Guilford R. Northrup

Some us had Mr. Northrup in a after school class at the old Jr high. I don”t know how he put up with us. we were all pretty wild. he found something inside us and believed in us when we did not believe in our self’s. I thank you for that. you will be missed but always in my memories. prayers to your family.

He was my debate coach, and economics teacher. But he was also a great listener and just a great guy. My condolences to the family. Mr. Northrup will be missed.

My Mom and myself had Mr Nothrup for history and Government classes together. She was in night school and I was in high school. He was a great teacher and mentor to a lot of students. He will be greatly missed. My deepest condolences to his family. He changed my life in so many ways! Thanks for the memories Mr Northrup!

I am sad to hear of this passing and sincere condolences to the family.
I was 2008 graduate in holt and he was my Econ teacher. As deaf student, that class was hardest subject for me to comprehend it. He was learning and working with me to understand better. He did what he could to help me to pass the class. I am grateful to him to doing his best as he could. Thank you Mr. Northrup. Rest In Peace.

Rest peacefully, Mr. Northrup. We carry fond memories of your genuine passion for learning and its positive impacts.

Mr. Northrup was a kind person with a wry sense of humor. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, he helped me challenge myself as a member of the forensics team and have fun doing it. Thank you, Mr. Northrup. You will be missed.

Wonderful Teacher. Thoughts are with his friends and family at this difficult time.

Sounds like he contributed significantly to the lives of many…..Bill Priest, Holt Alumni Class of 1961.

Mr. Northrup was a great teacher and debate coach. And showed us some great (and not great) restaurants around the state.

Guil was assigned to be my mentor when I was a brand new teacher at Holt High School. He was kind, supportive, smart and witty! I cherished our friendship. He taught me how to invest my money in a Vanguard account – stating how important it is to invest now so I would have money later. My Vanguard account is still growing! He was a wonderful teacher, mentor and friend. His students were lucky to have him as a teacher. He will be missed by so many. My condolences to his family.

One of the best teachers I ever had and his influence guided me into education. I so appreciated his sense of humor and constant advocacy. No doubt he has positively touched the lives of hundreds and hundreds of students and that will be his legacy.

Reading the comments of Guil’s former students, colleagues, friends and family brings back many fond memories!
Guil was one of those rare human beings who does things for others anonymously, not wanting any recognition. When a colleague at Holt High School was going through a difficult time, he had food delivered to the home, never letting on that he was the one responsible. Such acts of generosity were a regular habit for Guil.
He paid attention to people, and had a gift of remembering the details of other’s lives that most of us forget. He could engage in a conversation about anything; sports, literature, politics, or the best restaurants/bakeries/coffee shops.
His dedication to his family, friends and students was exceptional. He enriched the lives of those of us who have been fortunate enough to know him and he will be missed.

Mr. Northrup was unappreciated when I was in school. I realized a couple years after I graduated how much of an impact he had on my life and how much I would appreciate him. I didn’t get the chance to tell him that.

Guil, you were an important influence in many peoples lives. To your students, family and humanity. You’ll be remembered and missed by many as you move on in our memories and hearts. It is with great joy and pleasure to be a brother in law and part of your family. I will miss your humor and care for all who knew you personally. God bless you Guil.

Reading all the beautiful tributes makes it very apparent how much Guil was loved and the impact he made in the lives of so many.
I first met Guil in the eighties through my friendship with his sister, Katie. Through the years, I adopted and considered Guil to be my brother too. I’ve always known him to be very kind and thoughtful. An influential person who continued to give selflessly over and over again.
I have been on the receiving end of that kindness and thoughtfulness many times. Also through Katie’s friendship, I was able to meet their sister Becky, sister-in-law Debbi, and Carol a childhood neighbor and friend.
Sadly, Becky died in 1997. Shortly after Becky’s passing, Guil planned a shopping trip to Detroit in her honor. He arranged the trip for Katie, Debbi, Carol, and myself. I remember feeling very honored to be included as one of the four to go. Guil Drove and when we arrived, we all gathered in a spot at the mall where Guil gave each of us a $100 bill.
He said to us: “This is a shopping spree in Becky’s honor. We all Know how much Becky loved to shop and she would not have paid bills, paid off debt, or buy anything practical with the money. She would have shopped for something she wanted. So in Becky’s honor, go shop!”
Guil had also booked four appointments; two facials and two pedicures leaving it up to us to decide who wanted which appointment.
After a full, fun day of shopping and pampering, Guil drove us to The Whitney, a fine restaurant in Detroit for coffee, dessert, and conversation.
My heart was so touched with that example of thoughtfulness and generosity from Guil. It always brings tears when I reminisce or share that story. I still have one of the things I bought that day. I display it proudly in my China cabinet and it’s something I will cherish always.
I so admire Guil for the person he was, loved his compassionate and generous heart, appreciated his greatness as a teacher as well as his wit and humor, and so respected his devotion to his family. I feel so blessed to have known him. He will be deeply missed.

