Pegarty Long

Family friend

I miss you, Ruth. You have been in and out of my life since the 60s. And now you are gone.

Ruth Seymour was a great beauty, a dynamo, blessed with high intelligence, many accomplishments, (she made KCRW what it is today) and a longtime friend.

My poet-sister, Philomene, was the first to meet her when they worked as social workers in 1968. They would spend hours together, talking on their extended lunch breaks at Junior’s Deli. We would attend her husband, Jack Hirschman‘s, Poetry readings. Ruth was always there looking worthy of the name Ruth. We were friends from that year onward. We went to their house for Seder, July 4th gatherings and watched their darling children, David and Celia, grow up.

Did she ever have tenacity? Yes, she did. When she found out that I was friends with Shirley Clarke, the first female feature filmmaker, famous too, she wanted to meet. A few days later, we sat in Ruth’s house with Shirley having dinner.

She loved her beautiful children, Celia and David. When David and I took off to drive to San Francisco, she sprang out from the back door, looked at my 1968 VW convertible, and, worried about him, asked— “Can THAT car make it to San Francisco?” Yes, of course, it will, I thought. However, Ruth was correct in her assessment. It made it up, all right, but it only made it halfway back.

Over the years I would see her at various restaurants or events, exuberant about something. The last time I was to see her was in a place I would least expect. I had just had eye surgery and was in the recovery room. Ruth and Celia marched in with big, loving smiles right up to my bed. One more surprise sighting of Ruth, and they were gone. I never saw Ruth again.

Years ago, David, died. At his memorial, I read from the last page of Finnegans Wake. Ruth sprang up and told me she was so happy that I had read that; she said they were the perfect words for him. So, with love, I send the same to you.

“Whish! A gull. Gulls. Far calls. Coming, far! End here. Us then. Finn, again! Take. Bussofthlee, mememormee! Till thousendsthe. LPs. The keys to. Given! A way a love a lost a last a loved a long the—