As we were going to press for ALT 33, we heard the sad news of the passing of Marjorie Jones, devoted wife of Professor Eldred Jones, and co-editor for several years of African Literature Today. She was 89, a year younger than Eldred, and since he had been blind for about thirty years, she was literally his eyes, reading books and articles to him, doing his writing and editing, driving him around and shepherding him to conferences. She was in her own right a significant literary figure who, first as editorial assistant and then a co-editor of ALT, helped to shape the nature of that journal and determine its future. She was also co-editor, with Sheikh Umarr Kamarah, of a collection of poems in Krio, the Lingua Franca of Sierra Leone.

But as if that was not bad enough, I received news, just before leaving for this conference, that Eldred's house, a majestic building at Leicester a few miles from Freetown and Fourah Bay College, with a beautiful view of the estuary of the Sierra Leone River, was almost burnt down in a fire started by some careless persons who were burning brush for farming. Eldred and Marjorie had lived in that house for more than thirty years. Marjorie, who took great pride in her skills as a designer, played a great role in designing both the structure and the interior of the house. The house contained, to my knowledge, a number of priceless works of art, such as paintings and sculptures and other memorabilia from their several trips abroad. According to the reports I received, none of these could be salvaged.

But most heartbreaking of all for a scholar of Eldred's reputation and caliber, was that his entire library, containing all his books, articles, important documents and other papers, was completely destroyed. That this should have happened to a man who turned 91 this past January, and who had lost his life's companion and total support only a few months earlier, was absolutely devastating. It is almost too trite to say that one hopes the Almighty will give him the strength to bear the blow.