Larry A. Jackson Feb. 7 1925 - Nov 7 2017

 So very sad to hear that Larry has died.

Esperazannaise remember well when he and Barbara turned up from America in March, 2009, renting a little house from us for 2 months. Larry had stayed in Toulouse after the war and had always wanted to check it out again, saw my ad in the LRB and got in touch; we wrote to each other for a while and I was captivated. When they got off the bus in the pouring rain late at night we were already old friends.

They visited again, cementing friendships - and every Christmas Barbara would post a christmas cake for us all to share -

Here's an extract from Barbaras' sad letter, outlining his early life, already action packed;

When Larry came back from the war (a navigator in B 17s) he had the GI Bill, a govt. program that paid for university for veterans. Something that changed the US entirely.

Degree in hand, Larry took a job with his college for a time. He then went off to the Quakers to train as a volunteer and was sent to Germany, to Munich. He taught English in the DP camp, created a library/study center for university students, since their  U. library had been bombed out. Came home after two years, but loved the Quakers forever. Entered theology studies at Northwester,  but moved to Union in Manhattan. We meet in his final year of theology studies with Niebuhr and Tillich and John Bennett.

I'm a theology freak so was overwhelmed by the quality of his tutors and of his elegant mind.

With marriage to Barbara - golly, was he lucky to find her!! - and three kids, he led an international scholarly career, causing improvements and blessings wherever he paused. He wrote a text for Lander University which I'II write out in full, because it's great. As was he.  How often does one meet a truly GOOD man? Feel privileged to have known him.

Larry in his own words:

Because we believe that authentic life begins with the recognition that love is the 'law of life', we will seek to understand and implement the demands of love in our personal and social lives.

Because we define working for justice as the ultimate demand of love and the most important way in which  to serve God and man, we will work for justice in all the communities of which we are a part.

Because the ethic of love degenerates into sentimentality unless that ethic is informed and corrected by a deep awareness of the power of self-interest in personal and social life, we will set aside a time each day to monitor our lives and to analyze tendencies within ourselves and our communities to act selfishly and to manipulate and exploit others for personal gain and self- aggrandisement.

We will strive to lead gentle, listening lives, open to the needs of others.

Because the human spirit needs nurture and time for introspection, we will seek individual and communal ways to renew life through periods of stillness, meditation and quest.

Because we believe that the earth is a balanced ecological system which man is just beginning to understand, we commit ourselves to be good stewards of the earths resources, to a lean use of materials, to support research and educational efforts to better understand the proper relationship between man and the natural environment.

We will strive to exercise our vocations with integrity, with an awareness of every person and with a concern for quality and conservation.

We will witness the need to seek ways other than armed conflict to settle disputes between nations. 

We will witness, individually and as a group, to the concept of equality of all before God and therefore to the priesthood of all believers.

We will remain open to truth from all sources, including other religious traditions.