Good-bye and Amen Read online

  Lincoln Cluett is a Philadelphia lawyer. He met his wife Janet at a glee club dance at Miss Pratt’s School, when his friend Eleanor Moss put him on Janet’s dance card. He plays championship bridge and has recently taken up croquet. Biggest thrill to date: a trip to Gambia to visit their youngest daughter who was studying drumming.

  Kim Colwin is a Trusts and Estates lawyer in Detroit. He has one daughter at the Stanford Business School and one special-needs son, and is deeply proud of them both. He wears the same pants size he did in college, plays in a seniors squash league, and also enjoys playing mixed doubles tennis with his wife. John is his favorite Beatle. His favorite song is “In My Life.”

  Syl Conary manages the yacht club in Dundee in the summer and teaches carpentry at the academy in the winter. He enjoys saying that he took the train to New York City once, but there was so much going on at the depot he never did get to see the village.

  Toby Crane is the son of Gladdy and Neville Crane, grew up in Philadelphia and spent summers in Dundee, Maine, as a boy. A schoolteacher and confirmed bachelor living in San Rafael, California.

  Auggie Dodge was born in Dundee, Maine. Finished high school in Dundee, then did three years in the navy, where he was stationed in Honolulu. Went to work as a finish carpenter in East Dundee Boat Yard in 1963, and took the yard over from Junior Horton in 1985, when Junior retired. His favorite beetle is the sow bug.

  Shirley Eaton was born in Union, Maine. Makes breads, rolls, and pizza for Abbott’s market in Dundee during the winter; in summer cooks for the family at Leeway Cottage. She grew deeply fond of Sydney and Laurus Moss, and even went down to visit them in Connecticut one winter, to see where they lived the rest of the time. She would like to fly in an airplane to Florida and take her grandchildren to Disney World.

  Edith Faithful, known as Edie or Edes, daughter of Monica and Norman, is twenty-two. After a case of mononucleosis, she dropped out of Oberlin, where she had been studying voice. She is now attending the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park, New York. She would love to go into business with her sister Sylvie. At the moment her favorite singers are Carolyn Mark and Caitlin Cary, her favorite book is Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson, and her unrealized ambition is to someday see Tibet.

  Monica Moss Faithful, daughter of Laurus and Sydney Moss, was born after her father returned from the war. Called Nika (NEEka) by her family. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and married Norman Faithful in 1971. She is an elementary school teacher. Paul was her favorite Beatle, but she can’t listen to any Beatle music any more as she knows it all by heart. Her favorite album is 69 Love Songs by Magnetic Fields, her favorite song is “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen, or maybe “Alexandra Leaving.” Her favorite book, not counting Austen, Dickens, or L. Frank Baum, is The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by G. B. Edwards. She hopes that her proudest moment is still ahead of her. Thanks for asking.

  Norman Faithful was born in Carmel, Indiana. He graduated from De Pauw University, then from Harvard Law in 1970. Ordained an Episcopal priest in 1976. He reads little fiction, and likes the triumphal hymns of Easter best. Biggest unrealized ambition: to see Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

  Sam Faithful, son of Norman and Rachel Cohen Faithful, was born in Indiana in 1966. Currently working in Hollywood as a lighting designer. He loves the climate in Southern California, enjoys hang gliding, and does not want to direct. He is interested in kabbalah and also in the Sufi poet Rumi. His favorite book is anything by Neil Gaiman. He plays a mean game of snooker.

  Sylvia Faithful, daughter of Norman and Rachel Cohen Faithful, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is thirty-two. Worked her way through the New School waiting on tables. Currently running the room at a new restaurant in west SoHo, and moonlighting as catering waiter/bartender. She can’t imagine living anywhere but New York, and her favorite thing about the restaurant business is playing liar’s poker at the bar with the rest of the staff after they close for the night. On her favorite playlists are Sam Lardner, especially Barcelona, and also the New Pornographers and Goldfrapp.

