Short story group celebrates leader’s birthday
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POLSON - “Our fearless leader,” Lonnie Durham, retired Professor of English Literature, came to our short story discussion group with a big grin last Thursday. It was his 83rd birthday and his friends arrived bearing gifts of food for the brunch to follow our weekly discussion. There were cinnamon rolls, fruit and lettuce salads, cheese potatoes, deviled eggs, ham, quiche, scones, ice cream, two birthday cakes, champagne, orange juice, iced tea and coffee. Some 30 persons joined the celebration, including past and present discussion group members and other friends of Lonnie’s.
We sat around four pushed-together round tables at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Polson, where the group has met weekly since its inception about 28 years ago. The last few years Lonnie has taken summers off. We accept his decision but find it difficult to have him be away that long.
The group began a few years after Lonnie and his wife, Margery, moved to Polson in 1996. They had retired from teaching for 30 years at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Margery was also a Professor of English Literature. After giving several talks on the history of the English language at St. Andrew’s, he was asked by Episcopal priest Edwina Aker to start a short story discussion group. Over the years member numbers have fluctuated from 10 to 30.
When asked why he likes to lead the group, Lonnie said, “It’s astonishing to me that people allow me to do it because I just love to play teacher.” He added that many friendships have evolved within the group. “I love them all,” he said.
The short story group has been comprised of retirees from a number of professions: education, music, art, journalism, religion, medicine, social work, horticulture, politics, law, psychology, mechanics, homemaking, and a few ex-English majors, myself included. This is where you want to be if you enjoy exercising your brain, like Agatha Christie’s detective character Hercule Poirot said, “Exercise the little grey cells.” We are not a somber group however and enjoy laughing as much as anyone, and often someone like Dave Marshall provides the humor.
We take seriously that, as older adults, we have life experience to bear upon the discussion. We are not shy and we challenge each other’s interpretation of passages. Each person may stick to his or her opinion, while accepting the validity of another’s. If I am challenged, I always say, “there’s more than one way to look at it.”
Lonnie always reminds us that meaning in the language of short stories is multi-layered: literal, symbolic, metaphoric, and on top of that may have elements of surrealism or science fiction.
Lonnie taught us the definition of a “mondegreen.” No, I had never heard of it either. It’s a misinterpretation of a phrase as a result of simply hearing it wrong. For example, “and laid him on the green,” from an Irish song, came from mishearing “Lady Mondegreen.”
One thing we all agree on is that Lonnie offers everything needed as a leader. His knowledge of literature and literary criticism is amazing. More than that, he is unpretentious and funny, never pedantic.
I have saved almost all the short story collections we have studied over the years. Throughout each book are my notes, underlined sections, references to other books, movies, and music, and some wonderful quotes from various participants.
The stories we’ve read, the philosophical discussions we have, even the disagreements that sometimes arise, it’s all about a group acting, emoting, exploring together. Some members have spoken of the near religious sense of community that pervades the group.
Our group meets weekly on Thursdays from 10-11:30 a.m. and always welcomes newcomers.
A few years ago, Kathy Quist said, “Our group is like a kaleidoscope.” Each turn of the scope brings a new perspective, a new sense of appreciation of the richness of language.
