Dorothy Ward, voice coach extraordinaire and a friend of the family, sent a beautiful email to Leslie about David. She has given us her permission to quote part of it here. It’s particularly appropriate just now, as February 7, 2012 marks the bicentenary of Dickens’ birth.
A quotation fell out of a book I was reading this morning and suddenly I was aware of David’s presence. Of course I had to share this.
The quote is by Charles Dickens:
“Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.”
On our infamous car ride together he talked to me about how important it was to read great literature to learn about the craft of writing. I asked him who inspired him and he said without a moment’s hesitation, “always I return to Charles Dickens – it’s all there. He’s the master.”
And so, on a cold, stark morning I am given this blessing. And I wanted to write of it. His legacy is in his plays, the characters he gave us through his own joy and pain – to teach, to reveal, to change us. In a half hour car ride he left an indelible mark on me.
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