Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Walker Gilmer--I waited too long to see if I could find him

GREENCASTLE BANNER GRAPHIC

Frank Walker Gilmer
Monday, February 5, 2018
Dr. Frank Walker Gilmer, the well-known professor, passed away on Jan. 22, 2018, after a long illness.
He and his wife, Peggy had been residents of Greencastle since 1963.

I failed in earlier attempts to check on Walker and Peggy. Today I tried again and found the obituary.

This is what I wrote in MELVILLE BIOGRAPHY: AN INSIDE NARRATIVE (p. 24):
I planned to study for the qualifying exams in the fall of 1962 but in the spring Walker Gilmer importuned me one Friday to come out to Libertyville for the weekend to prep him for the exams by talking out answers to old essay questions and memorizing facts from his meticulously devised flash cards. Saturday evening I called Hayford and asked if I could take the exams with Walker on Monday. He shrugged off the sign-up rules and agreed. Ernest Samuels fumed but did not put up a fight about letting me take the exam, although when I answered Hayford's little throwaway Melville question humorously he observed that this was "no place for levity."

Too late to see if Walker saw it.

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