English Retirees Newsletter

23rd Edition, September 2013

Chair’s Message

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Walking across campus yesterday with George Kennedy, I happened upon Stanton Linden, my direct predecessor as our department’s specialist in seventeenth-century English literature. To Stan’s question about what brought a chair and former chair together, George simply replied, accurately, “shop talk.” Stan then looked straight at us and said something along the lines of “I’m glad I don’t have to do shop talk anymore.”

There are, of course, moments in this my second year as chair when Stan’s words are one I would very much like to utter (usually those moments are occupied by lengthy memos). But what I do always like talking about, and via this newsletter hearing about, are the people and the work that make up our community of scholars and teachers.

Indeed, as this academic year begins, I’m confident that these people—you included—are the key to advancing our department through the challenges that face Washington State and the academy at large. There are positive signs on the horizon, including the first general pay raise for faculty in more than five years, itself a sign that the economic challenges that had so constricted us might finally have abated. I’m also happy to report generally strong enrollments across our courses, and in particular in our first-year writing and introductory humanities and literature courses. There another entering class of nearly 4,000 first-year students will find in our classrooms the personal and intellectual engagement that makes our work distinctively different than the large lecture courses that otherwise populate their schedules. We also admitted another strong group of graduate students, including the first Ph.D. cohort to be granted five rather than four years of guaranteed funding. This commitment represents our recognition not only of the continuing challenges of the academic job market but also of the need to support the kind of time-consuming, sophisticated research and writing that makes for the best scholarly projects.

To teach all these students we welcomed two new members to our faculty, as well as said good-bye to another. Crag Hill, a fifth-year assistant professor in specializing in English Education, departed for a position with the University of Oklahoma’s College of Education, seeking a more direct connection to training the next generation of public school teachers and administrators. To ensure our own English Education program did not falter we brought in James “Bucky” Carter, a former assistant professor at the University of Texas-El Paso, to serve as a two- year visiting assistant professor while we finalized our own permanent hiring plans. Also joining our ranks, in this instance as part of a hire elsewhere in the university, is Donna Potts, formerly a professor of English at Kansas State University, where she specialized in twentieth-century British and Irish literature and ecological criticism. At our campus in Tri-Cities we also welcomed Michelle Balaev, previously a visiting assistant professor at Wake Forest University, as a new assistant professor of twentieth-century American literature and ecocriticism.

As the latter two hires suggest, the department is developing a particular strength in eco-criticism, broadly conceived as not just “nature writing” but how language—and the human beings that use it— not only exist within but influence their environments. In moving forward with our own five- year plan, we have also tentatively identified two additional areas of potential or emerging strength. In studying “Manuscript, Print, and Digital Cultures” we seek to understand how historical and contemporary uses of language are shaped by the very forms in which they are expressed, and how processes of reading and writing considered fundamental to our field undergo change and development across history. Similarly, we are also paying renewed attention to what some might term “Global English,” recognizing growing worldwide interconnectedness of cultures, politics, and economics requires an increased consideration of the myriad ways in which English is used as a local, national, and global resource.

Identifying these and other areas remains a developing conversation in our department, but I offer it to you here to demonstrate (I hope) that we are not simply resting on our laurels. Rather, we hope to continue developing as a community, remaining constant to our core values and long history of scholarship while simultaneously reinforcing the centrality of our work, and the humanities in general, to our university and the citizenry it serves.

These are, of course, lofty goals, ones more easily advanced in the beauty of the Palouse fall than in the more cloud-shrouded darkness of the later parts of the semester. Even so, I would welcome hearing from you on any of these matters, as well as on what you’re doing and how we might stay better connected with you. A house is only as good as its foundation, and I thank you for the sturdy one that you helped build for all of us.

Best,
Todd Butler

Editor’s Note

This year’s newsletter begins on a sad note, with the obituaries of three of our long-time colleagues.

Bruce Anawalt represented an ideal in teaching for me. He was able to bring literature to life for students in a way that I deeply admired.

Ron Meldrum was a supportive colleague to me as a young professor. I always remember his enthusiastic allusions to anything Canadian or Scottish.

Besides having a distinguished career in English, Bob Johnson was the founder and editor of this newsletter. We all owe a debt to him for having conceived of this project and made it happen.

I was traveling in the couple of weeks before this issue came out, so I didn’t send out the usual reminder closer to the date. Thanks to all of you who got your contributions to me anyway.

Obituaries

Bruce Anawalt

Bruce Anawalt passed away peacefully on July 24, 2013, at home in Pullman surrounded by his family. The second child of Bruce Sr. and Marzelle (Greer) Anawalt, he was born on July 1, 1927, in the City of Glendale, California.

A native of the Pacific Northwest, Bruce spent his early years growing up in Oregon, Idaho and Washington. He excelled in school and sports, served as a lifeguard and was elected as president of his high school senior class in absentia, having entered the United States Navy from which he was honorably discharged in August of 1946.

Bruce received his Bachelor of Arts and Master’s degrees from the University of Oregon, going on to complete his Doctorate at Michigan State University, where he met his future wife Loretta Bonnier. In 1958, the couple married in Eugene, Oregon and in 1960 they moved to Pullman where Bruce accepted a position as English Professor at Washington State University.

