...his concern switch was always on...

I've been cleaning out my magazine collection...going through my good ones and keeping only inspirational ones. In an American Craft June/July 1994 issue was an obituary. Why I read this obituary, I don't have a clue...I usually only look at the photos and read articles that pertain to techniques or history. This one told about a man and his life...not your standard obituary. I read it several times thinking each time that this man must have been a really neat person....and....I sure would like to emulate this person:

"...cared, deeply and consistently, his concern switch was always on and at the ready, his advice was unflinchingly straight from the hip. He did not protect himself with the pampering responses but offered a steadying hand for me to face reality with, in what would be my (not his) best interests.

He was just as hearty with 'Why, that's wonderful!' as with 'I agree, this is pretty serious!'. Here was a man with a large heart and a concern for what is right and beautiful.

To walk a craft fair with him ...was that rare visitor, more concerned with makers than with their production....he related on a gut level. ...a very human, sometimes bungling autocrat, cut of plain goods, large-hearted and with clear vision!"