A letter to Gordon Pask from Dik Gregory
9 April 1996
Dear Gordon,
On your passing
I got Paul's message the day after. And then some days later, Ranulph
sent me Amanda's moving, and loving, and to-be-treasured account, which
I shall.
Memories have visited me each day since - wonderful, warm memories.
The day shortly after we met (nearly 20 years ago) when you drove me in
your white mini to the pub for lunch, and my double relief at surviving
both the intellectual and physical trips.
The day when you insisted "Isomorphic, but distinct!" and a light bulb
went on in my head.
The day when I drove you from Boston airport to the Gordon Research
Conference (no relation!) in New Hampshire, and you astonished me with
news of how you had recently been the emergency sound engineer for a
Pink Floyd concert (you had been especially impressed by the huge fake
wall which was demolished as part of the act).
The day when you saw that a short paper of mine shed new light on the
Rule of Genoa by distinguishing between ambiguous and unambiguous
ambiguity, and led to your enormous approval - much to my lasting pride.
The day at a small, personal Athenaeum luncheon (there were many of these)
when you introduced me to savoury desserts (scrambled egg on toast with
anchovies).
The day you nodded in approval from the audience in St Gallen, Switzerland,
when I presented a paper which distinguished between your cybernetics and
the concerns of artificial intelligence.
The day when I had the pleasure to see you home from St Gallen - the cab,
the train, the airport, the plane, the airport, the cab: and all the time
(as I reflect on it now) you were seeing me home.
The day you called, late at night, to express your pleasure at my
contribution to the Festschrift, and how I said no, it had been my
pleasure, and how we both ended up in tears.
The day I had the enormous privilege to arrange and conduct a public
conversation on Conversation Theory with you at the Visions of Knowledge
conference at Heriot-Watt University - your calmness which enveloped me,
too; the flourish with which you paused in your remarks to take snuff;
your pleasure afterwards when we had done.
The work we did together; the ideas; the challenge; the doors you opened
and helped me to step through; the fundamental importance and relevance
of it all; your sparkle; your gentleness; your attention; your conciousness,
with me, over our understanding.
Thank you, Gordon, for these fragments of your life. They have been among
the deepest influences on mine.
In greatest respect,
Dik Gregory
return to Gordon Pask
- In Memoriam