Guil Northrup left an indelible mark on me. He pushed me like no teacher ever had before and believed so much in the potential of young minds. He enjoyed listening to NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion on long rides to Detroit — especially this broadcast about the world’s largest pile of burlap bags: https://www.dev.prairiehome.org/programs/19971018/

I recall Guil as someone always excited for the next big thing like seeing Aretha Franklin in concert. The Whitney was frequented by Guil — he loved the desserts there and afterwards an obligatory visit to the Detroit Institute of Arts. He elbowed me in the stomach and told me while I researched public policy in his classroom that Sir Francis Bacon had been Shakespeare all along and made a note I should mention it in Brenda Lynch-Hawley’s English Literature class. Guil always had a newspaper open to the latest current event in his teaching room or in his van — and encouraged all of us to read up on current events, too.

We joked in high school that anyone who had Guil Northrup as a teacher was going to turn out a millionaire on the stock market. Guil encouraged students to think outside the box — he was very critical of where history could have been made right, why understanding the collapse of different governments was so vital to American democracy, and why his bagels on sale during nutrition period were better for us than Rosie Peters’ doughnuts.

Guil had a competitive, playful spirit. He didn’t coddle his students. If you didn’t get it, and he thought you could do better, he would keep pushing you with determination until you were old enough to understand why he pushed you. Those of us who grew to know him better, later understood he just wanted the best for us — and always insisted on it. He took his debate team all over Michigan and the United States. He was one of my first mentors. Because of Guil, I devoted my young life to studying public policy. I echo Tylor’s words that he completely changed the trajectory of my life and I will always remember him for being a quick-witted, remarkable, generous man.

Guil Northrup was more than just a teacher for me, he was my first mentor. I joined the debate team on nothing more than a whim; I had no idea that it would be the foundation for my life. I still vaguely remember the first after school debate session, my first tournament, the first time we broke, and the first time we placed. So many late nights at school practicing, researching, cutting and pasting quotes into briefs or disadvantages. Every other weekend – sometimes more often – we’d gather at the school before dawn and head off to some school in Michigan to get trounced. I usually rode up front with him, and often on the way home we’d have some meandering conversation about politics or life. He was endlessly patient in those conversations, rarely disagreeing with me but always probing and challenging, while still being supportive.

Northrup knew my background and my economic situation. He knew I couldn’t afford debate camp, but encouraged me to apply anyway. Later on I found out he contacted the U of M debate coach and “strongly encouraged” him to give me a scholarship to attend. I’m sure he referenced having to send his students to MSU, or some such. The man knew how to work the system.

He never suffered fools, and he would be annoyed if we weren’t living up to our potential. But his scale was not fixed: he had an uncanny knack for quickly assessing what someone was capable of, and holding them to a particular standard that fit their capabilities. I remember when he explained Affirmative Action to me: “Say you have two runners, one with perfect form and one whose form is terrible. The one with perfect form wins the race; the one with terrible form finishes a few seconds behind them. Which one do you recruit?” Oh, my poor conservative head would spin.

When my dad died a few years back, I found myself in Lansing tending to the estate. We caught up over lunch, and it was like the years had never passed. He gave me the Harvard trophy (“it will look good in your domicile”) – I think he might have pilfered it from the high school when he retired. He joked that old days of us tromping around the country were probably over in Holt, the new debate coach wouldn’t “want to give up his weekends.” It struck me then how much he had sacrificed for us: so many afternoons, late nights, weekends, all spent shepherding a bunch of teenagers to argue over Foucault or whether or not Clinton would start World War III. What an amazing man.

There’s no question that I am who I am as a direct result of his teaching and influence. He was a father figure to me, and that’s not something you can ever repay.

I was pleased to read so many wonderful comments by Guil’s former students and colleagues at Holt HS. As a retired social studies department head and economics teacher, I found the story about Guil’s “icebreaker” regarding “continual compound interest” to be a great way to start an econ class. I suppose Guil wouldn’t have called it an “icebreaker,” as that’s the term used widely in the professional development sessions which were the bane of his existence as a teacher.

My comments involve my friendship with Guil as a debate coach, although from a different district. I do remember him offering me a cup of Biggby coffee on several occasions at early morning (Saturday) tournament starts. Guil moved at his own pace, sometimes quickly, other times not so much. When our teams were debating in the quarterfinals of the State Varsity Debate Tournament in 2007, we were scheduled to pick our panel of judges at a particular time slot based on preliminary round seeding. Guil didn’t show so we had to move our panel pick back so we could track him down in the hotel dining room, where he was reading the morning paper (print edition, of course) and enjoying breakfast.

However, my most indelible memory of Guil relates to his judging philosophy or paradigm. Judges have to post a statement of likes and dislikes so that debaters can adapt to their predilections. Guil had one of the most succinct paradigms that I can remember, consisting of two phrases and one brief sentence: “Harsh stock issues.” “Running clock.” “Speed kills.” That’s all one had to know when he was the judge!
Finally, toward the end of his coaching and teaching career, Guil made a special effort to preserve one of his favorite debate events, the Detroit Free Press’ John S. Knight Debate Scholarship Contest, When the Freep cut back and abandoned a contest it had sponsored since 1947, in 2009, he went the extra mile to find a new location outside of the Detroit Metro area (Thomas Cooley Law School in Lansing), made personal donations to the scholarship and convened meetings to chart a future for the contest.

Those in the debate and forensic communities have lost a great champion of competitive speech activities in this intelligent, witty and caring man.