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Donald Junkins ‘53, alumnus and professor emeritus in the Department of English, passed away on Thursday, April 15, 2021 at the age of 89. He taught creative writing at UMass Amherst for 30 years, serving as director of the MFA Program for Poets and Writers from 1970-1979 and from 1989-1990. He retired in 1995.

Junkins is remembered by former colleague Robert Bagg (also retired), who recalls that, as an undergrad, Junkins was a varsity defensive halfback on the UMass Amherst football team and that, “his record of eight interceptions in a single season has never been equaled.” 

Bagg writes, “After he graduated, [Junkins] studied for the ministry in Boston, but eventually realized his true passion was for literature and teaching. He joined a group of poets in Boston, taught by Robert Lowell, which included Anne Sexton and George Starbuck. In addition to many books of poetry he published two novels, derived from his experiences in Northern California. The Boston Globe’s Christina Robb praised his collection, The Agamenticus Poems, calling it ‘a remarkable, pungent, twangy, dramatic, and lyrical exploration of the time of his ancestors’ lives, and the way that time touches him—and us—now.’”

Junkins life and career have recently been covered in the Boston Globe and the Greenfield Recorder.

He is survived by his wife Kaimei, his daughter Karn Junkinsmith of Burien, Washington, two sons, Daniel (of Boston) and Theodore (of Rye, NY), a stepson Yunwei Chen of St. Louis, and six grandchildren. Those who wish to share condolences may do so via the Wrisley Funeral Home.