Monday, January 15, 2018
Dierdre was one of the great personalities and people I have met in my life. I have in a drawer a folder that is probably about eight inches wide full of her wonderful, lively, irreverent and affectionate letters written over a period of two decades on a manual typewriter. Here and there in my house are gifts she sent me to commemorate the passing of my parents, my cat Huck whom she never stopped talking about, and for Christmas which she delighted in like a child. We wrote for years before I met her. I had helped edit an issue of a magazine in which we published pictures of her paintings. After we met, we kept on writing. My last letter from her was probably in November. I just discovered by accident on line that she died on January 4th. I never had a way to reach her as she was not a telephone person. A friend and I had hoped to go up to see her this week.
On my wall above the desk as I type this is her "Jonah" one of my prize possessions--an original I bought years ago. I wish I had more of her exceptional work though I have her books of drawings.
There was simply no one like Dierdre. We talked about poetry, sent each other our favorites, and ranted about politics and the ups and downs of life. Her letters are full of the amazing range of things she read sitting on her boat, of her descriptions of landscaping, of her wry, witty, and ascerbic commentary on everything under the sun. I mostly agreed with her.
She mourned deeply the passing of her friends and of her husband Donald.
Now I mourn her passing and will never forget her. A wonderful person has left this
world and leaves a huge gap.
Rosalie de Rosset
Chicago, Illinois
(920) 397-5579 
