Katherine Anne Porter Remembered

Clark Dobson

46 / Clark dobson clark dobson (1939–), who began his career as a high school music teacher, holds m.b.e., m.s., and Ph.d. degrees from florida state University. He was an associate director of the Association for supervision and curriculum instruction and served as a professor and administrator at George mason University and the University of south carolina. source: clark dobson, “An Unforgettable decade.” this essay, written specifically for this volume, is published here for the first time. i met Katherine Anne Porter in 1970. At the time, i was a young academic, with a passion for books and writing. i loved Katherine Anne’s work, and the very idea of meeting her was beyond belief. the occasion was lunch at the Army-navy club in Washington, dc. it had been arranged by my friend Jack Horner,46 who had been introduced to Katherine Anne by the University of maryland’s bob beach. bob served as an informal liaison between the University President’s office and its newly minted doctor of Humane Letters. there were four of us sitting around a small square table, with Katherine Anne just to my right. i really can’t remember many details of the conversation. i was probably so awed and overwhelmed that much of it went right over my head. my memory is that she was charming, witty, fun, and very petite. she was small in stature, but large in presence. At one point, when the conversation had turned to sex, she leaned toward me and said in a low voice, “i was married and divorced three times, and i never cared that much about it.” that one line has remained with me for a long time. After this meeting, we became friends and saw quite a lot of each other until her death in september 1980. Katherine Anne and i shared a love of music, especially opera. Among her favorite singers were maggie teyte, Jennie tourel, and denise duval.47 One year, she decided that she would prefer celebrating her birthday at the opera, rather than at the impressive annual celebration arranged by the university. Jack Horner and i managed to get last minute, peanut gallery tickets to Die Fledermaus48 at Part 6. new york, Washington, dc, and maryland / 219 the Kennedy center. she sang and conducted through most of the performance, to the amusement and enthusiasm of the audience seated around us. An even more memorable operatic occasion was a later trip to Wolf trap farm Park for a performance of Prokofiev’s opera War and Peace. this was a performance Katherine Anne was very enthusiastic about attending; so we arranged for four tickets (two down front for Katherine Anne and me, and two in the rear for Jack and Addie Hubbard). Jack and Addie were not opera lovers and probably dozed during the less dramatic and loud parts of the performance. Addie is an important person in Katherine Anne’s later life, but not often mentioned . she served for a while in an odd and complex role of companion, nurse, housekeeper, and chauffeur.they argued constantly, but were actually very close and affectionate. Katherine Anne seemed to appreciate Addie’s innocence, genuineness , and lack of sophistication. At one point, i can remember her referring to Addie as a bird among the vipers. One unforgettable story about Katherine Anne and Addie had to do with their attendance at a notable funeral. After the service , Addie was driving their car in the funeral procession.they suddenly ran out of gas, but were able to coast to a nearby service station. Katherine Anne never forgot the incident, and never ceased to remind Addie of it. While Katherine Anne and i waited for War and Peace to begin, she told me the story of the baroque pearls she was wearing that evening (along with her bird’s-egg-sized emerald ring). it seems that after Ship of Fools was published, and she finally had a bit of surplus money, she went to a new york city jeweler to buy some long-desired pearls. When she had selected the pearls, the jeweler asked “how many?” Katherine Anne replied “i’ll take three yards!” When she told this story, which was often, she always used a measuring motion with her hands to emphasize the point. i also learned a great lesson about Katherine Anne that night, and perhaps about great artists in general. i can remember her touching my arm and pointing upwards. in...