Dear Mr. Miller, 
The experience you recount is testimony to Holbrook’s generosity and responsiveness. Thank you for sharing your memories with us!
All the best,
Shelley Fisher Fishkin

> On Feb 18, 2021, at 11:11 AM, Warren Miller <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Dear Prof. Dawidziak, Prof. Fishkin, Prof. Harris, Prof. Seybold, and other
> valued colleagues--
> 
> By way of introduction, I am not a Twain scholar. I was an academic for
> four years in the mid-1980s, but my field was strategic management, not
> literature. However, I feel enormously fortunate to be part of the Mark
> Twain Forum because I have learned so much from this remarkable and learned
> group..
> 
> Segue: I had the good fortune to have attended Culver Military Academy in
> Indiana on a scholarship, 1958-61. Mr. Holbrook was also a Culver graduate,
> Class of 1942. More than three decades after I graduated from
> Culver--sometime in the mid-1990s--he brought 'Mark Twain Tonight!' to
> Tulsa, where my beloved bride and I were living at the time. I wrote him a
> note, said I was also a 'Culver Man' (as we were called in those days), and
> asked if he would include Twain's 'The War Prayer' (link *is here
> <https://warprayer.org/>*) in his performance. I then gave it to the head
> usher with the request that he deliver it to Mr. Holbrook. I said that I
> thought that Mr. Holbrook would be delighted to get my note.
> 
> Sure enough, midway through Act II, Mr. Holbook did 'The War Prayer.' I was
> awestruck and so appreciative. About ten days later, I got a handwritten
> note from him saying that he had done it specifically for me and that he
> hoped I had enjoyed it. I hurriedly replied and said that I had indeed
> enjoyed it and thanked him profusely.
> 
> I am so sad that he is no longer with us. Mr. Holbrook was a giant of an
> actor for whose talents and contributions to American culture and to our
> country's history we should all be grateful.
> 
> Thank you for letting me weigh in and to be part of your wonderful Forum.
> 
> Best regards--
> 
> Warren Miller, CPA, CFA
> Beckmill Research, LLC
> Lexington, Virginia
> 
> On Wed, Feb 10, 2021 at 1:05 PM MARK DAWIDZIAK <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> 
>> And thank you to Matt and the Center for Mark Twain Studies for
>> suggesting this remembrance and giving it a home where it can be shared
>> with the extended family. Sharing memories of Hal certainly helps some, as
>> does the realization that so many of us got to tell him how much he meant .
>> . . and he got to return the favor by regularly acknowledging and
>> celebrating how much Twain scholarship meant to him. We all lost a
>> cherished and wonderful friend.
>> 
>>    On Tuesday, February 9, 2021, 3:03:53 PM EST, Harris, Susan Kumin <
>> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 
>> What a wonderful essay!  Thank you!  --susan harris
>> 
>> 
>> Susan K. Harris
>> 
>> 
>> ________________________________
>> From: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Shelley Fisher
>> Fishkin <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Tuesday, February 9, 2021 9:52 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject: Re: Dawidziak on Holbrook
>> 
>> “Thank you, Mark” seems a reductive expression of gratitude for this
>> eloquent and moving tribute. It is such a gift that you were able to convey
>> the appreciation of so many of us at that conference in Elmira when Hal was
>> present, enabling him  to hear how much he meant to us, and how much he had
>> changed our lives. You were a wonderful friend to him and he appreciated
>> you. You have also been a great friend to Mark Twain—and all of us. And we
>> appreciate you, too!
>> Shelley
>> 
>> 
>> ===============================
>> Shelley Fisher Fishkin
>> Joseph S. Atha Professor of Humanities; Professor of English, and
>> Director of American Studies, Stanford University
>> Mail: Department of English, Bldg. 460, 450 Serra Mall, Stanford
>> University, Stanford, CA 94305-2087
>> 
>> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fenglish.stanford.edu%2Fpeople%2Fshelley-fisher-fishkin&data=04%7C01%7Cskh5%40KU.EDU%7C551e24678bce42862b4008d8cd136603%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637484830490202986%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=yq%2FIp%2FqvsMBA%2FmToo9vp2Qc8OjH%2FdrnYQr02Bi%2BQANA%3D&reserved=0
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Feb 9, 2021, at 6:52 AM, Matthew Seybold <[log in to unmask]<mailto:
>> [log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>> 
>> I have read number Holbrook obituaries this past week, as I expect many of
>> you have. None has come close to being as comprehensive, much less as
>> personally touching, as Mark Dawidziak's:
>> 
>> 
>> https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmarktwainstudies.com%2Fhal-holbrook-an-appreciation-an-obituary-a-remembrance-a-friendship%2F&data=04%7C01%7Cskh5%40KU.EDU%7C551e24678bce42862b4008d8cd136603%7C3c176536afe643f5b96636feabbe3c1a%7C0%7C0%7C637484830490212982%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=L0WfMo1Oaoglo8LqlXEJP%2BUGDTBdpNimWQvZParpNlg%3D&reserved=0
>> 
>> --
>> Matt Seybold
>> Assistant Professor of American Literature & Mark Twain Studies
>> Elmira College
>> Editor, MarkTwainStudies.org
>> MattSeybold.com
>> 
>>