Many of you have known Larry Berkove longer and better than I have, but
when I presented my first paper at the Elmira Conference (2001), about the
relatively unknown “A Curious Experience,” Larry was among the first to
come up to me and urge me to publish it and, with Terry Oggel, even
suggested  where, *American Literary Realism.  *Way led to way and I hadn’t
when, a while later, at a different conference, he again approached me
about it and said that he wished to cite it in something he was working on.
After other ways-leading-to-ways, it did appear in *ALR*, likely too late
for Larry to use it if the comment were more than kind words from him but
coming from him meant much to me, demonstrating his generosity of spirit
and his caring attitude both toward others and others’ work. Such is one
fond memory of time with Larry, provoking some with him and Gail, who—like
Larry—had a perpetual smile.  I recall other smiles and pleasant
conversations with both, with them and the Tenneys in Boston for ALA, in
Hannibal once, and several times in Elmira.  I missed his physical presence
there in 2017, but like most of you, I have his *Sagebrush Anthology* and *The
Best Short Stories of Mark Twain* (the latter title the publisher’s
suggestion he said he opposed but finally accepted after rejecting others,
not wanting to say he alone had determined the best) and have frequently
cited his work in mine, and like others who have written, I vividly recall
him, his smile and his laughter, wearing a short-sleeve shirt with its
tails out.  He was emeritus when I met him, but that he was in his
seventies and eighties never occurred to me; he looked and seemed younger.  I
suppose a word approaching what I mean, rather than “youthful,” is “vital.”
Larry Berkove was and is a vital person in most senses of that word.  I am
sad and shall miss one of the first to befriend me in Elmira, as I know he
did with others, and one of the best friends and contributors to Mark Twain
studies but know that he is still with us.



On Mon, May 21, 2018 at 6:01 PM, Kent Rasmussen <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Of the many unpleasant things about growing older, perhaps the worst is
> living long enough to see many dear friends depart this life. Larry was, =
> as
> Tom Quirk points out, one of the good ones, and he'll be dearly missed. I=
>
> feel privileged to have had him as a friend and mentor. He was always
> generous and supportive and no doubt helped to make me a better Mark Twai=
> n
> scholar.=20
>
> One of the contributions to our field of which I'm most proud was playing=
>  a
> role in persuading Larry to to attend the 2015 conference in
> Hannibal--something he was reluctant to do because of his health. Happily=
> ,
> he was glad he attended, almost as glad, in fact, as were his many friend=
> s
> who saw him there.
>
> Here's a link to the forum page containing a picture of Larry and Gail I
> took at the conference:
> http://www.twainweb.net/gifs/Hannibal_2015/Hannibal2015a.html
>
> I'll miss Larry for many reasons,, one of which is his quiet sense of hum=
> or.
> Over the years, he loved twitting me about a silly matter. I live in a
> California town called "Thousand Oaks." He never tired of asking me if th=
> e
> town really does have 1,000 oak trees. Yes, Larry, it does. More than 1,0=
> 00,
> in fact, but I think you knew that all along.
>



-- 
John H. Davis, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Department of Language and Literature
Chowan University
Murfreesboro, North Carolina 27855