{"id":2531,"date":"2020-10-12T08:42:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T12:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/?p=2531"},"modified":"2020-10-12T08:42:00","modified_gmt":"2020-10-12T12:42:00","slug":"in-memory-of-tony-abbott-1935-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/blog\/2020\/10\/12\/in-memory-of-tony-abbott-1935-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"In Memory of Tony Abbott (1935-2020)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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When I heard the sad news that Dr. Anthony S. \u201cTony\u201d Abbott died on October 3, 2020, I flashed back to the first time I heard Tony read his poems aloud.\u00a0 His first poetry collection, The Girl in the Yellow Raincoat, <\/em>had just been published, and he read a number of the poems from this collection at an event sponsored by Poplar Street Books, a charming used bookstore that was located in a historic home in the heart of Charlotte\u2019s Fourth Ward.\u00a0 Rosemary Latimore, the owner of the store, was a great lover of poetry, and she often held poetry readings at her bookstore.\u00a0 I went to Tony\u2019s reading, and I remember being moved by the deep emotions that run through his poetry.\u00a0 For example, in his poem about the girl in the yellow raincoat, Tony helped those of us in attendance better understand the continuing sense of loss that a parent experiences following the death of a child.\u00a0 I also remember the sound of his voice as he read aloud.\u00a0 There was a warmth to his voice that helped him establish a rapport with those of us in the audience.\u00a0 Although that poetry reading took place more than thirty years ago, I remember it very well.\u00a0 I can still see Tony reading his poems, surrounded by stacks of old books.\u00a0 I recall that at the end of his reading, he repeatedly thanked Rosemary for organizing the event, and he thanked those of us in the audience for coming out to hear him.\u00a0 As I see it, Tony didn\u2019t just share his poems with us that afternoon.\u00a0 He shared part of his essence.\u00a0 His passion for poetry, his desire to connect with readers, his graciousness, and his commitment to the larger literary community all came through during his reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am just one of many people whose lives are richer because they knew Tony or read his work.  During his thirty-seven years as an English professor at Davidson College, he taught countless students about literature and drama.  Even after he retired in 2001, he continued to teach occasional courses.  As one of the founders of the Davidson Community Players, he helped bring the joy of theater to the lives of many residents of Davidson and beyond.  Through his many books, he reached readers, most of whom never met him in person.  Over the course of his long career, he wrote seven books of poetry, two novels, and several works of literary criticism.  He participated in various writers\u2019 groups and organizations in the Charlotte area, and he could always be counted on to lead writing workshops.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the purposes of this blog post, I contacted three people who knew Tony well and asked them to provide me with more information about Tony\u2019s many and varied contributions to Charlotte\u2019s community of readers and writers.  One of these people is Ann Wicker, who was one of Tony\u2019s students at Davidson College in the 1970s and who went on to become one of his friends.  Another is Amy Rogers, who was the publisher of Tony\u2019s first novel, Leaving Maggie Hope.  <\/em>The third is Leslie Rindoks, who Tony sought out as his designer many times, over several decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is what Ann Wicker sent to me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through his service in so many organizations and in his personal life, Dr. Tony Abbott was a bridge builder and one of his many gifts was bringing writers and readers together. His readings were entertaining and his classes inspirational. Further, he had a gift for bringing individuals together\u2014if you were a friend of Tony, you had a vast network of friends you just hadn\u2019t met yet.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Tony was active in literary endeavors across the state and beyond, he spent a lot of time both before and after his 2001 retirement from Davidson College teaching classes for the Charlotte community. His classes through Queens University were always full, and he taught many classes and workshops for various groups in Charlotte and the region.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many years he was active in the Charlotte Writers Club, serving as the organization\u2019s president as well as several terms on their board. The Charlotte Center for Literary Arts wrote in their newsletter that Tony was \u201ca supporter, faculty member, and friend of Charlotte Lit from our inception\u201d in 2015.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond Charlotte, Tony served as president of the North Carolina Writers\u2019 network from 1990-1992. He received the North Carolina Award for Literature in 2015 and in 2020 entered the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame. He served multiple terms on the boards of the North Carolina Writers\u2019 Network and the North Carolina Poetry Society.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2008, Tony received the Irene Blair Honeycutt Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Literary Arts from Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte. He was twice honored by the NC Poetry Society in the Brockman-Campbell Competition: in 2012 as co-winner for <\/em>If Words Could Save Us and in 2014, an honorable mention for <\/em>The Angel Dialogues.