Remembering Art Widner (1917-2015)

[randy_byers]

I probably met Art Widner sometime in the '80s. I'm not sure exactly when. It quickly came to seem he'd always been there, but if he retired from teaching at 65, that would have been in 1982, so my best guess is that it would've been sometime after that, although it appears that he started getting active in fandom again (after 30 years away) in

Comments

[holyoutlaw]

Great post, thank you for writing it. Julie recommended it to me a couple times.

[randy_byers]

Thanks for reading! It's a lot of words, but he seemed worth it.

[holyoutlaw]

A lot of words, but hardly enough, know what I mean? Not to discredit your writing in any way, shape, manner, or form.

[randy_byers]

I do so know what you mean. Words really aren't enough in the end. Or it takes the collective words of everyone who knew him perhaps. (Another thing I'd love to fit in somehow is something Stu once said about Art's unique approach to spelling.)

[holyoutlaw]

Yeah, his spelling. With Art, I found it a pleasant and amusing affectation. There was someone on the WisCon community who used the same general spelling, but in HIS case I found it completely annoying. I think this had more to do with their respective personalities than anything else. ;>

I like the idea of using him as a model for when/if we grow up. That's all we can do with memories of friends/family/lovers who have died: Emulate as much as possible their good qualities in our lives.