We Have Lost A True Daughter Of The South!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                               "He would be there all night, and he would be
                                                    there when Jem waked up in the morning."
                                                --Harper Lee, "To Kill A Mockingbird."


                                         Those words still choke me up, almost fifty years after having read the book that put Harper Lee on the map.

                                           "To Kill A Mockingbird."

                                           When Harper Lee passed away this past Friday morning, I was truly.  She had been a part of my life for so long I thought she would be around forever.  Of course, in a manner of speaking, she will be, because of the legacy she leaves behind, one of the most important works of American fiction of the twentieth century.  Thomas Pynchon, be damned!!!!!!!  And a classic film, to boot!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                              Harper Lee defined the quiet graciousness of Southern gentility, where tales out of school were never told, and private opinions were kept to herself.  She never set out to be a "literary star," but the power of her lyrical book was too strong to hold back the fame that came to her. A man tle she wore, with humble acceptance, and a touch of amazement.

                                               She was 89, at the time of her death, and all over America people are saddened.  I did not hear of her death, until a friend informed me.  I bowed my head; we have truly suffered a cultural loss.

                                                 Harper Lee lived life, on her own terms.  And she left behind a book that will endure when others have turned to dust.  A book beloved by most.

                                                   Rest In Peace, Harper.  You will be missed, but the way you lived your life can always be found in 'Mockingbiord's' pages.