With my own retirement drawing near, I wonder about the situation of retired colleagues, friends who began teaching here when I did and have had the good sense to retire before me. One of these is Michael Patrick, Associate Professor Emeritus of English. Mike retired nearly twenty years ago. When I asked for news for the department newsletter, Mike replied with a generous amount of new, more than would fit into Panoply. For the interest of those who know Mike, perhaps took classes with him, here is a slightly edited version of what he sent.
Currently, he and his wife, Sheena, live in Fairhope, Alabama. Mike has continued scholarly activities focused the book,??The Black West in Story and Song, written with his collaborator, Cecil Williams. The book??has had good reviews and has been selling??well. Cecil and Mike are planning a new edition by adding more people and??songs, but that is only in the preliminary planing stage.??
Mike writes, "Cecil, Keith??Conaway, and I did a session at the Missouri Folklore Society on the role of??Black Missourians in settling the West in Jefferson City in November, 2007.??We missed the 2008??MFS because of my dad's health. He died peacefully in sleep on December 29,??2008. He was 103.
"When my wife, Sheena, and I aren't at home enjoying the beauties, art, and??the writers and artists of Fairhope, we have been enjoying our??grandchildren, avoiding hurricanes, and traveling. Fairhope probably has??more writers, novelists, and poets than any other small town in the world??other than Oxford, MS. Winston Groom, John Sledge, Terry Cline, Judith??Richards, and from time to Fanny Flagg and Jimmy Buffett, are among the
writers who live here.
"Last spring we took a transatlantic cruise to Spain, Portugal, France, and??England, leaving from San Juan, PR. I have a photo of the cock fightingarena in San Juan that I should send to Jack Morgan. Then we went to her??niece's wedding in Glasgow and spent a week with Sheena's brother and??sister-in-law in Edinburgh. After that, we went to Ireland and spent a cold,??rainy week there. We're hoping to take a ??trip to Northern Europe this
summer.
"I'm still active in the Fairhope Unitarian Fellowship. I was president for??three terms and now I'm chairman of the board. During my last term as??president, we built a very beautiful Fellowship Hall.
"My wife says I've entered my second adolescence because I bought a replica??of a 1920??
Mercedes Benz Gazelle sports car. It's fun to have, especially in??the South in warm weather with the top down, ??and I've found it gives me??lots of exercise getting in and out of it."
The car in question is pictured at the right. It does look like a fun ride and good evidence that one can be retired without being retiring.
