Walt Robertson attended Haverford College in the late 1940s, and just down the road apiece was Swartmore College, where some monumental folk festivals were held. Walt mentioned hearing such performers as Lead Belly, Richard Dyer-Bennet, John Jacob Niles, Pete Seeger, and other legendary figures—well before the big folk revival burst on the scene in the late 1950s. This may very well have been where Walt's interest in folk music was born.

He told me that he knew a fellow there named Cletus Otis Oakes (Oakes usually signed his name "CO2"). When Oakes got married, Walt was at the wedding. So were several major folk music figures, including John Lomax (Walt wasn't specific as to whether this was John Lomax Senior or Junior, but I got the impression that it was Senior, which would have made in about 80 and very close to the end of his life). Lomax had known both the bride and the groom for a long time.

In the reception line, Lomax shook hands with the groom and kissed the bride, then stood there, looking them up and down appraisingly. He then said, "Well . . . ya both coulda done better!"

Don Firth