.jpg)
Bill Kloefkorn, who wrote of his boyhood, everyday life and friendship, has died after 25 years as Nebraska's state poet.
Family members told the Lincoln Journal Star that Kloefkorn died early Thursday in Lincoln. He was 78. Kloefkorn's family says he suffered an immune system disorder that left him progressively weak the past two years.
Kloefkorn, a native of Attica, Kan., retired from full-time teaching at Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1997.
His 31st book - "Swallowing the Soap: New and Selected Poems"
- was published this past winter. In 2012, a new Lincoln elementary school will be named for the man who spent years working with young
students as part of a national program called "Poets in the Schools."
Funeral arrangements are pending.