Along with his wife, Loretta, Bruce was a founding member of the Pullman Civic Trust, which worked over the years with the City of Pullman to create the Civic Trust Riverpark and Check Dam, the Downtown Riverwalk, the Pine Street Plaza, Chipman Trail and many other town improvements.

Gardening was a favorite activity of Bruce, who enjoyed being out in nature. He helped to organize and run the Annual Civic Trust Bulb Sale in 1980, which since has been a vital part of the Palouse Lentil Festival. His yard and garden were well appreciated for their variety of plants, bulbs, trees, ponds and bird baths.

A respected Shakespeare scholar, Bruce received the William F. Mullen award for excellence in teaching from the WSU College of Arts and Sciences in 1990. The following year, he was invited to give the 12th annual Honors Invited Lecture at the Fine Arts Auditorium in recognition of his teaching excellence and outstanding scholarship. He retired from WSU in August of 1992.

Bruce is survived by his sons Aaron and Seth Anawalt; his brothers Douglas Anawalt and Donald Anawalt; his sister Ginger Anawalt; granddaughters Tess and Lydia Mae Anawalt; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his wife Loretta as well as his parents.

Ronald Meldrum

Ronald Murray Meldrum, 86, of Moscow, passed away July 18, 2013. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Aug. 30 at the Unitarian Church in Moscow, 420 E. Second St.

Ronald was born Jan. 31, 1927, in Penticton, B.C., to Jennie (Love) and George Meldrum. He attended public schools in Penticton and in Bassano, Alberta. He graduated from the University of British Columbia (Vancouver) with bachelor’s degrees in both English and zoology in 1949. Subsequently, he earned his master’s degree in English from the University of Washington, and he was the first person awarded a Ph.D. in English from Arizona State University (ASU). A self-supported student, he worked as an assistant station agent on the mainline of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1943, and sailed on the CPR Princess Boats along the West Coast between 1944 and 1949, and in 1950 on the Canadian National Prince Rupert, nearly four years at sea.

In 1960, he married Barbara Ruth Howard, a fellow English scholar, and the following year became the father of identical twin girls, Deirdre Ruth and Cynthia Leigh. He taught at many universities: University of Washington, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Redlands, University of California- Riverside, ASU, and faculty exchanges at the University of Connecticut and Alaska Methodist University. Ronald joined the Washington State University faculty in 1965, retiring in 1992. On his first sabbatical leave in 1971 in Copenhagen, he discovered the correspondence of James I of England and Christian IV of Denmark, which he had translated and published. He was a founding member and past president of the Western British Studies Conference, past president of the Western Renaissance Conference, and director of the Institute of Renaissance Studies of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, summer of 1972. Ever a scholar, he explored many subjects in depth and taught a wide variety of courses, the most popular being Shakespeare and the Bible as literature. His students found his teaching inspirational; some became lifelong friends.

Following retirement, he resumed a lifelong interest in clocks and shared his hobby of clock repair with many who attribute the renewed life of their clocks to his expert care. He was an avid reader, prolific photographer and an able carpenter and handyman. He made many friends with those who appreciated his wide-ranging knowledge and skill. He loved to travel and especially cherished time spent in Crail, Scotland, his ancestral home.

In 1977, Ronald and Barbara purchased property on Coeur d’Alene Lake and spent much of their summers there, enjoying the water, engaging in endless projects, and entertaining family and friends. He loved good music and a good story. Most of all, he loved his family and is sadly missed by them. To them, he is the most thoughtful, kind, compassionate, generous, smart, loving person they have ever known.

Ronald is survived by his wife, Barbara, at their Moscow home; daughter Cynthia Scheyer (husband Richard Scheyer) of Seattle; daughter Deirdre Meldrum (husband Alan Nelson) of Phoenix; sister Donna Gaw of Victoria, B.C.; and grandchildren Vienna Tapestry Scheyer, Thaddeus Meldrum Wiktor and Genevieve Meldrum Wiktor.

Robert Johnson

Robert Owen “Bob” Johnson, 86, Professor Emeritus of English at Washington State University, passed away on June 3, 2013, at Bishop Place. He was born on July 16, 1926, in Englewood, N.J., to Walter Knute and Adele (de Castro) Johnson. The family moved to Seattle in 1932.

In 1947, he graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N.Y. He served in the Merchant Marine as an engine room cadet in the Pacific Theater during the last eight months of World War sailing on an ammunition ship. During the Korean War he served as an officer in the Navy. In 1950, he graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in English.

He married Barbara Anderson in Berkeley, Calif., on Aug. 16, 1952.

He received his M.A. and doctorate in English from the University of Washington and in 1957 joined the English Department at Washington State University. At WSU he chaired the American Studies Program, was president of the Pacific Northwest American Studies Association, served as president of WSU’s Faculty Council and was chairman of the Faculty Senate.

The Johnsons retired from WSU in 1988, spending their winter months at Happy Trails Resort in Surprise, Ariz. Bob was twice elected to the Board of Directors and chaired the Transition Committee of the resort.

He was a longtime member of the Pullman Kiwanis Club and was commanding officer of Naval Reserve Research Company 13-3 in Pullman. Bob was also a member of the Community Congregational, United Church of Christ in Pullman and served as moderator and as a member of the Board of Trustees.

He enjoyed hiking, skiing, traveling, camping and poker. He was proud that he and David climbed Mount Rainier.

