In Memoriam

Posted on August 1, 2017 by | Posted in about LibriVox, Blog, For Volunteers, Monthly Picks, News | Comments: 10 Comments on In Memoriam

LibriVox is twelve! In those years, we have seen many readers come and go – and some of them, unfortunately, are gone forever. Here, we honor them with the gems they produced for our catalog.

One of our oldest readers ever was Dorothy Lieder. She was already 92 when she read one story of The Burgess Bird Book For Children, together with her son.

Australian Lucy Burgoyne also loved children’s books. Even though she had part of her jawbone removed due to cancer, she read seven books by Arthur Scott Bailey, among them The Tale of Grandfather Mole.

A beloved grandfather was Lars Rolander from Sweden. He was on a mission to bring the books of Selma Lagerlöf to life and to a wider audience. A bit out there is her short ghost story Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness.

Israel Radvinski did exactly that. The one single book he read for Librivox was the Bible – Genesis – in Hebrew.

Sadly, we also know very little of bryfee, but he did take part in our second version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

Chris icyjumbo died way too young from an aggressive form of oesophageal cancer. His legacy contains The Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise, read as a duet.

Another early LibriVox member and admin was Alan Davis Drake, who specialised on poetry. He read a number of poetry books solo, among them are Selected Early Poems of William Carlos Williams.

John E. Farell also had a love for poetry. Although he didn’t do a solo recording, he read five poems in The Flowers of Evil by Baudelaire.

Good and evil are never far apart in the books by Charles Dickens. Cynthia Lyons should know since she took the time to read two, and one of them is the epic Bleak House.

Probably more fun in reading had Gregg Margarite. The SciFi buff read many pulp magazine stories from the 60s. A rather unusual one is The Runaway Skyscraper by Murray Leinster.

One of our earliest readers, Denny Sayers, must have been a fan of Daniel Defoe, after all, he read six books of this author. Among them is the swashbuckler The Life, Adventures & Piracies of Captain Singleton.

A very dry form of humour and wit was the style of Andy Minter, who died early this year. His rendition of Stevenson’s The Wrong Box perfectly shows his personality.

Enjoy – and remember!

 

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10 comments

  1. JMR says:

    Their voices live on. A wonderful legacy.
    May they Rest in Peace.

  2. Steve says:

    Lars Rolander is one of my all time favorite narrators on LibriVox or anywhere else. The noted work ‘Thy Soul Shall Bear Witness’ in English translation is extremely rare. It was only available in 4 libraries anywhere in the world. I contacted the Library of Congress and procured a digital PDF scan, then uploaded it to Internet Archive. This document is what Lars read from. I’m very happy to contribute in some small way and also saddened to hear we will not be hearing any new Rolander.

  3. Dagny says:

    Thank you for this. I hadn’t heard about Andy Minter. Many of the books he read have been group reads at the 19th Century Literature group and we’ve always enjoyed his fine reading.

  4. Transgreaser says:

    Israel RadvinskiThe one single book he read for Librivox was the Bible – Genesis – in Hebrew.” His voice was so amazing and clear…flabbergasted that he was so far along in years. בשלם וברחמים

  5. Emma says:

    Gregg Margarite: (Being a true) Artist.
    2. (Denoting a state of) Exuberance.
    3. (Existing in) Joy.

    Your voice will live on in all of your sublime readings here on LibriVox & in our hearts.

  6. elaine says:

    The type of generous folk that the world can ill afford to lose. Very sorry they are gone.

  7. Robin Holbrook says:

    I have spent many hours enjoying the rich voices of many who are gone. I am so glad their voices are preserved doing what they love! They will be missed!
    And I am grateful to the many who still are reading.
    The time and dedication you all give adds depth to the stories. At 71 I have discovered what I wish I had known 60 years ago: I REMEMBER what I HEAR much more than what I read silently!!!!! Bless you ALL!!

  8. Their voices live on for all to enjoy.

    Sadly, I recently learned of one other who was a behind the scenes proof listener for many years. Mary McCullough (mim@can) lost her battle with lung cancer in March. She was a credit to LV and will be fondly remembered. RIP Mim.

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