The photograph above, of Karen and Stuart together, was taken in October of 1999. The occasion was the passing of Laurie Meyer's mother, Mary Louise (I'm proud to say that I am Laurel's spouse). The locale was Camden, Maine.
Meyer friends and family had made the trip North to offer comfort to Laurel and her brothers and sisters. Of course Stuart and Karen were there, and as you can see from the other image below, much time was spent on Mrs. Meyer's back porch in conversation, both light and heavy in nature.
The photo of the two of them alone was taken as they were returning from a walk together, arm in arm, and as I was embarking upon a sojourn of my own. Together, from a distance, Karen and Stuart looked a little like a young couple in love. It is probably the only good picture I have of them. But I do like it very much. So here it is.
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ANYWAY, all the tales I have been reading here about Stuart honor him in a wonderfully Stuart-like way, because he was such a story teller himself. This blog does more than offer us remembrance, it keeps him alive by means of his own favorite medium, story telling. It is so on target in this respect.
I really knew Stuart best through his stories. Our get-togethers were mostly quiet, conversational, family affairs — rarely one of the more action oriented adventures he loved to talk about, work included. His stories invariably revealed Stuart's well developed wit and humor. Not just because he was funny, and he was very very funny, but because his humor was so well
informed by his astute powers of observation, a strong aesthetic sensibility, a sophisticated social intelligence, and a wonderfully broad and humanistic spirit.
I do feel blessed to have known Stuart well enough to appreciate him deeply, and to know what a gift he was and still is to those around him, Karen, Ben and Allison in particular.
Adios, amigo.
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