David Till, poet, professor and co-founder of the literary magazine at Austin Peay State University, has died at age 84.

David Kelland Till was born in Elkhart, Indiana on Oct. 3, 1939, to Malissa Smolinske and H. Dale Till. After graduating from high school in Elkhart, Till attended Utah State University (USU) in Logan, Utah, where he received a Bachelor’s in English in 1960. He attended the University of Kansas’ (KU) graduate program for English in the early 1960s where he met Marcia Morgan, to whom he was married for 59 years until his death.

After receiving his Master’s at KU, Till taught English at USU (1965) and then at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa (1966). David and Marcia moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where their two sons, Jonathan and Seth, were born and David worked on his Ph.D. in English through the University of New Mexico. In 1971, the young family moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, so David could take a job in the Languages and Literature Department at Austin Peay State University (APSU).

Shortly after moving to Clarksville, Marcia and David started teaching Lamaze classes to expectant mothers and fathers. They co-taught this natural childbirth technique to dozens of new parents in the Clarksville area until 1978.

David and Marcia started to attend the Episcopal church in Logan, Utah. When they moved to Clarksville, the Till family attended Trinity Episcopal Church, where David served as a lay reader and as a Junior Warden for the Vestry.

Till taught at APSU for 33 years, retiring in 2004 as a full professor. During his career, Dr. Till taught thousands of undergraduate students and was a faculty advisor for many graduate students. Former student Dr. Jeff Hardin, now teaching English at Columbia State Community College, noted that David Till “was the best friend a poem ever had.”

In the 1970s, Till helped found a residency program for visiting writers, which brought authors of poetry and prose to read and teach at Austin Peay. When the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts was established at the university, David (with other colleagues) was instrumental in molding the program as an interdisciplinary endeavor of the arts and humanities. He was a co-founding editor of the literature publication, Zone 3 (indeed, he named the journal!). A book of his poetry, Oval, was the inaugural publication for Zone 3 Press in 2006. In 2018 APSU’s Creative Writing Committee initiated the David Till Award for Exceptional Writing.

Dr. David Till passed away in early February 2024. David is survived by his wife, Marcia Morgan Till, his sons, Jonathan Dale Till and Seth Morgan Till, and granddaughter, Grace Marie Till. He is also survived by his sister-in-law Margaret Helen Walbridge and brother-in-law Scott C. Morgan, and four nieces and their families. He was preceded in death by his sister-in-law Linda Morgan Schild and brother-in-law Gary L. Walbridge. David will be missed by his clowder of cats.

For people wishing to remember Dave Till, donations may be made to the following:

David Till Award, Department of Languages and Literature, PO Box 4487, APSU, Clarksville, TN 37044. An electronic link is available here: https://givetoapsu.com/LanguageandLit.

The Trinity Episcopal Parish at 317 Franklin Street, Clarksville, TN 37040. For online contributions please see: https://trinityparish.com/give/.

The Celebration of Life will be Thursday, Feb. 22, at 11 a.m. at Neal-Tarpley-Parchman Funeral Home, 1510 Madison St., with visitation starting at 10 a.m.