R.I.P. Prof. Ted Buttrey (1929-2018)
It is always sad when a friend passes away, or most anyone really, but there is something just that little
bit worse when you know that you were planning a trip to visit your old friend. Any visit to
Cambridge and the
Fitzwilliam will not be the same without him.
I will always have great memories of our email correspondences, our telephone chats, brief though they usually were, but especially our all-too-few lunches and dinners in and around
Cambridge.
I first
met Ted whilst working on a project,
still continuing, and we were talking about those people we knew in common. Among them I told him that my teacher at
Macquarie University was Prof. Ted Nixon. I knew that he
had taught Ted years earlier in Michigan, and he stopped me, paused for dramatic effect, and then said "you know what . . . that makes you my grand-student"! So I was.
He kindly credited me with introducing a new term to
Cambridge, although I am sure he was exaggerating and it was probably just to Ted himself and a few others at the
Fitzwilliam. The term was a
good old Australianism - "Beer-o'Clock" (even though he was not a drinker himself). Se non è
vero, è ben trovato.
I will always treasure the advice he offered, the kindness of
his welcome, the
generosity of
his spirit, the enthusiasm he imbued on most everyone he encountered, certainly me. I am better for knowing this
good man, and these few words cannot sufficiently express my gratitude for having
had that privilege.
Oh for one more lunch, one more "beer o'clock". Farewell my dear friend. Farewell.
Walter
Holt With thanks to Mark Fox for letting me know of this very sad news. https://tinyurl.com/ugt3457https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_V._Buttrey_Jr.
