Memorlam
HELEN In HAZARD BACON r919-2007
c.wJ. ELroT 1928-2008
Charles rrVilliamJohn ("Willie") Eliot died on May 20, 2008, after suffering a stroke at his home in Dorchester,N.B., Canada. Born in 1928 a son of a Canadian colonel in the Royal Artiilery in Rawalpindi, now Pakistan, then in the British Raj, he was 79. He is survived by hls wife, Marl', and four children. Willie was a gifted classicist, historian, topographer, archaeologist, teacher, and academic administrator, among many other accomplishments, and participated more fully in the broad range of activities of the American School than anyone I have known in my half century with it. He came to the School as a student in 1952, where, like so many of us, he became a follower of Eugene Vanderpool. He served as Secretary of the School from 1954 to 1957. Hls topographical work led to his dissertation for Toronto (under Mary White andJ. Walter Graham), The CoastalDemes of Atttha (1962), collaboration with Jones and Sackett on "The Dema Wall" (1957), and other notes. At the same time, he became involved in the Agora Excavations, where he conducted weekly tours of the site, museum, and workrooms, and, with Mabel Lang, wrote its first Guide (f954). Early travelers to Greece.especiallyBritons like Byron and his contemporaries, held a special place in his heart, and he followed them through the collections of the Gennadeion, most re cently Cdmpoign of the F alien and Pir aeusin the YearI 82 7 (Gennadius Library Monographs V). While Mary worked withJack Caskey in Bronze Age Lerna and Kea, Willie worked at the opposite end of Greek history with James Russell at Anemurium in southern Turkey H e t a u g h t a t t h e U n i v er si tl o l Br i ti sh Columbia from his return to Canada in 1957 and sen'ed as Managing Committee representative for that institution from 1960 to 1971. When Eugene Vanderpool retired in 1971 from the Professorship of \ r c h a e o l o g r a t t l r e S r h o o l. \\ i l l i e w a s h i s choice and mine (as then-Director) to carry on. and he did so uith distinction for a five\ e a r r e r n r \ s n r r d e n r r t ',h e co u l d n o l h a ve been better. He kneu' u-hat I u'ould do in virtualil- an1' situation. and if, by chance, he didn't. he would call. Our collaboration was, for me, the happiest of times. Willie returned to Canada in 1976 to Mt. Allison Universitl', nhere he chaired the
Helen Hazard Bacon passed away at her home in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, on November 9,2007. She was 88. She was survived by her sister Alice Bacon Westlake and her sister's family, and by Martha Bacon, poet and professor of English at Rhode Island College, who also died recently, on 25 December 2007. H ele n wa s bo rn t o a dis t inguis hed Massachusetts family (her father, Leonard Bacon .won the P ulit z er Pr r z e f or poet ry in Iq4 I). She a t t ended Br y n M awr College, receiving her B.A. in 1940, and, after becoming a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve during World War II, her Ph.D. in 1955, both in Greek and Latin. Helen taught at Smith (1953-1960) College and then at Barnard College (1961-1991).She was also research scholar at the American Academy in Rome and was closely allied with the American School (Reguiar Member 1952-53, Associate Member for many years, and a long-time member of the Managing Committee). Her literary studies are numerous. Her b o ok B arbar ian s in Greeh Tragedy(f 96 l) is still widely read. She co-authored a translation of Aeschylus's play Seten Against Thebes(1970) that was nomi.nated for a National Book Award. Her article "The Aeneid a s a Dra ma of t lec t ion" ( TAPA 116 [1986] 305-34) is considered one of the great standard interpretations of the epic. She was president of the American Philological Association from 1980 to 1985. It is not so widely known, however, that she was also an expert on Robert Frost, contri.buting a lecture at the Library of Congress (The American Scholar 43 lI974I 610-49) and co-editing the volume of the collected Frost lectures given at the Library (1975). Her inspiration to younger scholars was legendary. Seth Benardette, professor of classicsat the New School of Social Research and New York University from 1964 to 2001, Eva Brann, literary critic who teaches at St.John's College, Annapolis, and Bella Vivante, professor of classical literature at the University of Arizona, all have written accounts detailing her i.nspiration. I also recall how she helped train me in field archaeology when Jack
Photo:ASCSAArchn.es
Helen Bacon in l95l
Caskey, director of the Kea excavations, was away in Athens, teaching me how to read stratigraphy and speak "dig" Greek so I could communicate with the workers. When the director returned, a bit annoyed at how successfulthe excavationhad been without him, Helen defended me, sayi.ng "it's all recorded,Jack, it was a1ldug quite prop...