Jacob speaks the truth; I went to the visiting hours at the funeral home as well. In the open coffin, Brother Blue had been lovingly dressed just as if he were up and working, with all the clothing, the ink, the ribbons, the hat covering all his hair, everything.

He and his wife used to have a weekly time slot at that church in the Back Bay, one night a week -- Emmanuel? the church that includes Bach cantatas in the liturgy. I ought to have been studying for university, but I made a point of being in that little chapel every week if I could. It isn't often you get to sit at the feet of a master.

I recall the week he showed up on crutches. He had told the Easter story, it must have been that time of year, and when he got to the Resurrection, he jumped -- I don't know where this was -- and ended up with his foot in a cast; his wife Ruth said the bones in the X-ray looked like Rice Krispies! He could get carried away; and Ruth anchored him, soft-spoken and slight as she was. I felt for her when he passed: together for over fifty years.

Army veteran though he was, Brother Blue had been drafted. Authority was an issue with him! Someone who shall not be named, or ranked, but was well known and loved in that city, used to shudder and all but cross himself when Blue was mentioned. Blue was not one for half-measures or diplomacy, and people were not neutral about him: it was all the way, positive or negative.

The authority thing was also a complication when he did post-graduate work; I remember him laughing bitterly: "My negative Ph.D.! They gave it to me to make me go away!" I remember consoling myself, when he passed, with the thought: Brother Blue, you are a true graduate now. You have finished your schooling on earth, and now you have your POSITIVE Ph. D.

I know nothing of Ruth Edmonds Hill since then; I hope she is all right. But I suspect she has a circle of family and friends nearby.