Carl Granere

(This series of Notable Faculty profiles was written in celebration Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø's sesquicentennial in 2009.)

Carl Otto Granere was born on Sept. 27, 1844, in Granhult, H?gsby parish, Sm?land, Sweden. He pursued a classical college course, receiving his bachelor's degree in Stockholm in 1870 and traveling to Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø in Paxton, Ill., the same year.

Granere was moved to come to Illinois upon hearing T.N. Hasselquist's description of the needs of Swedish-American congregations there during a visit to Sweden by Hasslequist. Granere graduated from Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø Theological Seminary in 1871 and was ordained in the ministry at Galesburg the following year.

Beginning in 1871 Granere served as a professor of Latin and Swedish at Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø as well as assistant instructor in church history and doctrinal theology. He served as vice president of the college from 1883 to 1887. The Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø Board granted Granere a doctorate in 1898; in the same year he was appointed librarian of the college.

Granere continued his duties as college librarian until his resignation in 1913. He spoke at Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø's 50th anniversary celebration, and was the only living representative of those who had taught at Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø in 1875 when its doors first opened in Rock Island.

Granere married twice, first to Sophia Albertina Wiborg (died 1883), and later to Marie Thomason, mother of their four children: Ruth Mirjam, Carl Emanuel, Helga Johanna, and Hortensia Linnea. He died in his home in Detroit, Mich., on Febr. 4, 1933 at the age of 88, the last surviving member of the faculty from the pioneer days of Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø. He is buried in Riverside Cemetery in Moline.