[Milton-L] Al Labriola's memorial service

[Carol Barton]

Al could not have asked for a more eloquent or sensitive spokesman, Rich. He would be delighted by your dignified account of the services, which I am sure brought tears to the eyes of others who could not attend, as it did to mine. We were indeed lucky to have known such a man, and doubly fortunate to have called him "friend." He was as modest about his service in Vietnam as he was about everything else--and a simple thank you on Memorial Day several years ago (and since) brought, as everything one sent him did, a most gracious response.

One need only read the tributes of his colleagues in Milton studies to understand how much he meant to all of us--and how each of our worlds will be diminished by his absence.

I am sure there are many who have been too ill (or otherwise removed from immediate access to this unwelcome news) who will welcome your account when they're able to read it. You have done Al, and us, an inestimable service, and I hope that you will send the photograph you mention to me--and to anyone else who requests it. Having lost both of my parents, I can tell you that such a memory will provide a great deal of comfort: Al's smile could light up a room, and it's hard not to smile back, seeing it--even now.

He'd want it that way, no doubt. (Shakespeare's "No Longer Mourn for Me" comes to mind, and I hope Regina and her family will read that poem--and Antoine de Saint Exupery's _The Little Prince_ . . . and hear the laughter in the stars.

All best,

Carol Barton
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