Re: Ray Brown ples notar!

Raymond Brown wrote:

> [kut]Now back to Bob's letter.
>
> I must thank Bob for letting me & other Speedwords afficionados on this
> list know about the death of Reginald Dutton's daughter.  IIRC she was his
> only surviving descendant and her death marks, so to speak, the end of an
> era.
He had a son who died in the war. Plus, I was informed about Ms. Dutton's
demise by her niece.
The niece's father is around 823 I believe she said. So, Dutton's remaining
son is still alive and as his daughter says, "going strong".

> For those who do not know, I learnt Speedwords by correspondence course
> from Reginal Dutton himself in the late 1950s.
I also, beginning either in late 1955 or early 1956. Just think, at that time,
if I had only known, I could have met both Dutton and Ray in England. I lived
there in Newberry for 3 years.

> Apparently, by that time his daughter was helping on these correspondences
> courses and Bob wonders if she may not have been my correspondent rather
> than Dutton himself.  I must confess the writing on the envelopes and the
> comments I received in reply to queries looked far more like the spidery
> writing of an old man rather than the neat writing of a young girl  :)
I asked because she mentioned she had graded the majority of the students'
papers, but I don't recall when she began doing that.

> So I'm fairly certain the replies were from Dutton himself; but quite
> possibly his daughter posted some of my replies.
I suspect some of them may be, but either way, you were receiving help from
the actual source! Great and wonderful connection with the Speedword legacy!

> I never knew her; but Bob came to know her in the last few years as he
> tirelessly tracked down all surving info on Speedwords in his endeavor to
> revive the system and put it on the internet.  I guess from his mail that
> he must've come to know her well and I send him my condolensences at this
> sad loss.
It turns out that I have, evidently, all the remaining Speedword materials.
The niece mentioned she could find no Speedwords material among the papers and
books of her aunt. The system is growing and the website has nearly 10,000
hits now from almost 79 countries including some "interesting" governments.

>
> Some old-timers on this list will know that Bob & I, alas, have rather
> different opnions about the merits of Speedwords and I do not wish to
> rehearse them here again.  Indeed, I think it would be wholely improper to
> do so on this sad occasion.
I agree. Besides, it is no longer necessary to continue such a debate. Things
now have a life of their own. And, I thank you deeply for your condolenceses.
She did become very important to me. Though we did not have a continuous
correspondence, it was fairly often in both mail and email via her brother's
internet connection.

>
> I do sincerely send Bob my condolensences and thank him that, despite our
> past differences, he thought it worth informing me specifically, besides
> the list generally, about the death of Dutton's daughter.
>
> May she rest in peace.
>
> Ray.
My best wishes and thanks to you Ray, and all those interested in the history
of Speedwords.

Bob, x+O~

P.S. Several descendants of MR. Dutton have contacted me over the past two
plus years via email. All were pleased that his memory was being carried on
via the internet site. Some descendants are in New Zealand, obviously England,
and I believe in Australia too, but I can't clearly remember now without going
back to all the former emails.