He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Barbara Johnson, at the family home in Pullman; daughter, Susan Gustin (Hal) of Parker, Colo.; son, David Johnson of Eugene, Ore.; as well as two grandchildren in Parker, and three grandchildren and one great-grandson in Eugene.

Paul Brians (WSU 1968–2008)

While we continued to enjoy life on Bainbridge Island this past year, we could have done without a couple of events that kept us closer to home than we wished: a stress fracture in Paula’s foot and rotator cuff surgery for me— fortunately not at the same time.

While Paula was confined to a “boot” I was running around the island taking pictures for the new edition of Walks on Bainbridge by Dave and Alice Shorett. All of us who worked on this project donated our labor, with the proceeds going to support the Bainbridge Island Land Trust.

Both of us continued to work with the Land Trust throughout the year. I assembled a photographic slide show for the annual meeting which took the place of the traditional keynote lecture. About half the photos were mine.

Then came my shoulder operation, and I had to suspend photographic expeditions for four months. My latest land trust project has just been published on Inside Bainbridge. Both the Chamber of Commerce and the City of Bainbridge are going to use some of my photos on their websites.

We’ve hosted various friends and relatives, including daughter Megan, who came at Christmas, and again in late August. For the last week and a half we’ve been visiting folks in five New England States—too early for autumn color. Lots of good talk, walks, music, and art.

We greatly enjoyed exploring the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. It’s a collection of old buildings filled with all sorts of collections: antique vehicles, circus miniatures, paintings, and all kinds of other stuff. One building was filled with various sorts of dolls and automata, including this detailed miniature of a Victorian lady and her wardrobe.

Our favorite museum exhibit consisted of two enormous Phoenix sculptures by Xu Bing, who created these amazing works out of debris left over from the construction of the Beijing Olympics site. They are now on display in a vast gallery of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA). They will migrate in November to the nave of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York.

She continues to sing with various vocal groups, including a new island chorale called Amabile which had its first rehearsal last night. She also had a part in one of the plays in the local Ten Minute Play Festival, and participated in a musical theatre workshop this summer.

I continue to enjoy giving tours at the Science Fiction Museum. Yesterday there were visitors from Australia, Germany, and England.

We bought a new Prius hybrid this, and greatly enjoy watching the gas consumption dwindle.

My Common Errors in English Usage Web site continues to be popular, with over 15,000,000 visitors since 1997. A third edition of the book version is being published this fall.

Bainbridge Island has a Fourth of July parade which—while it does not rival Johnson’s in funkiness—attracts a huge crowd. I took a lot of pictures while marching with the Land Trust unit.

Paul Brians

11734 Kirk Ave.
NE Bainbridge, WA 98110
Email: paulbrians@gmail.com

Leota and Dutch Day (WSU l970–1988)

Hi, everyone,

Dutch and I continue in good health—just the usual creaky knees and achy joints of aging. We decided to take dairy foods out of our diet as a means of reducing cholesterol. It worked and I lost a few pounds as well.

We had a wonderful trip to Spain with a Rick Steves tour last fall. Our first Rick Steves tour was a “Best of Europe” 15 years ago. On both our tours, we were about the middle of the age range. What does that say about these tours? Interestingly, we didn’t travel quite so “Through the Back Door” as our first tour. No shared bathrooms and dinners that were pizza on the piazza in Florence have morphed into seven course meals with roast suckling pig and excellent wines in Segovia. The tour included two nights in the Kasbah in Tangier, Morocco. We had an Indian woman in our group who wore a sari. She received a lot of respect from the Muslim population there. The rest of us were just more tourists and underdressed at that.

After the tour, we took a local bus to Lisbon and spent a couple of nights there to complete the Iberian Peninsula.

Our family is well and thriving. Our grandson, Isaac, asked us if he could help decorate our house for Christmas. We ended up with a thicker line of ornaments around our tree about three-and-a-half feet off the floor. Not beautiful in our eyes, but it was in his, so we left it. He is charming for six years and like all boys that age is into silly knock- knock jokes. Anyone want to send us some good ones?

Evelyn, our granddaughter, is a little firecracker. She’s like her mother and we giggle in anticipation. She just received a box of hand-me-downs from an older cousin and spent an entire afternoon trying everything on. She had to have pink or green or whatever on both top and bottom. We suggested a combination and she said, “No! Match!” She’s two and a half. The pink tutu was her favorite, which drove Kecia nuts.

We’ve had such wonderful weather this summer in Seattle this year that I am no longer claiming my tan is rust. The flowers bloomed early and lasted long. We’ve even managed to ripen peppers for the first time. I should have planted eggplants, but I’d already given up on them years ago.

We hope you all remain healthy and happy.

Leota and Dutch Day

5653 11th Ave. NE
Seattle, WA 98105
Email: carvil@comcast.net

Diane Gillespie (WSU 1975–2001)

We’re still traveling. Last fall around this time we were planning a trip to the national parks in the Southwestern U.S. to hike with Road Scholar. My bone-chipped ankle healed just in time. We hiked in Bryce and Zion, along the north rim of the Grand Canyon (in a blizzard), and in several national monument areas we hadn’t known existed. We learned, or relearned, a lot of geology and inevitably, given the magnificent scenery, took some pretty good photographs.

