Aw…

Shelby Foote has died. To anyone familiar with his trilogy “The Civil War”, he was a god. To anyone who watched Ken Burns’ epic PBS series, he was a national treasure and as comfortable as a pair of old socks when he told his stories. Like this one, for instance…

During World War II, he was an Army captain of artillery until he lost his commission for using a military vehicle without authorization to visit a female friend and was discharged from the Army. He joined the Marines and was still stateside when the war ended.
“The Marines had a great time with me,” he said. “They said if you used to be a captain, you might make a pretty good Marine.”

UPDATE: NPR has audio of past conversations with Mr. Foote.

6 Responses to “Aw…”

1. Mr. Bingley says:

   June 28, 2005 at 2:45 pm

   Aw, that is a shame. I loved his books.

2. tree hugging sister says:

   June 28, 2005 at 2:47 pm

   And that voice! I could listen to him all day long.

3. Lisa says:

   June 28, 2005 at 3:41 pm

   Damn. I’ve read pretty much everything he’s ever written.
   Random note: When I was preggers with Alex, I wanted SO badly to name him Shelby, but my husband said nay. It’s a major girl’s name down here, and my protestations of “Reba McIntire’s son is named Shelby!” and “Shelby Foote is a man!” fell on deaf ears. I still like the name for a boy.

4. tree hugging sister says:

   June 28, 2005 at 4:10 pm

   Me, too.

5. sharon ferguson says:

   June 29, 2005 at 11:40 am

   treehuggingsister – I was just thinking that very same thing – the essence of Southerntility.

6. tree hugging sister says:

   June 29, 2005 at 12:13 pm

   Mellifluous, good natured, intelligent, self deprecating and…
   …incredibly sexy.
   Oh yeah.