Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Memorial - Ric Masten


For those of you who enjoyed Ric Masten's poetry and art:

Ric's final book, Take 3 - Not Dead Yet, arrived in Monterey the day that he died. According to his daughter, April, the family plans to keep up his web site, but she has not yet been able to make changes to his postings to announce his death or anything about his book. She says that you can order to book if you wish. It costs $30 plus $3 postage. The address is:

SunInk Publications
37931 Palo Colorado Road
Carmel, CA 93923

I had to smile when I read that address. I recall a day while I was visiting my daughter and her family in Monterey, when we went exploring around Carmel. It's such beautiful country, and we followed roads we had not yet explored. I wrote about that day some time back, telling about the breath-taking ride on a mountain road, during which time we navigated some hairpin turns and were suddenly stopped dead by a cow standing in the middle of the road. That same day as we were heading home, son-in-law Mike turned off the highway and told me that he was going to show me how some people lived in the Big Sur country. We drove up another steep, wooded road where the redwoods and other trees grew so thick that they made the bright, sunny day seem almost twilight. That was Palo Colorado Road.

In an article in the Monterey County Herald, last updated on June 21st, Laith Agha wrote about a memorial service held for Ric. He spoke of Ric's poetry books, 23 of them, and his music. He recorded 92 songs.

Ric was also an ordained minister. His "marrying robe" was special. When he married a couple he asked them to embroider something on his robe. If they divorced, he said they had to return and unstitch the embroidery.

His son-in-law, Tom Hunt, remembered fondly that he had said "the real teacher of your life is you" and "take your sun glasses off every once in a while and look people in the eye" In my book, that's real good advice.


The Monterey Herald put part of the memorial service on line:
http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_9657086

5 comments:

kenju said...

In that photo, I imagine him to be a character in "The Hobbit"...LOL

The marrying robe idea is wonderful, and the embroidery/unstitching idea is genius!!

maryt/theteach said...

Hi, bobbie, the passing of a poet is a very sad thing. Thanks for commenting on my Creative Photography post! :)

Kathie Brown said...

Bobbie, what a nice remeberance. Well written. I will have to check out his poetry. I love the idea behind his marriage robes!

Anonymous said...

A good poet gone home to the lord. Bless his soul :)

Gattina said...

Where is your Creative photo ?? you put your link in Mr. Linky !