Me and the Universe
Letters from Ric Masten, published in the Carmel Pine Cone,
September 1949 - June, 1950
by Nancie M. Brown
On September 2, 1949, the Carmel Pine Cone (a weekly newspaper published in Carmel, California) published the first in a series of letters written by Ric Masten, then twenty, from Paris, France. His mother, Hildreth Hare, sent her talented son abroad to study painting. Only towards the end of a series of thirty three, weekly published letters (sent to family and a few friends) did Masten learn that his mother had arranged for his letters home to be edited and published. This may account for the fact that his last several letters home (before he arrived in Carmel, June, 1950 in time for his twenty first birthday) were particularly long and descriptive!
Nancie Brown, one of Masten’s friends who received many of the original letters, wanted to read them again, 61 years later. In March, 2008, while in Carmel to visit Ric, weeks before he died, Nancie researched the Carmel Pine Cone archives at the Carmel Harrison History Library and ordered a copy of the letters, preserved on microfiche, sent to her on a CD. Copies were made of the CD articles for Ric’s family. Although the image quality is poor, making many of the pages difficult to read, a reader is well rewarded by the charm, humor, and insight of a very creative, intelligent, youth, on his own in Europe in the late 1940’s. Masten’s letters fore-shadow the man who would become a successful poet, song writer, troubadour, artist, and the first person ever ordained a lay Unitarian-Universalist minister.
Ric Masten died May 9, 2008 at his Big Sur home where he had lived with his wife Billie Barbara, and raised their family, for more than fifty years. Ric’s family and friends, all those who loved Ric and enjoyed his humor, insight, and immense gifts, would relish hearing from Masten as a precocious 20 year old, if they take the time to look up the microfiche Carmel Pine Cone articles, 1949-50, at the Carmel Harrison Library. Copies can be requested on CD or print. In these letters, his words still speak to us now with Ric’s typical frankness, insight, and humor. Even though he wrote the letters as a 20 year old, abroad for the first time, the seeds of his many talents are much in evidence, even although they had just begun to sprout, and would lead him into an absorbing and fascinating life where his boundless spirit and creativity would bloom and be shared by so many.
Written by Nancie M. Brown, July 28, 2008
Letters from Ric Masten, published in the Carmel Pine Cone,
September 1949 - June, 1950
by Nancie M. Brown
On September 2, 1949, the Carmel Pine Cone (a weekly newspaper published in Carmel, California) published the first in a series of letters written by Ric Masten, then twenty, from Paris, France. His mother, Hildreth Hare, sent her talented son abroad to study painting. Only towards the end of a series of thirty three, weekly published letters (sent to family and a few friends) did Masten learn that his mother had arranged for his letters home to be edited and published. This may account for the fact that his last several letters home (before he arrived in Carmel, June, 1950 in time for his twenty first birthday) were particularly long and descriptive!
Nancie Brown, one of Masten’s friends who received many of the original letters, wanted to read them again, 61 years later. In March, 2008, while in Carmel to visit Ric, weeks before he died, Nancie researched the Carmel Pine Cone archives at the Carmel Harrison History Library and ordered a copy of the letters, preserved on microfiche, sent to her on a CD. Copies were made of the CD articles for Ric’s family. Although the image quality is poor, making many of the pages difficult to read, a reader is well rewarded by the charm, humor, and insight of a very creative, intelligent, youth, on his own in Europe in the late 1940’s. Masten’s letters fore-shadow the man who would become a successful poet, song writer, troubadour, artist, and the first person ever ordained a lay Unitarian-Universalist minister.
Ric Masten died May 9, 2008 at his Big Sur home where he had lived with his wife Billie Barbara, and raised their family, for more than fifty years. Ric’s family and friends, all those who loved Ric and enjoyed his humor, insight, and immense gifts, would relish hearing from Masten as a precocious 20 year old, if they take the time to look up the microfiche Carmel Pine Cone articles, 1949-50, at the Carmel Harrison Library. Copies can be requested on CD or print. In these letters, his words still speak to us now with Ric’s typical frankness, insight, and humor. Even though he wrote the letters as a 20 year old, abroad for the first time, the seeds of his many talents are much in evidence, even although they had just begun to sprout, and would lead him into an absorbing and fascinating life where his boundless spirit and creativity would bloom and be shared by so many.
Written by Nancie M. Brown, July 28, 2008
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