  Homer Gantry. Childhood summer friend of Sydney Brant Moss. Once worked briefly in the insurance industry, but found that he was not for it and it was not for him. For many years was a trustee and chief source of funds for Ischl Hall, the renowned summer music school in Dundee, Maine. Now lives in winter with his wife Gloria in Rosemont Village in Philadelphia, a retirement community. In summer, his three children return their parents to their cottage on Carleton Point in Dundee, where they are attended by a live-in “housekeeper,” in charge of balancing their prescription medicines and their alcohol intake, and driving. His favorite composer is Schubert, but he likes to tell people it’s Ethelbert Nevin.

  Ellen Gott was born in Dundee, Maine, in 1917. Longtime summer cook and housekeeper for the Moss family at Leeway Cottage, she retired in 1986. She stayed in touch with Mr. and Mrs. Moss, and always kept them supplied with butterscotch cookies that no one could get right but her. She can no longer see to drive but can bake from touch and habit. She does laugh about the Thanksgiving when she made the apple pies with cayenne pepper instead of cinnamon. She enjoys getting out for a drive and going to the Baptist Church with her granddaughter on Sundays. Eleanor Applegate sends her the large print edition of the New York Times, and she enjoys some, but not all, of the books on tape she gets from the library.

  Elise Maitland Henneberry. Childhood summer friend of Sydney Brant Moss, Gladdy McClintock Crane, Homer Gantry, and their crowd. “Aunt Elise” to all the young in the summer community. A legendary fund-raiser for many New York institutions, including New York Hospital, the City Ballet, and the New York Public Library. She and her husband divide their time between Park Avenue and their house in East Dundee. They keep scrupulous count of the days they spend outside of New York so they can pay taxes and vote in Maine. She enjoys gardening, watching her grandchildren’s sailing races, and rereading books she loved in her youth like The Forsyte Saga and The Winthrop Woman. She has no unrealized ambitions. She’s had a blessed life.

  Jeannie Courtemanche Israel. Monica Moss’s best friend in life since they met at age eight in summer sailing class in Dundee and neither one could tie a bowline. A psychotherapist in New York City, fifty-three. Married, no children. Unrealized ambition: to be a fearless old lady sitting on the porch of Leeway Cottage with Monica and Amelia, thumping their canes and terrorizing the young. Her husband was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but they are both still hoping to travel when she retires. She would like to see Antarctica and has recently begun learning Italian.

  Betty Kersey. Formerly a homemaker, mother, and rector’s wife, she now works as an event planner in Mountain View, California. She stays in touch with old friends from their church days by e-mail, including Monica Faithful. Her guilty secret: that she loves computer games like Myst and Riven, and don’t even talk to her about computer solitaire. Current peeve about her job: fund-raising affairs where they auction off a puppy at the end. Someone with a snootful always buys it even though his wife is holding his arm down, and two days later, they give it back and guess who has to find a home for it.

  George Kersey. Curate in same county as Norman in Missouri in the seventies. Served in several parishes before becoming rector of St. Jude’s in Mountain View, California. Served for eight years before leaving the profession to become a school business manager. After some initial difficulty coming to grips with bookkeeping on computer, he enjoys his job and loves the bustle of school. He prefers to worship in private. His favorite writer is C. S. Lewis. Guilty secret: he loves Oprah.

  Carla Lowen. Currently a professor of medieval history at Vassar, she shares a cottage with Alice Dubey, head librarian at the college. She enjoys wearing the saris Alice has given her and taught her how to drape. Guilty secret: she still smokes, but only on the back porch overlooking the asparagus beds, as Alice won’t let her do it in the house.

  Rufus Maitland was born in 1940 in New York City. After Yale h
e served in Southeast Asia, where he learned Vietnamese and a smattering of Mandarin. He has sailed all over the world and enjoys practicing his language skills via ham radio. Things his friends would be surprised to learn about him: he knows how to read palms, and can play the harp.

  Selina Malecki, wife of the bishop of New Hampshire. A wife, mother, and hostess. She enjoys researching her family tree online and that of her husband. She has a special-needs grandson with whom she spends a great deal of time so her daughter can run her business, a plant nursery and garden center. She enjoys figure skating in winter and works part-time as a reading specialist at the local public school. Her hobby is extreme knitting.

  Bella McChesney grew up in Buffalo. She was a dance instructor before her marriage, and still does a flashy tango. She has three grown stepchildren and a daughter just now applying to colleges. Hobbies: embroidery and cooking. She belongs to three book groups and enjoys choral singing. Proudest accomplishment: persuaded her husband to go to Couples Week at the Golden Door, where he finally tried yoga, and loved it.

