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My friend Harry was a renowned political scientist: he co-taught a seminar at Harvard with Henry Kissinger for three years, compiled a reading list for Jacqueline Kennedy, and shows up in a lot of bibliographies about U.S. central intelligence. I didn't know any of this, however, until long after he and his wife and I had become friends.
As he grew more frail and forgetful, Harry would repeat stories, sometimes during the same visit. Because I knew he was a tennis fan, I often answered "What have you been doing with yourself, Peg?" with something like "Stayed up too late -- Kuznetsova and Schiavone went the distance in Melbourne!" This invariably prompted the tale of how, as a young man, he had attempted to install a tennis court in his yard. Killing the grass was an ordeal. So was laying the clay. The results weren't very good, and he conceded defeat when tulips popped up along a baseline the following spring.
Harry Howe Ransom died yesterday afternoon at the age of 91. I am remembering how, at the end of many a visit, Harry would simply put his hand on my sleeve and whisper, "Peg, you are one of my favorites." I will miss him.
As he grew more frail and forgetful, Harry would repeat stories, sometimes during the same visit. Because I knew he was a tennis fan, I often answered "What have you been doing with yourself, Peg?" with something like "Stayed up too late -- Kuznetsova and Schiavone went the distance in Melbourne!" This invariably prompted the tale of how, as a young man, he had attempted to install a tennis court in his yard. Killing the grass was an ordeal. So was laying the clay. The results weren't very good, and he conceded defeat when tulips popped up along a baseline the following spring.
Harry Howe Ransom died yesterday afternoon at the age of 91. I am remembering how, at the end of many a visit, Harry would simply put his hand on my sleeve and whisper, "Peg, you are one of my favorites." I will miss him.
