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Willard R. Espy

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Willard R. Espy
BornWillard Richardson Espy
(1910-12-11)December 11, 1910
Olympia,Washington,U.S.
DiedFebruary 20, 1999(1999-02-20)(aged 88)
New York City,New York,U.S.
Resting placeOysterville Cemetery,Washington,U.S.
Occupation
  • Writer
  • poet
  • philologist
Alma materUniversity of Redlands
Genre
Notable worksAn Almanac of Words at Play
Oysterville: Roads to Grandpa's Village
Spouse
Hilda Cole
​
(m.1940)​
Louise Manheim
​
(m.1962)​

Willard Richardson Espy(December 11, 1910 – February 20, 1999) was an American editor,philologist,writer, poet, andlocal historian.Raised in the seaside village ofOysterville, Washington,Espy later studied at theUniversity of Redlandsin California before becoming an editor in New York City, as well as a contributor toReader's Digest,The New Yorker,Punch,and other publications.

In the 1960s, he began publishing books onphilologyas well collections of poetry collections, and became the best-known collector of and commentator onword playof his time.[1]In 1977, he published the national bestsellerOysterville: Roads to Grandpa's Village,a semi-autobiographical novel about his familial heritage in the Oysterville community. Espy died atNew York Hospitalin Manhattan in 1999, and was interred atOysterville Cemetery.

Early life

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Espy was born inOlympia,Washingtonin 1910, the sixth of seven children, to Harry Albert Espy (1876–1959) and Helen Medora Espy (néeRichardson; 1878–1954).[2]His father, a one-time Washington state senator, was ofScots-Irishdescent.[3]His mother was fromSan Francisco,the daughter of a local preacher.[4]

He and his siblings were raised in the coastal village ofOysterville,Washington, which had been founded in 1854 by his grandfather, R. H. Espy, a settler who arrived inOregon TerritoryviaThe Oregon Trail.[5]Espy graduated from theUniversity of Redlandsin 1930 with aB.A.after which he spent a year abroad, enrolling at theSorbonnein Paris, planning to study philosophy.[6][7]He returned to the United States in 1932, working as a newspaper editor in California, later moving to New York City where he was eventually hired byReader's Digestin 1941. Espy spent next sixteen years working forReader's Digestin various positions, including as promotion director.[7]

Career

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Espy's writing career took off in the late 1960s; he eventually authored fifteen books on language, and his poetry and articles regularly appeared inPunch,Reader's Digest,The Atlantic Monthly,The Nation,andWord Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics.[6][8]Espy earned praise from contemporary critics such asLouis UntermeyerandJohn Chancellor.[9]Summarizing Espy's writing, criticAlistair Cookewrote:

To Willard Espy the English language is what a football is toJoe Namath,a golf ball toArnold Palmer,the male of the species toZsa Zsa Gabor:a wonderful object to manipulate, to flog, to coax and have a barrel of fun with.[9]

Later in life, Espy divided his time betweenManhattanand his home in Oysterville, and wrote nationally bestselling books on local history, includingOysterville: Roads to Grandpa's Village(1977) andSkulduggery on Shoalwater Bay(1998).[6]Two of his books on wordplay,The Game of WordsandAn Almanac of Words at Play,were honored at theGovernor's Writers Day Awards(now the Washington State Book Awards), [10]and the latter was a national bestseller.[11]He was also a contributing writer forThe New Yorker[12]and other publications.

Death

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Espy's grave at Oysterville Cemetery

Espy died aged 88 atNew York Hospitalin Manhattan on February 20, 1999.[7][13]He is interred in a family plot in Oysterville Cemetery.[14]His second wife Louise, a native of New York, died in November 2011, and was interred beside him.[14]

Legacy

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The Espy Foundation was established in 1998; the non-profit foundation, based out of Espy's home in Oysterville, Washington, served as a retreat space for artists and writers in the Pacific Northwest.[15]In December 2010, the foundation officially closed.[15]

Espy's light verse has been compared to that ofLewis Carroll,W. S. Gilbert,Ogden NashandCole Porter.[7]

Bibliography

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  • The Game of Words(1971)ISBN0-7234-0173-X
  • Oysterville: Roads to Grandpa's Village(1976)ISBN0-517-52196-2
  • The Game of Words(1972)ISBN0-448-01196-4
  • Omak Me Yours Tonight, or, Ilwaco million miles for one of your smiles: A Ballard of Washington State(1973)ISBN0-9634294-1-8
  • An Almanac of Words at Play(1975)ISBN0-517-52463-5
  • The Life and Works of Mr. Anonymous(1977)ISBN0-380-45047-X
  • O Thou Improper, Thou Uncommon Noun(1978)ISBN0-517-53511-4
  • Say it My Way: How to avoid certain pitfalls of spoken English together with a decidedly informal history of how our language rose (or fell)(1980)ISBN0-14-005733-1
  • Another Almanac of Words at Play(1981)ISBN0-233-97288-9
  • The Wars of the Words(1980)
  • A Children's Almanac of Words at Play(1982)ISBN0-340-34852-6
  • Have A Word on Me: A Celebration of Language(1984)ISBN0-671-25255-0
  • Espygrams: Anagram Verse(1982)ISBN0-517-54598-5
  • Word Puzzles: Anagrams from America's Favorite Logophile(1983)ISBN0-934878-31-5
  • The Garden of Eloquence: A Rhetorical Bestiary(1983)ISBN0-06-181256-0
  • Espygrams II: 80 New Anagram Verses(1984)ISBN0-517-54757-0
  • Words to Rhyme With(1986)ISBN0-8160-4313-2
  • The Word's Gotten Out(1989)ISBN0-517-07940-2
  • Skullduggery on Shoalwater Bay(1998)
  • The Best of An Almanac of Words at Play(1999)ISBN0-87779-145-7

References

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  1. ^Nilsen, Alleen; Nilsen, Don (2008). "Literature and humor". In Raskin, Victor (ed.).The Primer of Humor Research.Walter de Gruyter. pp. 243–80.ISBN978-3-11-018616-1.
  2. ^Espy 1992,p. 258.
  3. ^Espy 1992,p. 37.
  4. ^Espy 1992,pp. 255–59.
  5. ^Espy 1992,pp. 117–20.
  6. ^abcWillard R. Espy (1999).The Best of An Almanac of Words at Play.Merriam-Webster.ISBN978-0-87779-145-4.
  7. ^abcdThomas, Robert McG. Jr.(February 25, 1999)."Willard Espy, Who Delighted in Wordplay, Is Dead at 88".The New York Times.
  8. ^Eckler, A. Ross(2010)."Look back!".Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics.43(3): 228–229.
  9. ^abThe New York Times Saturday Review of Books and Art.Vol. 2. Arno Press. 1976. p. 94.
  10. ^"Governor's Writers Day Awards at the Washington State Library, 1966–2000".WA State Library.Washington Secretary of State.RetrievedNovember 23,2014.
  11. ^"The Wonderful World of Words".New York Magazine:159. November 14, 1983.ISSN0028-7369.
  12. ^Espy, Willard R. (1986) "All End-Letters Different in a Poem,"The New Yorker(Word Ways): Vol. 19: Iss. 3, Article 3.
  13. ^"Willard Espy Obituary".National Public Radio.RetrievedFebruary 27,2018.
  14. ^ab"Live long and..."Sydney of Oysterville.June 10, 2012.Archivedfrom the original on February 27, 2018.RetrievedFebruary 25,2018.
  15. ^abGable, Cate (December 14, 2010)."End of an Era for the Espy Foundation".Chinook Observer.RetrievedFebruary 27,2018.

Works cited

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