  Paul McChesney is a sixth-generation New Yorker. He made his living in advertising. He belongs to the Knickerbocker Club, the Princeton Club, and the Coffee House, where he spends many daytime hours, as his wife made clear when he retired that she had married him for better or worse but not for lunch. He serves on the board of the New York City Opera, the Village Community School, the Kips Bay Boys Club, and the vestry of Holy Innocents.

  Amelia Crane Morriset, daughter of Gladdy and Neville Crane. She was a childhood summer friend of Eleanor and Monica Moss, and Sydney Moss’s goddaughter. Married to Tommy Morriset, an architect, and lives in Los Gatos, California. She has three grown children, Barbara, Sarah, and Henry. No grandchildren yet. Her secret ambition is to join the Peace Corps.

  Boedicia Moss ( BOE-di-SEE-a), daughter of Jimmy and Josslyn Moss, is currently seven years old. She used to love the Teletubbies, but doesn’t any more. Posh is her favorite Spice Girl. She is the best in her class at spelling. She would like to be famous, either a movie star or a rock star. She would also like to be a teacher.

  James Lee Moss, known as Jimmy. Youngest child of Laurus and Sydney Moss. He is the chief creative officer of a computer game company that will go public next year, and is fond of quoting his brother-in-law Bobby, saying that he is the only person who could parlay a career out of years on psychedelic drugs. He regrets that he still cannot read music, but very little else.

  Josslyn Berry Moss grew up in Orinda, California, and just had her fortieth birthday. She met Jimmy in L.A. at a meditation intensive. She is a mother of three, plays championship tennis, and does either yoga or Pilates five times a week. She is also a triple Pisces, and has recently discovered Montana.

  Regis Moss, second son and middle child of Jimmy and Josslyn Moss, is eight and three-quarters. He enjoys soccer and kung fu and his best friend is named Omar. Favorite Star Wars character: Luke Skywalker. Pet peeve: his sister because she keeps playing with his Transformers and losing pieces. He doesn’t like piano lessons. He would like to be a Jedi Knight.

  Virgil Moss, oldest son of Jimmy and Josslyn Moss, is ten years old and just got glasses. Plans to be a biologist. He has an aquarium with three turtles, and when he is twelve he will be allowed to get tropical fish. Pet peeve: his mom makes him let Regis play with him and his friends and Regis can’t catch, and also he cries. He will also be a race car driver. His friend Jason has a trampoline.

  Frannie Ober, b. 1947. Daughter of Hannah Gray and Ralph Ober. Grew up in Boston, but spent summers in Dundee, at her parents’ camp on Second Pond. She attended Smith College, where she was active in protesting the Vietnam War. She moved to Portland, Maine, after college, but continued to spend summers in Dundee. On a dare she ran for the state house of representatives when she was still in her twenties, and won. Currently serving her second term in Washington, D.C., as a U.S. congresswoman. She is married with two children, both in college.

  Al Pease. Longtime chief of Volunteer Fire Department and poker buddy of Laurus Moss. Married to Cressida Dodge. Still losing his battle to become retired from Dundee Plumbing and Heating, which he runs with his son Jeff.

  Cressida Pease has spent her whole life in Dundee, with the exception of two years at Husson College. Has recently retired from Ronnie’s Hair Care, but she still keeps the books for the family plumbing and heating company. She wishes her grandchildren didn’t live so far away, and she misses the days when the summer people left in September and didn’t come back until June.

  Jeff Pease, b. in Dundee. Completed high school at the Academy in Dundee and would like you to know he escorted Congresswoman Frannie Ober to her first dance, at the Hanger over in Trenton, Maine. He joined the navy and spent two years in Vietnam. When allowed, he came straight home, married Patty Haskell, and joined his father in Plumbing and Heating.

  Leonard Rashbaum. A litigator and senior partner at O’Melveny & Myers in Washington, D.C. He is a widower with four children, three in college and one to go, and therefore will not be able to retire until he is 102. He is most proud of having worked pro bono on the team under John Keker that prosecuted Oliver North.

