Garrison Keillor Hospitalized After Stroke

MINNEAPOLIS — Humorist Garrison Keillor still plans to start his new season of "A Prairie Home Companion" as scheduled in just over two weeks, despite suffering a minor stroke.

Keillor had the stroke and was admitted to Saint Marys Hospital at Mayo Clinic, said Karl Oestreich, a spokesman for the Rochester, Minn. facility. He will remain there until Friday for tests "and upon his release will resume his schedule as previously planned," Keillor spokesman David O'Neill said.

"He is up and moving around, speaking sensibly, working at a laptop," Oestreich said in a statement to The Associated Press.

O'Neill said in an e-mail that Keillor "is doing well and the family appreciates the warm wishes."

In a statement, Keillor said he was "feeling ill" on Monday morning and drove himself to United Hospital in St. Paul, where he lives, then was transferred to Mayo "simply because they know so much more about me down there."

Keillor, 67, underwent surgery to repair a heart valve at the Mayo Clinic in 2001.

"I am in the hands of smart and compassionate people and plan to get out on Friday and get right back to work," including the opening of a new season of "A Prairie Home Companion," Keillor said. "And that's the news from here."

Mayo Clinic initially said Keillor was hospitalized Sunday, but Keillor's publicist said it was Monday. Oestreich later confirmed it was Monday.

Keillor is scheduled to open the new season of "A Prairie Home Companion" on Sept. 26 from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.

He celebrated "Prairie Home's" 35th anniversary with a Fourth of July performance before some 10,000 people in Avon, a central Minnesota town that helped inspire his fictional hometown of Lake Wobegon. He performed last Friday night at the Minnesota State Fair.

Some 4 million people listen each week to "A Prairie Home Companion" on nearly 600 public radio stations in the U.S.

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On the Net:

A Prairie Home Companion: http://www.prairiehome.org

Comments

[domilove]

Oh Garrison Keillor! I hope you know how much you are appreciated. Please take good care of yourself. I am so happy you survived and faced no permanent communication barriers. In our family, we have dealt with the impact of strokes and we are sending you all our love for a speedy and complete recovery. Thank you for all you have done to create some of the greatest art around the poignancy of our lives, and feel free to take some time off when you need to--as fans we will be here for you forever!! You are one of the finest people on this planet.

[tttony]

I'll bet it didn't feel like a mild stroke to him.

[SlithyTove]

A man with talent matched only by his prodigious work ethic -- a latter-day Will Rogers...

Get completely well, and get home to Cathedral Hill soon, Mr. Keillor. We look forward to the new PHC season.

"Be well, do good work, and stay in touch".

[Frannyvida]

Get well Mr. Keillor. You are and will always will be one of my favorites.

[angrydove]

One of my favorite radio personalities, a great writer, I love all the skits especially Guy Noire, and the Librarian character. Get well and get back to work. We need you to maintain some sanity and good humor, Mr. Keillor

[gallimaufry03]

I've enjoyed reading Keillor's works over the years. My prayers are with him.

[darkday]

Get well soon.

[Zortag]

"He is up and moving around, speaking sensibly..­."

Well of course he is! He is from Minnesota. Those people are up, moving around and speaking sensibly (with the glaring exception of Michelle Bachman) all of the time. This is NOT a good diagnostic indicator for people born in a land of near-perpetual winter. Doctors should be looking for the following:

o Being "Minnesota nice"
o Wanting hospital food "on a stick" in honor of the State Fair
o Not gloating over the Vikings latest acquisition

Get better...

-*Zortag*-

[OldKoloa]

My prayers are your prayers Mr. Keillor. Get well soon.

[hatmadder]

My best wishes for your fast and complete recovery, Mr. Keillor. These days, we need your fine music and good cheer more than ever!

[oregonbird]

Its hardly his first stroke. Have you read his work lately? The man who helped redefine radio entertainment, who I would have put up against any other American commentator, past or present -- has been posting work that layered dirty-old-man musings, racist blank spots and misogynist platitudes for the past year or more. Many of his readers believed he was either drinking far too much -- many of his articles mentioned alcohol -- or that he was suffering from that old-fashioned disease of age, hardening of the arteries. It was a shame to see a man with such a good-natured and pragmatic outlook on life take on the mental trappings of a nasty grandfather.

Strokes destroy personality, one neuron at a time. It's sad that he will continue to work, knowing that the muck he manages to produce will overshadow the brilliance and generosity of spirit his work once displayed.

Please -- someone who cares about this man should intervene, and keep him from destroying his own legacy.

[deneufeldt]

He is a National Treasure. Hope he completely recovers.

[patianneb]

I completely and totally agree.

[LordByron13]

I totally agree. None of my friends have ever heard of him, or 'A prairie home companion'­...and I think its a great insight to 'middle-america'.

and the 'commercials' are hilarious.

[thatslife]

My husband received Garrison Keillor's poems for his July 4th birthday, and has been reading me some of Keillor's writings, some are pretty naughty. Love them.
We have been listening to Garrison Keillor and The Prairie Home Companion for 30 years.
What would Saturday afternoons, PST, and evenings, be without him.

Here's to a speedy recovery!!!!

[BonoVox]

He's the best.

Wishing you a full and speedy recovery Garrison!

[MNmommy]

Bless.

Sending healing vibes for a quick recovery.