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is what Amy Rogers sent to me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the best things about being a publisher is saying yes to writers who most often hear the word no when they submit their work. Saying yes to Tony Abbott\u2019s novel was easy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when I heard the sad news that Tony had died, I did what book-lovers do: I went seeking solace from my bookshelf and pulled down my copy <\/em>of Leaving Maggie Hope. It\u2019s an elegant, coming-of-age story of a boy who struggles to develop self-reliance in a world that often defies understanding.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remembered back to when I first sat down with Tony\u2019s manuscript; before then, I\u2019d only been familiar with Tony\u2019s work as a masterful poet.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of the publishing team at Novello Press, I evaluated hundreds of submissions each year. We\u2019d all seen the sad truth: Even skilled wordsmiths often lack the ability to sustain a long-form narrative over the hundreds of pages that comprise a novel.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this, this: Expansive and somehow tight, lyrical and yet muscular, <\/em>Leaving Maggie Hope was a treasure. We not only added it to our roster of published books, we named it a Novello Literary Award winner.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was back in 2003 and so much has changed since then. I didn\u2019t get to know Tony as a beloved professor who shaped the creative minds of so many students. I can\u2019t imagine the loss to his beloved Davidson community. But I have a keepsake of his legacy on my shelf, along with the memory of the joy of saying <\/em>yes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is what Leslie Rindoks sent to me:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirty years ago, Tony Abbott was directing Davidson Community Players\u2019 production of <\/em>Inherit the Wind and needed a set designer. New to North Carolina, I was a freelance designer with a theatre degree and little else. That play was the first of our collaborations, some theatre-based, but many more book-related, all of which enriched my life\u2014as his neighbor, a designer, an editor, and ultimately as a writer myself.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I designed the cover of his first book, <\/em>The Girl in the Yellow Raincoat (St. Andrews Press, 1989). Later, I designed the first edition of his autobiographical novel, <\/em>Leaving Maggie Hope (Novello Festival Press, 2003), and as the book became a perennial favorite, I published, with Lorimer Press, the subsequent second edition and many reprints thereafter. Lorimer went on to publish collections of Tony\u2019s poetry: <\/em>New and Selected, If Words Could Save Us, and<\/em> Angel Dialogues, all to great acclaim.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tony delighted in collaboration, especially when sharing poetry with new audiences. He read poems accompanied by Baroque cello; he stepped into the recording studio so a cd could accompany <\/em>If Words Could Save Us; he enlisted an artist to depict Gracie, the bridge-playing, Girl Scout cookie-selling, chandelier-swinging angel in <\/em>Angel Dialogues; then, while promoting the book, he paired with various readers across the state to give Gracie a voice.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \u201cBlood Talk\u201d he wrote, \u201cI got nothing but goddam words working for me,\u201d but goddam, what he did with them! As N.C. poet laureate Joseph Bathanti said, Tony refused \u201cto flinch or shy away from his spiritual preoccupation intrigues\u201d and he mined with \u201cprofundity and lyric intensity that sacred vein\u2014with an imaginative finesse and sense of humor that is at once mystical and accessible.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tony\u2019s belief in the power of words\u2014if words could save us (and they can, my darling)\u2014was in full force when he served as volume editor for <\/em>What Writers Do, a retrospective of Lenoir-Rhyne\u2019s Visiting Writers Series (Lorimer Press, 2011). When he reached out to writers such as Seamus Heaney, Billy Collins, and Ron Rash, they delivered:\u2008poems, essays, stories, all which, as Tony said, \u201ccelebrate life and language and hope \u2026 making us want to be the human beings we were intended to be.\u201d The very definition of Tony\u2019s lifelong mission.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How fitting Tony should leave us now. The leaves on his favorite trees, those sugar maples, demand our attention before they loosen their hold and drift away.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Blood red of late October in the South,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            and from the cemetery to the college campus<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            on the hill, the leaves bathe my eyes. I<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            turn each corner into dazzling surprise.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Ann, Amy, and Leslie make clear in their statements, Tony was more than a gifted writer.\u00a0 He always valued friendship and community, and he took seriously his role as a teacher and mentor to the many writers he nurtured and supported over the course of his long and productive life.\u00a0 He will be missed, but through his books, he will continue to play a role in Storied Charlotte for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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