So many of us were stunned by the death of Dolly Parton, an amazing performer and an even more amazing philanthropist, when there was a loss closer to home.
Mary Pat Franklin, for many years a preserver of tradition and a force for good in Madison County, is gone and it seems almost too much to bear.
And then I learn that a friend's husband has died and so has a prominent Holocaust survivor, and Tim Curry . . . and I realize how very many deaths go unnoticed by the mass of mankind. How could it be otherwise?
Still, the bright lights that were Dolly and Mary Pat will shine on. Josie wore her Dollywood sweatshirt to school yesterday and reminded me of all the books Dolly had sent her.
And I remembered Mary Pat, who told me stories about Madison County history. But my favorite memory was back when I was doing a presentation of Signs in the Blood at the Madison County library. I'd talked about the story and had asked if there were any questions. The discussion turned to Little Sylvie and her cruel husband and Mary Pat rared back in her chair and called out, "I want to know why you didn't kill that son of a bitch!"
She was one of a kind . . . as was Dolly. But maybe we all are.
Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
from John Donne's For Whom the Bell Tolls
