I, too, remember Kent's kindness to those younger--even somewhat younger.
I also remember him as a kind of fixture at K-zoo--always ready with a
question, a disquisition (always long!), and the friendly offer of lunch
or dinner. I was sorry when he stopped attending and never knew that it
probably had a connection with illness.
Anne, is Connie, Kent's wife still living? I knew her as well, since she
was a medievalist. Do you possibly have an address?
Judith Anderson
On Fri, 9 Jan 2009, anne prescott wrote:
> Dear List--With a heavy heart I must report, at Bert Hamilton's request, that
> Kent Hieatt has just died of pneumonia, at least spared the last stages of
> his Alzheimer's disease. Many of us knew him, loved him, and had cause to be
> grateful to him whether as scholars or as friends or, of course, both. He was
> long a regular at Kalamazoo and needless to say his work on Spenser,
> particularly (for me at least) on the Epithalamion and numerology, was
> seminal. I once had a student who wrote on her exam that "Spenser believed in
> a new morology and he thought that this morology would make his marriage last
> a long time." Before we became good friends I wrote Kent, who had been of my
> professors at Columbia, a letter quoting this wonderful misconception and he
> wrote back saying that "according to Desiderius E., without the *old*
> morology we would not get married to begin with." Typical of his mischievous
> wit. A lot of us will miss him even as we are relieved that his suffering is
> over. Bert is not on the list or he would have written you himself. Anne
> Prescott.
|