Digging in the basement a couple of years back, I ran across a folio of old letters — messages from users of the "Free Text" information retrieval software that I wrote in the late 1980's. (see WorldTexasHistory and NorthAmericanTexasHistory, 15 May 2000) Among the envelopes was one from Richard Martin, a librarian and professor at the University of Virginia. I summarized:

Richard B. Martin (Virginia) applied it in his work on Tibetan materials. (He also gave my wife and children a wonderful hoard of world postage stamps for their collections.)

By chance, a few weeks ago I saw the stamps, remembered Professor Martin, and wrote myself a note to look him up on the 'Net and express my gratitude to him again for his gift. Alas, I was far too late — "Skip" Martin died in 1993. A brief obituary is in South Asia Library Notes & Queries, issue #29 (see http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/salnaq/1993/obit.html ).

A lesson, perhaps: give thanks early and often....

TopicPersonalHistory - 2002-01-19

(correlates: NorthAmericanTexasHistory, JimHoward, HippocraticHardships, ...)