The death of Wendell Berry
Is the end of a long life-he was 92
Well lived more so than most any
Brings sadness but joy too
For he suffered no decline or disability
Died in his sleep in his home
With family surrounding
Through all his long years
He was true to his code
Love the land and care for it and family and neighbors
Write of it in poetry and in prose
Plow only with horses
Fiction inspired by history and observation
The past recalled and future predicted
A prophet and a sage always agrarian
Worried by industrialization
When you read of Old Jack
Or Jabber Crow the barber
Of a Catlett or a Coulter or a Feltner all farmers
Characters of the Port William Membership
You feel their personalities shaped by their environment and their times
Introduced by mutual friend Donald McCaig
We met by correspondence
And by phone infrequently
He said kind things of my writings
Feeding my vanity
In the world of letters he was unique
A student of Stegner
A son of the soil
If you have not read Wendell
Start with
Donald McCaigThe Memory of Old Jack
A novel
