How I wish I had "powers" to bring us all together so we could cry and hug and drink a toast to our dear Lou - in a circle at the Study site at Quarry Farm! This is a sad and lonesome night. I miss all of you and I especially miss Lou. Love to all, Gretchen ---- Mark Dawidziak <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Tougher duty, I can't imagine, Tom. > At the last Elmira gathering, we watched Lou Budd present his dear > friend Tom Quirk with the John S. Tuckey Lifetime Achievement Award. If > memory serves, Lou said he was quite sure Mark Twain would have liked > Tom Quirk as much for his personality as for his literary insight. Those > wonderful words also apply to the fellow who spoke them in August 2009. > We'll all be struggling with words strong enough and proper enough > to capture what Lou meant as a friend, mentor, teacher, scholar and > author. Memorializing Lou by helping a library seems altogether fitting, > of course, but another kind of towering memorial will unquestionably be > built by Forum members sharing countless instances of Lou's wisdom, > generosity, leadership, thoughtfulness and passion. > Wiser and more insightful words are already being posted by wiser > and more insightful members of the extended Twain family, but I'll > certainly never forget Lou going out of his way to make a Conference > novice feel welcome and worthy. Although he easily could have assumed > the role of Twainian grand master, he always seemed as excited about > learning new things as he was about sharing his considerable learning. > Indeed, he seemed the epitome of the old line about taking the work > seriously but not yourself. To paraphrase another author, Dickens, tell > me higher praise and I'll use it. > > On 1/1/2011 2:00 PM, Quirk, Thomas V. wrote: > > I am sorry to report that Louis Budd died in his sleep on Monday, December > > 20th. In accordance with Lou's wishes, there will be no memorial service. > > As some of you may know, Lou lived the last several months next door to his > > son and his family in Patagonia, Arizona. According to his son," if you > > communicate with folks who wish to memorialize in some concrete way, his > > favorite cause had become the local library. Any checks would be made > > payable to Friends of the Library, at mailing address Patagonia Public > > Library, PO Box 415, Patagonia, AZ, 85624. They do have a website, which i= > > s > > www.patagoniapubliclibrary.org." > > > > Tom Quirk =20 > >