I cannot express enough my sadness to hear this news. I cannot provide a 
simple summary of the many, many kindnesses Tom showed me over the years. 
When I was alowly grad student at my first MT gathering, he insisted i call 
him Tom--not Dr. Tenney. I shared hotel rooms with him and spent many hours 
with him  in various cities swapping stories.

I will share a story Tom repeated many times over the years. At one 
convention, I overheard the joke about the student who got so tired of a 
teacher talking about Yeats that he exclaimed "That guy is going to give me 
a Yeats infection!" I wrote the punchline down on a sheet to remember it and 
put it in my pocket. Sometime later, Tom spotted the paper and only saw the 
words "Yeats infection." He started laughing and warned me I might be 
alerting the world to something I might not want to signal . . . I have no 
idea how many times Tom told that anecdote. For years and years . . .

Anyway, Tom's death is a loss on so many levels. We owe him so much.

Dr. Wesley Britton
www.spywise.net

Co-host, Dave White Presents
www.audioentertainment.org/dwp



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alan Gribben" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2012 10:55 AM
Subject: Re: Dr. Thomas A. Tenney


> Dr. Thomas A. Tenney (1931-2012), best known for editing the MARK TWAIN 
> JOU=
> RNAL but also recognized for his assistance to younger scholars, died 
> yeste=
> rday at 3:45 p.m. of heart failure after a brief stay in a Charleston 
> hospi=
> tal.
>
> Dr. Tenney received the John S. Tuckey Award from the Center for Mark 
> Twain=
> Studies at Elmira College in 2005.  He was the author of MARK TWAIN:  A 
> RE=
> FERENCE GUIDE (1977) and its various supplements, along with numerous 
> other=
> publications.
>
> There will be a private family service at a later date, according to his 
> wi=
> dow Margaret Tenney; no public funeral will be held.
>
> Before his death Dr. Tenney made arrangements for the continuation of the 
> M=
> ARK TWAIN JOURNAL.
>
> Sincerely,
> Alan Gribben=
>
>
> -----
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