All winter we were busy, often with plays, concerts, volunteer activities, and related board meetings. In May we went with Road Scholar to Southeast Alaska. We were on a small Lindblad/National Geographic Expedition ship and did water landings from zodiacs for nature hikes on various islands. We also went out among feeding humpback whales, sea lions, and ice chunks of different sizes (“growlers,” “bergie bits,” and “ice bergs”) from calving glaciers. All nature ignored our little boats and made us feel our insignificance. On board we got information and demonstrations from National Geographic naturalists and photographers. It was a stunning trip!

In June I gave my usual paper at the Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf, this one the 23rd and in Vancouver B.C. It was like living in a lovely bubble, with everyone speaking the same scholarly language in a beautiful setting. This year’s paper related a Hogarth Press book called Adventures in Investing by “Securitas” to the quandaries of my own fifteen-year-old investment club here in Pullman. The paper fit our panel topic, “Hands-on with the Woolfs and the Hogarth Press.”

We’re recently back from the Twin Ports (Duluth MN/Superior WI) where we spent time visiting with relatives, but mainly with my ailing sister, now in a nursing home. We divided our time there with hiking on Isle Royale, a National Park in Lake Superior. The trip was an odd mixture of confrontation with the inevitable and efforts to delay it.

At the end of September we will join a Road Scholar group based in Bar Harbor, Maine for hiking in Acadia National Park. Then, with friends from Pullman, we’re renting a cabin on the coast for several days. When they leave, we’ll meet Dick’s brother and wife from the Netherlands and spend a few days in New Hampshire with Dick’s sister.

Our profession and the world it reflects continue to change rapidly. The recent deaths of Bob Johnson, Bruce Anawalt, and Ron Meldrum, all of whom were very much presences in the department when I arrived, mark the further waning of an academic generation. We’ll remember them for their dedication, their contributions to the lives of their students, and their community spirit.

Diane Gillespie

945 SE Glen Echo Rd.
Pullman, WA 99163
gillespie@pullman.com

Alexander Hammond (WSU 1975–2009)

Dear Fellow Retirees,

Missing last year’s newsletter, and wanting to keep this summary brief, I’ll touch on only the highlights. I have filled my retirement since 2009 with a bit of continuing Poe scholarship (articles on his early fiction, work as consulting editor on the still-surviving Poe Studies, a few conference papers, undisciplined work on the MASC Poe collection), Barbara continues her small private practice as a psychologist, our son continues as production designer on Hollywood films, our daughter has just shifted to a job managing the Baja Sur operations for EPI in La Paz, and our grandsons (now 13 and 10) grow apace in wondrous ways.

While we missed Bob Johnson’s memorial while traveling last spring, we attended far too many others: those of ex-colleagues Bruce Anawalt and Ron Meldrum, as well as the burial service for Alice Blackburn, whom many of you will recall as Charlie’s widow and past head of Neill Library. Sadder still were the deaths of much younger folk connected to the department: a Ph.D. graduate, Kathleen Burrage, who wrote a fine dissertation on Hawthorne, and a B.A. graduate, Isamu Jordon, whom many may recall as an editor of the Daily Evergreen and music critic for the Spokesman Review.

We continue to live on Pullman’s College Hill amid the sounds of students, I occasionally host the department’s ancient department game of poker (Bruce Anawalt played until the last year of his life, and Doug Hughes, Al von Frank, and Dick Law show up when in town). and I work with the College Hill Association on its efforts to preserve the hill’s historic district while Barbara serves on the Police Advisory Committee for the neighborhood–a difficult task indeed with the David Warner’s life-threatening injury this year outside an Adams Mall bar.

Finally, our travels have included trips to Berlin and countries along the Danube, to France, Canada, and Baja California, and (in a few days) to Ireland.

Until next year,

Alex (and Barbara)

1110 N.E. Indiana St.
Pullman, WA 99163
Email: BarbAlexH@gmail.com

Rich Haswell (WSU 1967–1980)

Donated my beetle collection to Texas A&M University. It was appraised at $127,00. Take that, IRS!

It was time to give up on beetles. Too elusive for my arthritic hips any more. So I’ve taken up wildflower photography. Flowers tend to stay put while you are getting them into focus. Here’s one of my favorite shots, of a nodding onion (Allium cernuum). Nice thing about onions in the wild—if you aren’t sure of your identification, just take a nibble.

Rich

Bill Hirschfeld (WSU 1978–1988)

Thank you, Paul, for keeping this noble tradition going. I was saddened to learn of the loss of Bruce Anawalt, Bob Johnson and Ron Meldrum. I remember fondly their warm welcome and encouragement when I joined the department. Hard to believe that was 35 years ago.

Between volunteer work and a host of activities at my retirement community just southwest of St. James Cathedral, I’m keeping as busy as ever.

In July and August I took a seven-week “vacation” to visit our daughter, Mary (BA in Econ WSU; PhD Harvard) in Pennsylvania where she is now in her third year at Villanova as a Professor of Economics and Theology in the Humanities Department. She is enjoying teaching humanities and inter-disciplinary courses in humanities and economics. I accompanied her to Notre Dame to sit in with a couple of dozen others on the successful defense of her dissertation: “Virtuous Consumption in a Dynamic Economy: A Thomistic Engagement with Neoclassical Economics.” The premise is that the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas can help overcome the impasse between economists who set aside ethical questions raised by the market economy such as materialism or economic injustice, and theologians who tend to dismiss economists for doing so.

