I am posting the following note on behalf of Mary L. Christmas <
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Thank you, TR

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Subject: A Tribute to Margaret Tenney

Dear Forum Members:

When Tom Tenney passed away, I posted the following message (on February 2,
2012) to the Forum....

>>My experiences with Tom Tenney began in the mid-1980s with a telephone
call placed to his
>>home in Charleston. I was living in Massachusetts at the time and made
the call (cold) during
>>my lunch-hour. I had been bitten by the Mark Twain "bug" and was anxious
to "talk shop" with
>>someone knowledgeable. I had found his name and contact info while
digging around at my
>>local library. I had no idea what was in store. It was above and beyond
anything I could have
>>hoped or imagined. The call lasted the hour, and then some. It was like
talking to a dear friend
>>although we had not yet met.

>>In all the years since then--in the interim, my husband and I crossed
paths with him at Elmira
>>conferences, and in further calls and mailings he provided both
encouragement and insights to
>>me in my literary-research pursuits--my initial impression of him never
changed. He was every
>>bit in person as he was on the phone that first day; and those occasional
one- and two- (or even
>>three-?) hour phone calls over the years were but continuations of that
original conversation. His
>>scholarly enthusiasm, boundless energy, and gentle demeanor never
wavered, and I am grateful
>>beyond measure for the many kindnesses he extended to me.

Permit me now to add the rest of the story. In that fateful, first call, it
was Margaret who had answered the phone. Thus, technically, hers was the
first voice heard, my first point of contact, in Twaindom. That inaugural
call occurring at lunchtime, I was apologizing profusely for any
interruption, and giving her every opportunity to play the equivalent of
the "Mr. Clemens has stepped out" [onto the billiard-room balcony] card, if
she wished. But she, being aware of the nature of the call, reassured me
(with a knowing, significant edge in her voice that I shall never forget)
that he would be *more than happy* to speak with me--and off she went, into
the house, to summon him to the line. And thus was the start of it all,
flowing from past to present: that phone receiver, in my hand, now the
latest issue of the _Mark Twain Journal_, the one bringing the sad news of
Mrs. Tenney's passing; and in between, an indescribable and exhilarating
journey of new contacts, new friends, and new realms of Mark Twain
biographical exploration. That prescient edge in her voice, of years ago,
said it all.

Margaret Tenney's obituary can be found here:
<http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/charleston/obituary.aspx?n=Margaret-
Shannon-Broughton-Tenney&pid=183485287>

M.L. Christmas