A Conversation with John Guenther and Tim Heil

January 18, 2017

At first, with course readings such as “The Population Bomb” by Paul Ehrlich and “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson, Guenther worried that students would feel pessimistic about the future. As Heil recalls, Guenther was right. “I remember,” Heil says, “feeling extremely discouraged about energy consumption.”

Guenther was new to community college life when the course was created. “I entered the system to take a job, and became such a fan after my experience—the faculty were so knowledgeable, sophisticated and open‑minded. Probably stronger than anything else was the contact we had with students.”

One of those students was Heil, who went on to attend Gustavus Adolphus College after leaving Anoka-Ramsey. He is now president of Heil Truck Brokerage, and still thinks of ideas and uses skills he learned in 1971.

Guenther moved from Anoka-Ramsey to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources but kept his connection to the college in various ways, such as his friendship with Gene Merriam, who served on the Coon Rapids City Council and later in the Minnesota Legislature and strongly supports Anoka-Ramsey still today. Guenther also remains close to former Anoka-Ramsey Faculty member, Darby Nelson, who was the first ecologist Ph.D. in Minnesota, and of course with Heil.

Since the “Man and the Environment” course, Guenther and Heil have shared countless hours together, fishing, hunting and enjoying each other’s conversation. In hindsight, Guenther says his past worries about teaching the course and making the students concerned about the future were mistaken. He pauses as he smiles at Heil and states, “We went beyond colleagues. We became friends. And here we are, 45 years later, doing fine.”