I spent the next six weeks helping her move from an apartment which was a 45- min. to 1hr drive (depending on traffic) from her office, to a townhouse she purchased on Rebel Hill above Gulph Mills—just a five-minute drive from Villanova. I learned that this is the site of a brief December 1777 encampment of Washington and the Continental Army on retreat from Germantown to Valley Forge. She has a lovely view from this hilltop to nearby heavily wooded hills. I helped ready the new place for occupancy, doing some home improvement work myself and helping engage tradesmen to do things I had neither tools nor stamina to undertake. And we moved a lot of small stuff (including many boxes of books) to the new place. It was a very welcome change of pace for me and the weather was relatively cool for part of the visit!

Bill Hirschfeld

725 Ninth Ave., Apt. 1305
Seattle 98104

Virginia Hyde (WSU 1970–2004)

Dear Colleagues,

I send a short letter this year because I am late getting it to Paul and have no time left!

I was deeply sorry and touched to hear of the deaths of three of our number who were among those who greeted me warmly when I first came to Pullman. Bruce Anawalt was long known as the “most handsome man” in the English Department (based on actual votes); he was also a generous friend and charismatic teacher (and great party host!) over the years. It is impossible to look around Pullman without feeling thankful to him and Loretta for their amazing work beautifying the city and campus. After Bruce planted daffodils in front of Avery Hall, I always halted my Wordsworth class (in the English survey) to point to the “host of golden daffodils” outside our window. There are many such sites that testify to Bruce’s efforts and are testimonials to him. I was distressed, too, to lose Ron Meldrum and Bob Johnson, both of whom were so good to know.

Dave and I have spent most of the year at home here in Pullman, heeding Candide’s lesson to “cultivate our garden” (with a nice crop of flowers and fruits) and also reading and writing for publication.

Warmest regards,

Virginia Hyde

Nick Kiessling (WSU 1967–2000)

September 16, 2013

Dear Fellow Retirees,

We’ve sadly lost several members of our group over the last year, but those that survive are, as far as we know, doing well, and the ranks of the retirees are growing, with Alex Kuo and Joan Burbick now among us (whom did I miss?).

Karen and I continue to do very well and our lives are as busy as ever—without the pressure of teaching, the frustration of departmental meetings, and being locked into an 8:00 to 5:00 schedule. Karen is no longer on the State League of Women Voters Board but she still goes to state meetings and works diligently for the local League. Now it is a late September county-wide forum. It will be held at the McGregor Company near the Whitman County Fairgrounds. To make sure that I am not idle, Karen suggested that I become a CASA volunteer, a Court Appointed Special Advocate, for abused and neglected children. I am nearing the midway point in my first case. I can take the training, the long-term commitment, and the time for visits and reports, but the worry about the welfare of the child is more than I had anticipated and right now I’m not sure I’m the right fit for the job.

Our traveling matches that of earlier years. We spent two weeks in New York City in September, a tradition we will continue this year with a few added days at the Folger. We splurged and took a business class flight to Madrid from where we took trains and buses to Morocco so we could visit old haunts in Tangiers and Casablanca. Then we went to Sevilla where we spent the month of February. We chose Spain because it was in a warmer clime than Pullman and we had friends, Mike Owen and Alice Spitzer, who were spending the winter in Sevilla. We certainly had a good time there and the city had more than enough to keep us busy to the end. In March we took a brief trip to San Francisco, and I biked around Golden State Park and the coast with Ken Kendall while Karen and Janet Kendall had fun in the downtown. On our way back we stayed a couple of days with Winfried Schleiner in Davis where I played doubles with Winfried. Unfortunately he had a stroke which affected his left side near the end of March. He is now able to walk around his block more than once and has biked a little. In the July we again flew to England for a couple of weeks in Oxford. This time we had a townhouse on the Thames, a ten-minute walk to city center and the Bodleian Library.

Another high point was a luncheon hosted by Lord Jacob Rothschild at his Waddesdon Manor near Aylesbury. Lavish, lavish, lavish. It was to celebrate the publication of a massive two-volume publication of a study (by a friend of ours, Giles Barber) of the bindings of French books collected by an earlier Rothschild. We always say that this trip to England will be the last, but as long as I still have unfinished work over there, who knows; and Karen loves the city, even though our friends over there are slowly disappearing.

A highpoint in the summer was a festive fiftieth wedding anniversary at Skamania Lodge on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge. We were lucky enough to have beautiful weather in a lovely setting. Karen’s brother, our kids Mark and Dan, and I went zip lining at the resort!

I retired in 2000, and can still say that the last thirteen years of our lives, the retirement years, are the best we’ve had. I don’t know how much longer we will be able to say that – here’s hoping for another good year. May you all be doing as well.

Nick Kiessling

Stanton Linden (WSU 1967-2002)

Greetings Friends and Colleagues,

September is here, and with it the concurrence of Paul Brians’ retirement letter deadline and the Linden’s invariably hurried preparations for Fall travel. (Paul, why can’t you issue your call for papers in, say, the depths of winter?) Last fall, our planning resulted in a lovely, first trip to Provence, with time to explore the beautifully varied valley of the Rhone river and the rich cultural history of Arles, Avignon, Nimes and Aix en Provence. But, as those of you who have visited this region know—and as Lucy and I quickly discovered—the experience of Provence is so much more than a simple tally of visits to guidebook “major sights”: there must be time to discover why the soil of the vineyards near Chateauneuf-du-Pape is usually covered with stones; why the blendings of syrah and grenache in the wineries around Gigondas are unusually delicious; or, to change subjects, why Cezanne and Van Gogh produced so many of their finest works in this region. We hope to return soon in search of answers to these and other questions.

