tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post112947582305160113..comments2024-03-28T20:53:54.312-05:00Comments on Orange Crate Art: Happy Dictionary DayMichael Leddyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05547732736861224886noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-84871301648335580682009-10-12T09:44:41.698-05:002009-10-12T09:44:41.698-05:00You’re welcome, Anon. Thanks so much for writing.You’re welcome, Anon. Thanks so much for writing.Michael Leddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05547732736861224886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-41594532355687967402009-10-12T08:29:09.698-05:002009-10-12T08:29:09.698-05:00My uncle Ed did indeed die while reading TWAG. My...My uncle Ed did indeed die while reading TWAG. My brother insists it was at the passage which takes place in the driveway and involves member amputation, but I think this is apocryphal. I am the eldest son of Ed's only sister. I had the great privilege of spending Christmas vacation with him at Campion Hall, Oxford in 1963, and the greater privilege of having him as one of my two uncles. My life philosophy was formed in large part by exposure to him. Other issues turned me from the path he might have wished, but any positive pieces of my character are attributable to him and his sister - my mother. Thank-you for bringing this truly great man to the forefront of my thoughts today.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-56084043098008547032009-06-30T17:04:55.696-05:002009-06-30T17:04:55.696-05:00I took a graduate course on Milton with Fr. Cuffe ...I took a graduate course on Milton with Fr. Cuffe at Fordham. (I think that he was teaching Milton against his will — it was a wonderfully eccentric course.) About "tappen": knowing that I was an <i>OED</i> fan, he suggested that I look up this word. He wrote it in blue pencil on an envelope. I went down the corridor to use the English department's <i>OED</i>, found the word, and started laughing uncontrollably. Then I saw that Fr. Cuffe had been waiting and watching from the other end of the corridor.<br /><br />I am proud of having made Fr. Cuffe crack up, just once — despite (or because of) his marvelous sense of humor, he tended to keep a very straight face. He stepped into one of the grad cubicles to show a few of us a flyer about an anti-anxiety workshop for students. "This may be of interest to some of you," he said, or some such words. I responded with mock-hysteria: "Thursday night? At 7:30? Oh no! I don't think I can make it!" And so on. He broke up laughing.<br /><br />Fr. Cuffe died of a heart attack while reading <i>The World According to Garp</i>. Someone in the English department said that he had had the last word on John Irving. I remember that he was wearing his Wallabees in his casket. At the funeral mass, the person giving the eulogy mentioned "tappen," and there was laughter everywhere.<br /><br />Robert, it's a pleasure to hear from someone who knew Fr. Cuffe. Feel free to share your thoughts here.Michael Leddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05547732736861224886noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8343608.post-60595797350076801802009-06-30T15:04:29.040-05:002009-06-30T15:04:29.040-05:00I had Ed Cuffe as Dean and as my poetry teacher at...I had Ed Cuffe as Dean and as my poetry teacher at Saint Andrew-on-Hudson in 1960-1961.<br /><br />Where and when did you encounter him?Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12743893188406008117noreply@blogger.com