‘In his last memoir, in 1999, Mr. Buechner recalled his mother, his brother and his childhood friend, the poet James Merrill, all of whom had died. A central character in his recollections, however, is his long-dead maternal grandmother, Naya Kuhn, whom he invites to an imagined conversation in his study at Pawlet.

Searching for insights, he asks her about death: “You’ve already set sail. What can you tell me about it?”

She responds that she considers it misleading to speak of people as having passed away. “It is the world that passes away,” she says.’

Frederick Buechner, Novelist With a Religious Slant, Dies at 96

Buechner, through his beautiful writing, has been for me a true companion in the way. May his memory be eternal.