I got the notice of Bob Detweiler’s obituary just as I finished the first draft of the poem I’m going to read at the memorial service on Saturday morning. Yes, he treated each one of us as a peer, and brought out every speck of brilliance and humor that we had in us. The twinkly eyes seem to have been appreciated by all.
Dr. Robert Detweiler was a dedicated scholar but he didn’t take himself too seriously. The former Emory University professor often attended his graduate students’ parties, and he loved telling jokes.
“He just had a merry twinkle in his eye. He took life in general with a certain amount of humor and detachment. He had a genuine warmth for other people,†said Dr. Robert Paul of Atlanta, dean of Emory College.
Dr. Robert Detweiler spent six years in postwar Germany helping refugee families.
“He struck you as a kidder, but he worked very hard. He had a very strong record of academic publications,†said Dr. Paul, who was his colleague in the 1980s.
Dr. Detweiler, who taught comparative literature, served as the director of the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts at Emory from 1973 to 1982.
He became nationally recognized for his insights in the areas of religion and literature, as well as his work on authors John Updike and Saul Bellow.
His books include, “Breaking the Fall: Religious Readings of Contemporary Fiction†in 1987 and “Uncivil Rites: American Fiction, Religion, and the Public Sphere†in 1996.
Dr. Detweiler became a lifelong mentor to many of his students, guiding them in their search for jobs after graduation, said Harriette Grissom of Asheville, N.C., a former student.
“He wasn’t paternalistic about it. He always treated you as a peer, not a student,†she said.
Dr. Detweiler was born in Souderton, Pa., and was reared as a Mennonite. He earned a divinity degree from Goshen College, and after college traveled to Germany on a church-sponsored relief project to assist in the post-war rebuilding of the country. He stayed six years, helping build homes for refugee families and counseling students who had lost their families.
Former student Gary Tapp said that experience helped shape Dr. Detweiler’s outlook.
“We knew he had been through a lot in Germany. It enabled him to not take the small trials and tribulations of university life too seriously,†said Mr. Tapp, of Atlanta.
Dr. Detweiler met his wife, Gertrude Detweiler, in Germany. Although he left the Mennonite faith as an adult, he remained strongly influenced by his upbringing and enjoyed listening to Mennonite hymns.
His experiences in Germany and in his advanced studies “opened his mind but didn’t stop him from being a deeply theological thinker,†said Dr. Paul. “From his Mennonite background, he retained a communal spirit and the feeling of the sacredness of life.â€
Dr. Detweiler, 76, formerly of Atlanta, died Sunday at his St. Simons Island residence after a series of strokes, his wife said.
The body was cremated. Cremation Society of the South is in charge of arrangements.
The memorial service will be Saturday at 10 a.m. at Emory University’s Canon Chapel.
Survivors other than his wife include a daughter, Bettina Detweiler of Atlanta; a son, Dirk Detweiler of Aspen, Colo.; and four grandchildren.
There will be a memorial service for Bob Detweiler at the Cannon Chapel (directions) at Emory University in Atlanta, GA on Saturday, Sept. 6 at 10:00 a.m.
Mark Ledbetter will conduct the service.
Friends of Bob Detweiler, please pass it on.
An obituary was submitted to the AJC today with this information.
I didn’t know that his middle name was “Clemmer.”
ROBERT CLEMMER DETWEILER, 76, of St. Simons Island died Sunday. The body will be cremated. Memorial service plans will be announced; Cremation Society of the South, Marietta.
Way back when, she met and married Clark and they had Louis, who’s a couple of years older than Ben.
Freddie and Clark at our Wedding
They are fun to be with, fun to spend time with. I’ve missed them tremendously since they moved to New Jersey/New York last year.
Freddie is the one who has turned me on to all this French music I’ve been obsessed with lately (especially Alain Bashung, “Madame Rêve“!). When they moved, she gave me a giant monster plant from Martinique, which I’ve managed to keep alive, as well as a dresser and a couple of lamps, and a chair, and end tables for Ben’s room and all sorts of other things.
ClarkFrederique
She is amazingly talented. She translated some of Salvador Dali’s work for her dissertation, and she does all kinds of other writing – art criticism and history, even an opera. She’s always got a couple of projects going. One of my most memorable conversations with her had to do with art in which someone is sticking out their tongue. She’s so French, so fun, so creative. I always have a lot of fun talking with her.
