history, woodworking, photography, and collecting model trains. Dan was honored to have one of his ship photos published on the cover of the Telescope.

One day in the spring of 1988, Dan's neighbor asked him if he would be interested in meeting a mutual acquaintance for a date. Upon meeting Nancy Mineweaser, the immediate reaction that evening at dinner was this date had the potential to be a lasting relationship, which it did. Dan and Nancy Mineweaser became a long term couple which has lasted through 38 years with several great experiences, life health challenges, and wonderful times shared together. Dan and Nancy enjoyed many years of great vacations skiing in Northern Michigan & Colorado, biking on numerous trails, running, tennis, walks on the Manistee River walk and 5th Avenue pier, watching MSU and WMU football and basketball games, and discovering new restaurants in Chicago, IL, and Grand Rapids, MI, and just hanging out with family and friends.

Dan is survived by his long-time partner Nancy Mineweaser, sister Nancy Carlson Riker and her husband Robert Riker, nephew Dr. David Riker, and many beloved cousins, extended family members, friends and colleagues.

A memorial service for Dan will be at 11:00 am September 16, 2026 at Langeland Family Funeral Home - Westside Chapel (3926 S. 9th St., Kalamazoo, MI).

In lieu of flowers, Memorial Contributions can be made to: Lakeshore Keepers, Kalamazoo Loaves + Fishes, Kalamazoo Community in Schools, or a charity of your choice.

Final resting place is Oak Grove Cemetery in Manistee, MI.