But our 2013 travels are taking a different course, although they began in familiar fashion, with a trip to London in mid- March to present a paper at a conference on Writers and their Libraries at the University of London. Its subject was the private library of Henry Power, a seventeenth-century Yorkshire physician, whose manuscript booklist I’d recently found in the Sloane collection at the British Library. Lucy and I decided to extend our European stay with a week in previously-unvisited (by us) Berlin, and despite snow and icy temperatures, it turned out to be an opportune time for visiting that city’s wealth of museums, particularly those located on the Museuminsel—and chief among these the Pergamon Museum with its famous altar. The other four museums of antiquities on

the island are certainly not to be slighted, nor is the extraordinary painting collection in the Gemäldegalerie or the Deutsches Historisches Museum.

A second stage of German travel and exploration begins October 2nd and will, I’m sure, provide notable contrasts with the Berlin experience. We’ve rented an apartment in the village of St. Goar on the Rhine and will have two weeks to hike and investigate—with aid of rail and riverboat— castles, wineries, and village life along the Rhine basically between Koblenz and Mainz. I’m also hoping that we will have a bit of time to explore the Mosel river area—the better to try to help me develop a taste for German whites.

While this letter has perhaps given undue emphasis to travel in Germany, we’ve actually spent the majority of our time at home in Pullman, occupied with the usual activities that I’ve often mentioned in the past. But for Lucy’s arthritic knees and hips, we’re in good health. We continue to exercise a lot, enjoy sailing (Stan), work hard with League of Women Voters projects (Lucy), and enjoy many local musical events as well as the Seattle Opera. Come to think of it, I spent a week in August in rapturous enjoyment of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle, as performed magnificently by the Seattle Opera. Hmmm . . . sounds German, doesn’t it? Should I be worried?

Auf Wiedersehen,

Stan

500 SE Crestview St.
Pullman, WA 99163
Email: stanlind5@yahoo.com

Howard McCord (WSU 1960–1971)

It is sad to hear of the deaths of Ron Meldrum, Bruce Anawalt, Bob Johnson, and now, Glen Terrell. Ron and I kept up a correspondence over the decades, and my last letter from him was postmarked May 20, 2013. I remember many fine times with Ron and Barb, and with Bruce and Loretta. I did not know Bob all that well, but saw him nearly every day in his corner office. I enjoyed working with President Terrell, especially in the days of student troubles in the late sixties. May all rest well.

A few days after Christmas 2012, I received a query from the Emily Harvey Foundation in Venice asking if I would like to apply for a residency there. The residency was set up by a bequest from Emily Harvey, an American painter long resident in Venice, for artists in mid or late career. It provides an apartment with all amenities for up to three months. I readily agreed to submit an application, and within a week I was told I was in. I will live in an apartment on the 3rd floor at 637 San Polo, close to the fish market and the Rialto Bridge. It can sleep four, and has full kitchen plus dishwasher and clothes washer, WiFi, a maid twice a week, etc. I check in on April 30 and out on July 6. Jenny will still be teaching in May, and will arrive for June, so my daughters are going to come over for a week or so each to “look after” old dad. Susie will be the first and fly with me to Paris in late April to make the round of my publishers and the producer of the film based on my novel, The Man Who Walked On the Moon.

The film will be in English, but filmed in the Pyrenees instead of Nevada. The option is taken, now it is up to the producer to produce.

My walking book, on hikes taken in Iceland, Lapland, and New Mexico, Walking to Extremes, has just been

published in French by Editions RING. It was translated by Francois Hirsch, who has been Cormac McCarthy’s French translator. Google Howard McCord, En marchant vers l’extrême for a video “teaser” and information on the book. An interview-review entitled “Lord of Emptiness” will appear in the September 15th edition of Le Matricule des Anges. done by Pierre Cendors.

I was honored to be invited again to my alma mater, the University of Texas at El Paso, to give a poetry reading and talk with the many students in their unique bi-lingual creative writing program. I even read a few poems from my bilingual collection, Bone/Hueso. I also read at the new campus of El Paso Community College at the invitation of Lawrence Welsh, their fine young poet whose recent book, Waiting for Vultures, has won several prizes. It was wonderful to be back home—which El Paso remains for me.

All our children and grandchildren are doing well, and our youngest son, Wyatt Asher, was married on August 3rd to Jessica Taveres in Seattle. They make a most wonderful couple. Jenny has one more year to teach to reach thirty-five in the state system, and we are both impatient for the last day of teaching to arrive. Between the two of us, we will have spent seventy-eight years teaching. Quite enough.

Keep well, dear friends!

Susan McLeod (WSU 1986–2001)

Dear friends,

First, thanks so much to Paul for putting this newsletter together. I always enjoy catching up on everyone’s news.

We continue to love retirement, especially the time for travel (it’s great to go interesting places and not have to give a talk). Our big trip of the year was a Road Scholar tour that focused on the Byzantine Empire. I have wanted to see Hagia Sophia ever since I learned about it in a freshman fine arts class, and the church (now a museum) as well as the rest of Istanbul did not disappoint. We fell in love with the city and would go back in a New York minute.

