Photo by Kent Meireis

I got home from a nice, relaxed family dinner tonight, took the dog out and sat down to do a little work … to learn that the talented writer, teacher and gentle man Frank McCourt passed today. Our world’s loss.

I was lucky to have spent exactly 20 minutes with the author of “Angela’s Ashes” (very fastidious public relations folks around the Pulitzer Prize winner that night) nearly three years ago when he was in Chicago for an Art Resources in Teaching reception at the Art Institute of Chicago.

At first, he seemed just a smidge distant but well before that 20 minutes was up, his warmth and dry Irish humor was unleashed. I will treasure his telling me about his harmonica playing as much as I treasure his writing.

In his honor, I share the “Snoop Patrol” piece (click here) that came out of that interview for the Chicago Tribune. Peace be with you, Mr. McCourt.

~ Elaine Matsushita (with thanks to Kent Meireis for the use of his wonderful photo of Frank McCourt; kentmeireisphotography.com)