"She's High-Strung, You Know"

REMEMBRANCES OF MARY LEE SETTLE "She's High-Strung, You Know"________ Patty Tompkins It was October 1983. I'd spoken with Mary Lee many times over the phone but had never met her. Nine months earlier I had married her (favorite) first cousin, Roger Tompkins. We were driving to Charlottesville to spend the weekend with Mary Lee and Widdy. "Mary Lee will go crazy at least once during the weekend," Roger said. I wasn't sure what he meant. I found out as Mary Lee prepared dinner that night. Being a good West Virginia girl, I went into the kitchen to see if I could help. She said she had things under control, so I sat down to chat while she worked. As I later reconstructed the events, I believe she asked me how I liked Charleston. I said I loved it. Apparently, she was in her bitter I-hateCharleston phase. She was shaking salad dressing. The bottle fell to the floor. She ran from the room, screaming, "I hate my whole family. As she ran upstairs, I sought protection under Roger's arm. Aneighbor who was also a dinner guest offered, "She's high-strung, you know." Finally Widdy calmed her down. She came downstairs, and we had a lovely dinner. It was my birthday. She had baked me a cake. That was my introduction to Mary Lee Settle. In the years since then, I've been privy to a few more "crazy" episodes. I learned to attribute them to her artistic temperament and move on. We became great friends. I was privileged to have lots of warm wonderful conversations, visits, phone calls, and one wildly exciting trip with Mary Lee. When she was getting ready to start research on Spanish Recognitions, Mary Lee called one night. "Here's the plan," she said. "We'll fly into Lisbon and rent a car and drive through Portugal to Spain. Call TWA and give them your credit card number." "Uh, OK. But I don't really like to drive, Mary Lee." "I'll drive. I love to drive." So for two glorious weeks, we traipsed through Portugal and Spain. We marveled at the Alhambra, ate roasted sardines in Lisbon, watched the Holy Week procession of penitence in a small town in Spain. We laughed and drank wine. She nearly gave me a heart attack when she insisted on speeding down a steep hill that I'm sure was supposed to be steps and not a street. 26 We always had great visits when she came to West Virginia, too. She went with me the one and only time since Roger died that I have been back to the "Big House" at Cedar Grove—the Tompkins family homeplace that figured so prominently in Addie. In mid-August Martha Wehrle, one of Mary Lee's closest friends, and I drove to Charlottesville to see her. Mary Lee was in great form. We talked and laughed for hours. When we said goodbye, we promised to come back soon. But all of us knew this would be our last visit. We had only been there a few minutes when I realized I should be taking notes. Some of Mary Lee's gems from that visit: "Genius is never inherited. It's a gift. Think of a bird flying with a seed. It drops the seed and genius sprouts." "I distrust pride. It often comes from shame." "When Widdy and I married, people said it was because we were both brilliant. One time we were having a fight, and I said 'Shut up!' and Widdy said 'You shut up.' And then Widdy started laughing and said, Oh my god, we're having our brilliant conversation.'" Last month—at Mary Lee's explicit instruction—Martha and I walked onto the South Side Bridge and spread half of Mary Lee's ashes over the Kanawha River. I guess she was over her I-hate-Charleston period. 27 ...