I am posting the following note on behalf of Mary L. Christmas < [log in to unmask]> Thank you, TR ---- 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