[Milton-L] Al Labriola

[David Ainsworth]

Devastating news for me as well.  "Scholar and a gentleman" was the 
first phrase that came to my mind to describe Al as well.  Few will 
accomplish so much, and none, I suspect, with greater humility.

For me, Al IS the Milton Society of America.  I first met him when he 
was opening speaker for the 2001 MTSU conference.  I was questioning my 
choice of career after the 9/11 attacks, wondering if scholarship would 
really make the world a better place.  After hearing his talk and 
speaking with him afterwards, I was reassured.  For me, Al embodied the 
good that scholarship can accomplish in the world.

Generous to a fault (but without the fault), precise, not just mannered 
but mannerly, with a markedly wry and dry sense of humor, Al never made 
me feel less than a colleague.  Thinking again about his talk at the 
last MSA dinner about the Milton Society awards, I can't help but think 
how apt it was that his last speech to us stressed that he saw each of 
us as gifted, even if some had not yet received official recognition. 
The awards he instituted were not trophies, but gifts.  It takes someone 
truly special to think in that way.

I keep searching for Miltonic words but my mind keeps dragging me back 
to King Lear instead.  Al's death is a tragedy for all of us who remain; 
his life a triumph he shared with us while he was here.

I can't help but feel that when we turn to "pastures new," we'll find 
that Al was there before us.

David