This is getting to be depressing business. Rhys Isaac has died. I only met him once. At the SHA in Richmond a few years back, he was sitting alone in the hotel lobby awaiting the airport shuttle. "Nows my chance," I said, and walked up to him and said I have a question of the utmost seriousness to ask. "Is 'Reece' the proper way to pronounce your first name, because I've heard people say it 'Rice' but I think its 'Reece.' Which is it?" And he thought that was pretty funny, and commenced regailing me with stories about being a young historian, none of which I remember. For him to treat this nobody with such graciousness and humor seems to be perfectly in keeping with the character everyone is describing today. Just five minutes, but I'll remember it always.
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