Thoughts Written Now About Those Past
Current Note Nov 2007: In light of the death of my friend David K. this spring, and my best friend, mother of my daughter, and ex-wife K last month, this seems to need something. For now, this note.
I heard a number of obituaries today for Norman Mailer. This got me to thinking about not writing enough, and not stopping to think of the death of a major figure in my family’s life. Pierce Butler died this year, I’d daresay of the complications of old age. He lived these latter years in an assisted living facility not far from my parents’ home. It is selfish of me to have not visited, but I have a vivid recollection of him 30 years ago that I did not want to occlude with reality. He was a lawyer of some success, in the 70’s he and his daughter (we went to school together) lived in a house that to this day signifies for me the glory of modernism. It is this home, his far-larger-than-life manners and style that I wish to remember. Treat this as an off-the-cuff draft of a better recollection to be written someday. Mr. Butler was a giant, taller than anyone I’d met then. I believe his voice would be described as a powerful baritone, wonderfully complex tones that were rich to the ear. He had many mannerisms but the one most familiar—and the only one I can do a passable imitation of—was to stutter “d-d-do-do you see what I mean?” This usually was told as punctuation to some funny story, and the resulting laughter was shared and hearty. My father visited him more than a few times, and that should remind us that Mr. Butler was truly amazing. Flashy, extravagant (who would own a flat-roofed house in THIS climate?) but still well worth it. Not being in the law-biz, I cannot provide a litany of citations herein, so you’re going to have to grant me that his splash was farther than the small circle I know. I write this mainly as a doodle to be worked into something later. S has started writing again, my daughter has never stopped. I’m surrounded by people who say “You should write...” and though a blog hardly counts, it is a place to note things. Note this, then: Mr. Butler wanted the ceremony remembering him to take place in the Basilica in Minneapolis because compared to the Cathedral in St. Paul, “...you get more bang for the buck.” This witticism transcends mere monetary issues perfectly. It speaks clearly of a man of taste. And that is how I remember him. Requiescat in pace, good sir.