Our brother

On behalf of myself and my sisters I want to express our sincerest thanks to Richard’s friends and colleagues who created this marvelous tribute to his life and work. For myself, it’s comforting to know that he is so well regarded both in his field of work and, more importantly, as a person.
Although Richard and I shared a bedroom for most of the 20 odd years that we lived at home, because I was 4 years older we didn’t see much of one another. That changed somewhat in the early 1960’s with our mutual interest in folk music. Living in Boston we were close to the folk clubs in Cambridge and saw many of the folk artists in their early days. Some of my best memories are from the 1963 and 1964 Newport Folk Festivals that Richard and I attended. (At one of the workshops we had a brief conversation with Bob Dylan; it made my day.) We both developed a love for “old timey” which Richard continued with his accomplished banjo playing.
I left the Boston area shortly after that to become a government bureaucrat. Richard left a few years later to establish his remarkable life and career. Thanks again to all those who put in so much work to chronicle this and leave us with such wonderful memories.

David Flavin
Glenelg, Maryland