COTTONWOOD — He was best known for his humorous look at Minnesota language and culture. But people who knew Howard Mohr said his down-to-earth personality was just as much a part of him as his sense of humor.

“He was very funny, but he was a regular guy,” said former Independent editor Dana Yost said. “You could tell he cared about rural life and people.”

Mohr, a Cottonwood resident and author of the book “How to Talk Minnesotan,” died Sunday at the age of 83.

Mohr’s writing covered many of the cultural quirks of life in Minnesota, from long goodbyes to the finer points of waving to other drivers from your steering wheel. “How to Talk Minnesotan” grew out of Mohr’s work writing for Garrison Keillor’s radio show “A Prairie Home Companion.” The book was first published in 1987, and was later adapted into a stage musical at the Plymouth Playhouse.

Mohr wasn’t a lifelong Minnesotan, but he still had a connection with rural Midwestern life, said Marcy Olson, a friend of the Mohr family. Because of that, she said, “I think people really embraced him, and realized he was down-to-earth.”

Mohr was born in Des Moines, Iowa, and lived in California before coming back to Ferguson, Iowa, as a teen. He went on to study at Abilene Christian University in Texas, get a master’s degree at the University of Arkansas, and study for a doctorate at the University of Iowa.

In 1970 Mohr started teaching in the English department at Southwest Minnesota State University. It was a time when several SMSU faculty — including poets Stephen Dunn, Philip Dacey, Leo Dangel and Bill Holm — were drawing attention for their writing about rural life.

Olson said she first got to know Mohr in 1989 when she was a student in one of his classes at SMSU. Olson said Mohr’s dry wit showed even as he was teaching.

“He had the most unique sense of humor. You had to make sure you were following along,” Olson said of Mohr.

Over the years, Olson stayed friends with Mohr, his wife Jody and their daughter, Susan.

Yost said he got to know Mohr in a couple of ways – first as a journalist writing about Mohr, and then as a resident of Cottonwood.

“He was a very good observer of the things that make us Minnesotan,” Yost said.

Mohr’s insights were a big part of why readers connected with his writing, said SMSU professor David Pichaske.

“I think it’s the accuracy of language and behavior – you read this stuff and you think, ‘Yup, that’s the way it is,’ ” Pichaske said. Pichaske said he still shares Mohr’s writing with students in class.

At the same time, Mohr’s humor didn’t look down on rural Minnesotans, Yost and Olson said.

“He wrote about them as one of them,” Olson said.

Yost said Mohr was able to write for very different media, from books to radio and television scripts, and the musical version of “How to Talk Minnesotan.”

“He could do it all,” Yost said.

But Mohr didn’t let fame go to his head. “He was very close to his friends and family,” and kept his connection with rural Minnesota, Yost said.

“He’s always been supportive of all the writers we’ve had here,” Olson said.

“He really believed there was talent in the rural Midwest,” Yost said.

Services for Mohr will be held at a later date.