John had just returned from the Artificial Life XI conference in England (among other things, he got to go to Stonehenge!) and I was working, so the dinner was carryout – rolled sandwiches, potato salad, stuff like that. I brought cookies, John brought fruit tart, and they brought Boston Creme cake – so it was all about the desserts.
Freddie and I also had a couple of hours together on Saturday for some girl talk. How I’ve missed that!
This was a day last year where we trounced around wearing furs for the “Save the Poor Abandoned Furs” project, membership: 2. Actually, I have friends that would be mad at me for joking about it, for owning fur, and for wearing it (sorry, I love fur – not siberian tiger or anything, but…).
I love uncomplicated time with real friends. It’s such a treat to relax and know that your friends just like you as you are. The night cooperated by not raining so that we could socialize out on the deck.
As light faded, I tucked Ben into bed and brought out candles and we spent a couple of hours talking about politics and art and relationships and neural networks and I don’t remember what else.
It was an easy, fun, relaxing, enjoyable evening. Loved it.
P.S. I should have taken photographs Monday, but I didn’t think of it. These are all from previous times together.
My birthday was yesterday and Oh! I love birthdays now. I love holidays. I love celebration and joy.
Every celebration heals my soul, even now. After all this time, there’s a small part of me that is making up for all those missed celebrations of my JW childhood.
I am sorry that I have not been posting very often. I enjoy my job, but it is tiring. When I get home, I prefer to spend my time with family and friends – offline and online. I suspect I’ll only be able to do a couple of posts a week unless my energy level picks up.
A big thank-you to online friends. I had so many birthday wishes from my friends online – especially on Facebook and MySpace – that I haven’t even gone through them all yet. It made me weepy with happiness. I also got a slew of birthday ecards, emails, graphics, hugs, cuddles, photos – all sorts of wonderful things and I want to thank everybody. The day was really super-special to me because the people I care about took the time to do those things. Yeah, ok, I’m a big mushie.
At home, we had a nice dinner while I recovered from smashing up my knee in a mortifying tumble I took in the company parking lot earlier in the day. Ice pack, ibuprofen, sun and a beer – actually not such a bad way to spend some birthday time.
I didn’t actually get any real presents on my birthday – we’re really that unorganized around here. But John did surprise me with a bouquet of flowers, and we had big round purple grapes and pizza and blackforest cheesecake. John got a sentimental Hallmark card, and Ben made me one of his own (in which he downgraded me 4 years – hee hee – which sort of made up for his adding five years in the morning). When we have time, I’m to get some RAM for my computer at home (my brother Michael is going to help determine the right kind and where to get it) and a new swimsuit for our upcoming vacation.
The phone didn’t stop ringing, though. My brother Roy called the night before. He SANG to me, and so did my mom and stepfather. Carol called yesterday night, and told me that my customary cake was ready. When was I going to pick it up (in Massachusetts!)? Just a bit late sending out. My gramma called and wished me a happy day, and I even got a call from my old landlady Doris.
My Iowa roommate Bev called me too – we always send each other presents – but I hadn’t gotten hers yet.
When I got home from work today, John mentioned that I had received a book. There was a package from Amazon. I hadn’t ordered anything recently, and I didn’t connect the dots until I opened it. When I saw what it was, I knew exactly who it was from. No need to look. No-one else would have gotten me the complete Twin Peaks series!
I started to jump up and down, until my knee reminded me (with a very clear message) that it wasn’t quite better yet (you see, the knee is getting better only in incremental stages. I might need comfort and affection every day for … oh, I don’t know, a couple of weeks?).
Anyway, it was a fantastic present! Bev and I had watched it together when we were roommates in Iowa City. When one of us was working, the other would tape it and then we’d watch later. I haven’t seen any of the episodes since then, and I’m looking forward to watching it again. Maybe this time I can figure out what the deal is with the owls and the Buddhist monks.
Rainier is in town. He’s giving at paper at the National Association for Ethnic Studies Conference this afternoon, but last night he was free for dinner.
Through the rain and lightning and terrible traffic, John and I drove into the center of Atlanta to meet him. I had made reservations at Nikolai’s Roof! Oh boy, oh boy!
So, some background. Rainier and I were fellow graduate students in the ILA at Emory, and became really close friends when we were there. He has always been very sweet and respectful and easygoing with me, and I love him dearly. The last time I saw him was nearly ten years ago, when John and I got married.