  Marta Rowland is currently between husbands, and between her home in New York City and an apartment on the Île St. Louis in Paris, France. She has worked as development director at a private school, which she did very badly, having been brought up not to talk about money, and sold Manhattan real estate, which she did very well, having no objection to hearing other people talk about money if they were planning to give her a cut of it. Her proudest moment is having a bit part in the movie of Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities, playing a Social X-ray. She did her own costumes and makeup.

  Calvin Sector. Grew up in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He moved to Sweetwater when he went to work for Alcoa after Harvard. He rereads all of Shakespeare in rotation every three years, tragedies one year, comedies the next, then histories. He has promised his children he will give up foxhunting when his present horse is too old. So far he has bought his “last” hunter three times.

  Margaret Sector has lived all her life in Sweetwater except for four years at Smith College. She is descended from two Signers and one Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. She sits on the boards of Child Health and also of the Bellknap Home for Crippled Children and is proud that she volunteered her children to be among the first human guinea pigs for the Salk polio vaccine.

  Cinder Smart lives in Gates Mills, Ohio. She is a devoted subscriber to the Cleveland Symphony and the Playhouse, and a docent at the art museum. She has a rose garden which is at least locally famous, and you can tell by the state of her manicure that she is not the kind of gardener who points and watches while someone else does the yard work. Her children are trying to teach her how to do e-mail.

  Bud Shatterman. President of the Kenyon Alumni Association of Colorado. Ran a profitable GM dealership for many years, and served twice as head of the vestry at St. John’s Episcopal Church. He recently lost his wife after her long battle with cancer. He still skis the double diamond slopes, and enjoys his Romeo lunch group (Retired Old Men Eating Out). He is considering signing up for a singles cruise if he can figure out what to wear.

  Lindsay Tautsch moved to Sweetwater when she was ten years old. She enjoys bowling and swears her cat Mame was a dog in a former life. She can’t imagine more rewarding work than the priesthood. She looks forward to revamping the Inquirers’ Classes at Good Shepherd, and hopes to institute a program of organ concerts to reach out to those in the valley who do not yet have a church home.

  Clara Thiele still serves on the altar guild at St. John’s. She suffered a minor stroke two years ago, from which she fully recovered and is otherwise healthy and counting her blessings. She is planning to take her grandchildren on a trip to discover their Danish roots next summer, and will probably travel on to Moscow and St. Petersburg. She has always wanted to see the Hermitage.

  Sandra Thiele, daughter of Clara and George Thiele. Ha
s fallen away from the church and is grateful she and her mother have agreed not to talk about it. She has recently finished her master’s in social work and is completing her supervised training; she hopes to open her own family counseling practice by next year.

  Rebecca Voglesang is “over forty but barely.” She has three children at Sweetwater Academy, the oldest due to graduate this year. She works part-time at the Sweetwater Arts Center, teaches Sunday school, and has taken up horseback riding to keep her youngest company.

  Ted Wineapple. Archdeacon of California in San Francisco. A seminary classmate of Norman Faithful, he has served several dioceses in his career. He enjoys the climate in the Bay Area, has twice completed the S.F.-to-L.A. bike ride to benefit HIV/AIDS research, and has sworn not to take up golf until he retires.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Jerri Witt, a dear friend and brilliant pianist, has been a trusted reader of early drafts for me for over a decade, not to mention her heroic efforts to teach me to play the piano. I thank her for her generosity, for the depth and breadth of her musical expertise, and for her wisdom about texts and people. Some may recognize that thanks to Jerri, Laurus’s ideas about programming owe much to the great Mitsuko Uchida. To her, too, I am grateful.

  Others have offered time, information, and keys that opened doors in the characters’ brains, or in mine. For such generosity I am grateful to Nion McEvoy, Lauren Belfer, Rita and Kent Johnson, the Venerable Robert N. Willing, the Reverend Robert Cromey, Pat Beard, Shery Kerr, Sarah Auchincloss, Donald E. Jones, Claire Messud, Jonathan Lethem, and William Bunting.

  For their thoughtful readings and comments on various drafts of this book I thank Lauren Belfer and Jerri Witt (again), Robin Clements, David Taylor, Emily Forland, and Lucie Semler.