John Bellairs(1938-1991)

The author of 18 books including "St. Fidgeta and Other Parodies" (1966); "The Pedant and the Shuffly" (1968); the Tolkien-inspired fantasy "The Face in the Frost" (1969); and fifteen young-adult gothic supernatural thrillers starring such characters as Lewis Barnavelt, Johnny Dixon, and Anthony Monday. In 1955, after graduating from Marshall High School, he attended Notre Dame, and later made history when he and four other Notre Dame students appeared on the G.E. College Bowl program in March 1959. A Woodrow Wilson Fellow, Bellairs graduated Magna cum Laude with a Bachelor's degree in English (1959). The following year he moved to Chicago and earned a Masters in English from The University of Chicago. He later taught at the following colleges: 1963-65 - College of St. Teresa (Winona, MN) 1966-67 - Shimer College (Mount Carroll, IL) 1968-69 - Emmanuel College (Boston, MA) 1969-71 - Merrimack College (North Andover, MA) In 1973, his first young-adult novel, "The House with a Clock in its Walls," was published. In 1978, "The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn" followed with new characters. Both "The House with a Clock in its Walls" and "The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn" were made into televised dramatizations in 1979. "The Curse of the Blue Figurine" (1983) introduced another series of characters living and battling supernatural events near Duston Heights, MA. In 1991, Bellairs died of cardiovascular disease. Two books and two drafts of his work were completed by author Brad Strickland, who in turn has released six of his own books using the Bellairs characters. Strickland's most recent release is 2001's "The Tower at the End of the World." In 1992, the Marshall (Michigan) Historical Society erected a marker for the Cronin House, the real-life setting of "The House with a Clock in its Walls," and another marker for Bellairs. In 2000 he was inducted into the Haverhill (Massachusetts) Hall of Fame.