He’s a real professor now – the University of Nevada even featured him in an ad (“Be a Rebel!”). His daughter is all grown up and he has a grandchild, which is really difficult for me to imagine. On my side, I’m out of academe and Ben will be 8 next month. Compare us ten years later – not too bad!
Now, I have always wanted to have dinner at Nikolai’s Roof, but in all the years I’ve lived in Atlanta I have never gone. Since the dinner was my treat, I got to decide, and I grabbed at the opportunity. It’s at the top of the Hilton and at night the view of the city is stunning. The decor is Russian, but the food is French contemporary with a Belgian touch. I haven’t had such a good meal since we were in Dijon.
Some kind of fish mousse – about the size of a pat of butter, with drips and drops of sauce and an edible frond of something that might have been a baby leek – was the chef’s opener.
We were well into an wide-ranging and animated conversation when the piroshkis arrived. These were three little puff pastries, each stuffed with pintade, beef tenderloin or salmon, and served with a creamy dipping sauce on the side. Totally yummy. By the third bite, I was trying not to moan – I love this kind of food and it really gives me a buzz. The wine helped, too (grin).
It was very interesting to observe some of the other diners. My notice was particularly taken by a corrupt-looking older man whose smooth manner was of an oily, repulsive type – much like how I would imagine the portrait of Dorian Gray. His… um… escort was much younger, provocatively dressed, strikingly beautiful, and (I could be completely off but) I wondered what she takes home for an evening that starts with such a dinner. Meeeeiaow… I know, but you had to be there.
Back to the food. Next came a plate of three liquid tasters, each surrounded at the base by a different kind of salt (I liked the “lava salt” best): Lobster bisque with lobster at the bottom, some kind of shrimp-based thing, and I couldn’t tell you what the third one was. The bisque was the highlight.
I think it was at this point that we got the second bottle of wine – a Turley Red Zinfandel.
The main course was a melt-in-your-mouth medium-rare beef tenderloin over caramelized veggies (mostly onions, leeks and cabbage, I think) with chanterelles risotto cakes. Each plate was covered with an ornate silver dome, and the servers chimed them down-and-up at precisely the same moment. Impressive.
The rest room was an experience, too. I’ve never had someone hand-deliver the soap, and hold the towel for me. And stuff. “Bon soir!” she said to me. By this point, I was lucky that I didn’t fall down the stairs on the way back to the dining room.
The server – a very handsome lad dressed in a formal red Russian-style jacket – brought me a rose and smiled at me. And then he brought me the bill.
Have you ever managed to stagger while sitting in a chair? It’s a strange sensation.
We closed the place down. I don’t think we made it home until almost 1 a.m.
I can only do that about every decade (or less), but oh! what a night. I’ll always remember it.
Thank you so much for a lovely – and very memorable – evening. Exquisite food, romantic atmosphere, and the very, very best of company. Happy sigh.
Our son’s “Google doodle” made the cut and he is one of only six finalists at his elementary school to have the opportunity to enter the big Google contest.
The contest theme is “What if…”. The kids had a template of the Google logo, and then designed their own drawings around it.
At Google we believe in thinking big, and dreaming big, and we can’t think of anything more important than encouraging students to do the same. So we hope you’ll gather those art supplies and some 8.5×11 paper and encourage your kids to enrich us all with their creative visions of our world, as it is and as it might be.
The thing that has Ben most excited is the possibility that his drawing would be showing on the Google home page for a whole day. He didn’t make any big deal about being one of the six winners from his whole school. I love that kid so much.
His drawing has an underwater theme, with fishes in two of the letters.
There are other prizes for the winners, to wit:
The National Winner will win a $10,000 college scholarship to be used at the school of their choice; a trip to the Googleplex on May 21, 2008; a $25,000 grant towards the establishment/improvement of a computer lab for their current school; a laptop computer; and a t-shirt with their Google Doodle printed on it. Their doodle also will be displayed on the www.google.com home page for one day. The National Finalists who did not become the National Winner will win a laptop computer, a trip to the Googleplex on May 21, 2008 and a t-shirt with their Google Doodle printed on it. The 36 Regional Winners who did not become National Finalists will win a trip to the Googleplex on May 21, 2008 and a t-shirt with their Google Doodle printed on it. The 460 State Finalists who did not become Regional Winners will each receive a Doodle 4 Google certificate.