The picture of us was taken on the roof terrace of our hotel, with Hagia Sophia lit up in the background. From Istanbul we went via a small cruise ship to various parts of Greece; the highlight there was the monasteries called “meteora” (meaning “suspended in air”), built on the tops of rock pinnacles that were accessible only by a ladder or rope that could be pulled up in times of war. Since Doug had climbed up to a similar Orthodox monastery during our Peace Corps stint in Ethiopia, we found these particularly interesting. The tour went on to Italy; Ravenna was a particular highlight (the church du jour was San Vitale, with its stunning mosaics). We ended in Venice, where we were told that the pillars in San Marco Square were “imported” from Constantinople (“looted” said our Greek guide).

I took a couple of trips that involved family, one to Phoenix to help my sister Mary Lou, newly retired from her job as an elementary school principal, pack up her house and move to Redondo Beach. It was a sort of Thelma and Louise experience, but no one got hurt and she arrived in California safely. Our daughter Alison and I spent some time in Independence, MO, visiting my youngest sister Liz and getting acquainted with some of the newest members of the family (one of them, a precocious three- year-old great nephew, decided my name was “Aunt Zoo,” which I rather like, coming from San Diego). But the two trips that remain the highlight are those to Portland to see our granddaughter Paityn, who is growing up far too quickly. We went in February for her first birthday, and then again this past June just because we couldn’t wait to see her again. Obviously, we adore her. Those of you who are experienced grandparents will understand.

When we aren’t traveling we are enjoying San Diego and being near our daughter Alison. A highlight of her year was her 40th birthday party, put on by 200 of her closest friends at the Unitarian church where she works as Director of Religious Education. Some of her Mexican birth family members came for the occasion, and there were speeches, toasts, a photo booth, a banquet, and dancing until all hours. She was overwhelmed, as were we; it was quite wonderful to see how much the congregation appreciates her and her work with the younger members.

Doug and I keep busy singing in various choirs (rehearsing Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, and Britten’s Ceremony of Carols at the moment), attending various musical events and plays (lots of great theater in San Diego), and doing volunteer work. I continue to work as the editor for two book series in rhetoric and composition. I particularly enjoy reading the manuscripts from the up-and- coming scholars in the field, and have a new appreciation for all the generous colleagues who agree to review same.

Warm greetings to all,

Sue

Shirley Price (WSU 1963-1989)

Dear Readers:

Sorry to read about the passing of three department members. Bruce Anawalt, Bob Johnson, and Ron Meldrum were special and will be missed.

We are vertical and still taking nourishment. However, I was diagnosed with a small cell cancer near my lungs and bronchial. This kind of cancer spreads quickly. Undergoing several sessions of radiation and chemo, I was diagnosed with remission and I will undergo periodic exams. During all this medical stuff, I continue to feel fine and maintain my usual energy and activities.

While we enjoyed the summer weather, we busily watered the abundant green foliage of native greens— and enjoyed the deck. Happy to say the family is thriving–given this dire economy.

My best wishes to all of you. You are all the best!

Shirley Price

Barbara Sitko (WSU 1989–2005)

Greetings from another quiet year in western PA. Our July was the wettest on record so my little patio patch of homegrown tomatoes was left gulping for air. And the humidity found me longing for the well-kept secret of Palouse weather. For nearly two months we were indebted to the Western fires, unfortunately, for spectacular sunsets. Thus passed the summer.

Our civic communities are still in the heat of debate over Marcellus Shale, fracking, and well water pollution issues. Environmentalists and corporations seem to have drawn up and locked in their positions. The next step is the ballot box in the Youngstown, Ohio area (our community center property abuts the state line) and possible regulatory legislation in PA. None of the large drillers has made a major move, although there have been some land sales fairly close, and country road bridges are being shored up around us—for impending heavy traffic?

I still play keyboard for our congregational liturgies and hope to do so for as long as arthritic fingers allow. Between the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Met in HD, and local theatre, we don’t lack for entertainment. Home-wise, the project of the year has been the bookshelves. We start by finding booksellers willing to invest in classics and end by supporting the great Presbyterian Church book sale in Youngstown and the Kiwanis here in New Wilmington. The former is more conducive to empty shelves, because it involves just dropping off the tomes, whereas I usually leave Kiwanis with more than I have donated. Sigh. But for those of us who still cherish the feel of the book in hand and can still read the typeface, it is a bonanza being able to work our way through an author.

Pennsylvania has celebrated or commemorated a number of sesquicentennials, not the least (well, maybe the least) our little town in early September. We began of course with a parade. The university and high school bands, fore and aft, were in good marching form, although neither seemed to be able or willing to both walk and play at the same time. The mid stretch was graced by local and even state dignitaries, several classic cars, one float (the Methodist Church, our landlord) decorated with

Albert von Frank (WSU 1984–2006)

This past year I have been working hardest on self-indulgent travel, a belated compensation for a career’s worth of staying at home. Last September Jane and I spent a week with friends in the wilderness of upstate New York, in part to see the John Brown homestead near Lake Placid and to retrace Emerson’s trip to Follansbee Pond in 1858, which he documented in his long poem “The Adirondacs.” In November we made our first visit to Santa Fe, which we liked very much, despite the altitude and the season’s first brief dusting of snow. The weather was much better in Hawaii in December, another place we had not been to before. We thought we did well to go to Kauai rather than the Big Island, and enjoyed its friendly, quiet, luxurious north shore. Toward the end of February we explored for the first time the winter’s edition of the Olympic Peninsula, staying at the Quinault Lodge, as we had often done in greener spring-times past. We would recommend the place to any who might never have stayed there; the restaurant at the lodge is likewise exceptional. In March we took off for Arizona, catching a Mariners’ spring training game in Peoria (near Phoenix) before heading north to Sedona and its grand red-rock desert for a week. In April we visited St. Augustine, Florida, with which we had been much impressed a few years earlier and returned to now to see if we might like to move there, seasonally or permanently.

