Readers remember WFB.(letters to the editor)(Letter to the editor)

I was drawn early to Bill's enjoyment of life and everything in it, from skiing and sailing to Bach to the riches of the English language. As a NATIONAL REVIEW intern in the summer of 1975, my strongest memory is of the editors' laughter over drinks after the magazine had been put to bed. Knowing that I was looking for a piano on which to practice, Bill allowed me the use of his apartment (and his Bosendorfer) and sent me the music for a Scarlatti sonata he liked. Greater generosity I have never encountered.

Daniel Ritchie

St. Paul, Minn.

More than two decades ago, after stints as a reporter for two tiny newspapers on opposite coasts, I was living at home in Los Angeles. I had become an NR reader while in high school and a right-thinking campus scold while in college. On a whim I wrote WFB a letter, enclosing clippings and noting that, while mine wasn't a supercharged intellect, I got things done.

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One day in May 1983, the phone rang at my house. It was WFB. He had a small project that needed shepherding, and he asked if I'd like to take the post. Fully aware of the reigning ethos at my alma mater (despite my best attempts to change it), WFB said, in that unique lilt, "Of course, you can ascertain I'm taking a chance on a Williams man."

The project became a book, and led to bigger newspaper jobs, a post in the Bush 41 State Department, eleven years on the Hill, and now a position with Bush 43. WFB's letter of recommendation was solid gold. In fact, the imprimatur of NR and of WFB has never lost its importance to my career. My work for WFB and NR is also the post of which I am proudest, and which most commands the interest of others.