Another Anniversary…

Sixty years ago and just seven days following the trio’s participation in the March on Washington, I married Betty Bannard.

Sixty years ago and just seven days following the trio’s participation in the March on Washington, I married Betty Bannard. The wedding is still fresh in my mind (we just went through a dusty box of the photos taken that day), but the fact that it occurred so shortly after such a pivotal moment in our country's history didn't register until I began this biography. Aided and encouraged by Jeanne Finley, the memories of my life are now by necessity aligning with a calendar that neither exaggerates or overlooks many coincidences and connections.

That an unused tenor guitar of my father, a job in a camera shop in the town of my high school and later a college roommate's love of chess should mutually serve to bring me to the coffee houses of New York's Greenwich Village might be surprise enough. But the events that led from there to the formation of Peter, Paul and Mary and the subsequent world-wide appreciation of folk music as a language of social equity ultimately led to a combination of fame and responsibility that challenged the balance of my head, heart and soul.

And so it seems the calendar and its clinical representation of dates, geography and personal encounters has become not only a reality check, but also a reminder of the good fortune in my life. Over the next several months – and probably well into the 2024 year – Jeanne and I will be exchanging commentary drawn from parts of the book here in STRINGS.

In hope that you might join us, for the Love of it all...

Noel