On February 12, Edith Iglauer died. Obituaries appeared in
BC Bookworld and the Globe & Mail.
Since I spend upwards of $1600 per year on my NY Times subscription I am not subscribed to the Globe&Mail in spite of the fact that my Times is delivered by the Globe folks. The Globe has an insurmountable pay wall so I was not aware of her death until I read the fine obituary in today’s (March 18, 2019) New York Times.
While it is understandable that our Vancouver Sun is
moribund (who will write their obituary when it finally succumbs?) I have not
been able to find any indication in that newspaper (I am subscribed) that this
great American writer is dead.
But I feel no anger. If anything I feel lucky to have had
the pleasure of working for magazines (in the example here, Western Living) who
gave me access and connections to so many great people, mostly who because I am
about to be 77, are all but gone.
I can still find pleasure in being able to spot Jay
Hamburger (one of Eglauer’s two sons) at the theatre or at a restaurant and to
be able to loudly exclaim, “Hamburger!”
The last time I saw Iglauer it was at Arthur Erickson’s
garden home. She had that patrician (to me) gray hair and that charm that I so
remember.
When I scanned this Western Living frontspiece today I
became aware of something I had forgotten. If Eglauer looks so special it is
because for many years my editorial secret weapon was makeup artist Inga
Vollmer.