May brought us to Boston for the conference of the American Literature Association and across the Charles to Cambridge for the Harvard Press celebration of the long-delayed finishing-up of the ten-volume edition of Emerson’s Collected Works. A party at the Houghton Library was held in honor of the dwindling set of surviving editors, the project having had its launch nearly a half century ago. In some respects the highlight of the evening (for me) occurred when Margaret Emerson Bancroft (Ralph Waldo’s great-great-great granddaughter) in a speech to the gathering, quoted from the WSU English Department’s Retirees Newsletter, in which, two years earlier, I had said how much I enjoyed my work on Volume 9, The Poems. Who knew that the Newsletter had such a circulation?

Our most ambitious trip occurred in June, involving a cruise departing from Harwich, England, touching at Le Havre (with a side excursion to Honfleur), St. Peter Port on Guernsey, Waterford, Cork, and Dublin in Ireland, Liverpool, Glasgow and Inverness, then back to Harwich.

After that we divided eleven days between Norwich (a beautiful, underrated cathedral town: see the photo that Jane took) and York. Unlike my English- lit colleagues, I could never figure out how to deduct expenses for a trip to Great Britain. Retirement (and Celebrity Cruise line, which we recommend) help to make it possible now. A trip two months later to Sevierville and Gatlinburg in Tennessee, gateway to the Smoky Mountains, qualified us at long last for Delta’s Silver Medallion status. On the Atlanta-Salt Lake City leg of the return we shared an airplane with Jimmy Carter (also in economy class), who came up the aisle before take-off and shook the hand of every person on the plane.

Scholarly projects have not been entirely squeezed out of the schedule: I published two commissioned essays, one on Margaret Fuller and anti-slavery and one on Emerson’s conception of literature. I also have a contract to edit a “reader’s edition” of the Emerson poems, which promises a slightly better financial return than the scholarly edition, which, as you all might guess, has no commercial value whatsoever. Nevertheless it’s all been good fun.

Nelly C. Zamora (WSU 1976-2003)

As I mentioned in last year’s newsletter, we were scheduled to return to the Philippines in October, 2012 to visit families and friends. While in the Philippines, Cesar and I made a 6-day trip to Bangkok, Thailand. We joined a local tour of the city and surrounding towns. We have been fascinated by the progress made by many Asian cities. Bangkok (and the rest of Thailand) has always been a popular destination to many Americans and Europeans.

We went back to the Philippines last February 2013. During our stay, we made a trip to Singapore, a 2 1⁄2 hour plane ride from Manila. We were impressed with the orderliness and cleanliness of this island nation. Its international airport is world-class and tourist friendly. Among the notable city attractions we saw were the famous Orchid Garden, the Bird Sanctuary, and reclaimed areas that have been developed into parks and to provide space and housing for its populace.

We made a quick trip to Whistler, British Columbia in mid-April for Cesar to attend a meeting of Filipino veterinarians based in the Pacific Northwest. Although a hurried trip and packed with so much activities, we had a good time as it was our first time to go to Whistler. The mountains were still covered with snow and we enjoyed the scenic drive from Vancouver.

In late April, we joined a tour of Croatia and Slovenia, including a tour of coastal cities in Montenegro. These countries, together with Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia once formed Yugoslavia. Slovenia and Croatia have made great strides with their economies since the 1990s war and are now members of the European Union. I particularly enjoyed visiting the cathedrals and museums and the drive through breath-taking sceneries along the Dalmatian coast and the mountain region of northern Slovenia. Another highlight of the trip was accompanying a good friend seek her roots in a small town in Croatia. With the help of a local guide, we went to small villages to meet with families who might be related to her maternal grandmother. The families we met were very friendly, accommodating, and willing to discuss their families’ histories over wine and liquor.

We went to the San Francisco Bay Area in late June-early July to visit relatives and friends, returned to Pullman for a few days and flew to the Los Angeles Area for a reunion with friends that we have not seen in a long time. We returned to Pullman and a few days later drove to Ashland, Oregon to meet Cesar’s niece, a veterinarian sponsored by the USAID to represent the Philippines for a one-week training program at the US Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory. This trip was very tiring as Cesar drove for almost 11 hours one way. But his niece was very appreciative of seeing us; it was her first time to come to the US and in spite of her jet lag, we took her on a tour of the surrounding areas including Crater Lake National Park.

We are returning to the Philippines in late October. Again, during our stay, we are going to visit another Asian country, and perhaps the central islands of the Philippines.

We were able to attend the memorial services for Bruce Anawalt and Ron Meldrum, but sorry to miss Bob Johnson’s as we were out-of-town.

Best wishes to all of you.

Nelly Zamora

1710 NW Deane Street
Pullman, WA 99613-3508
Email: nellyczamora@hotmail.com