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July 23, 2005
Maxine Hairston
Back in the mid-80s, when WPA was an informal summer gathering of about 50 people, I got to know Maxine Hairston. She was incredibly kind and friendly to a brand-new PhD who was muddling along in an untenured WPA job. I will never forget an afternoon sitting at a picnic table with Maxine, Lynn Bloom, and Win Horner, as they discussed the options that were before me in my new job. Folks, that's mentoring. Afterwards, whenever Maxine saw me, she paused to find out how things were going. She had very definite opinions about my choices and argued them in detail, but she never pressed them upon me. As the years passed and Maxine and I pursued different political paths in comp/rhet, I fell out of touch with her, but not because I ceased to appreciate her. She was a generous, dedicated member of the profession.
Posted by senioritis at July 23, 2005 12:49 PM