Kissing his mentor's fore-brain

Two or three seconds after I took this picture in 1996, my former teacher, from 25 years before, kissed a mentor of his, from 35 years before.

It's my favourite picture of both of them. It was at the official reception for Folktales of Newfoundland, the two-volume work co-edited by Herbert Halpert (on the right).

Harold Paddock, on the left, was telling the people present how much he admired Halpert and his works. He raised himself a little from the chair, lifted his hands to the sides of Halpert's head, and gave him a loud kiss on the forehead, a kiss – he said – to Halpert's fore-brain. It was, he went on, in recognition of how influential Halpert had been in building a strong scholarship around the culture of this province.

Halpert died four years later, in 2000.

And Harold Paddock died this week.

They are both missed.