lit a candle 2d agoNever knew him, just read this piece over breakfast, but 36 years in special education without ever being famous for it is its own kind of record.
Their story
Joseph Bernard Gunnison was a longtime special education teacher in Rochester, Minnesota, who spent more than three decades working with students in the Rochester Public Schools district before retiring from Mayo High School's Work Experience program. He died on October 20, 2026, at Prairie Meadows Senior Living in Kasson, Minnesota,…
Joseph Bernard Gunnison was a longtime special education teacher in Rochester, Minnesota, who spent more than three decades working with students in the Rochester Public Schools district before retiring from Mayo High School's Work Experience program. He died on October 20, 2026, at Prairie Meadows Senior Living in Kasson, Minnesota, at the age of 74.
Gunnison was born on November 28, 1951, in Yonkers, New York, to Andrew and Anne Gunnison. He attended St. Barnabus Elementary School and then Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx before earning his teaching degree at California State College, Pennsylvania. He met Rochester school district recruiters at a job fair in Texas, and in 1973 he moved halfway across the country to Minnesota to begin his teaching career, a place that became his lasting home.
Over his career he taught special education in several schools across the Rochester district and later earned a master's degree from Mankato State University. He gave back to the community that had become his own by serving on the boards of directors of The ARC and The ABC of Rochester, two organizations supporting people with disabilities. He finished his teaching career in the Work Experience program at Mayo High School, a role that let him continue helping students prepare for life beyond the classroom.
Outside the classroom, Gunnison was known as a devoted antiques collector with a particular passion for American art pottery and mission style oak furniture. Friends and family in Minnesota, where he had put down roots far from his native New York, remembered him as someone who built a second family among colleagues, neighbors and friends over his more than fifty years in Rochester.
News of his death was shared through an obituary posted by Ranfranz and Vine Funeral Home and reported by the Post Bulletin and other local outlets. No cause of death has been made public. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother Robert, and is survived by his sister Kathy Rice, his brother Andrew (Michele) Gunnison, nephews, a niece, a great nephew and great niece, cousins, and close Minnesota friends he considered family. A memorial service is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 31, 2026, at Ranfranz and Vine Funeral Home in Rochester.
Biography adapted from News reports and the sources cited on this page; death reported by Legacy | Obituary.
Teachers like that rarely get the obituary they deserve.