Mary Travers

It’s another empty chair from my youth. Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul and Mary, has passed away. We used to listen to PP&M records while playing bridge back in high school. That was in an America that never existed in the mid-1960’s, before things went all to hell and the soft melody of “Blowing in the Wind” got replaced by harsher tunes.

I remember in college PP&M were looked upon with some disdain. One girl I knew dismissed them as “fake folk singers.” What she meant was they didn’t have an axe to grind or a cause to support with their music. But is that really so bad?

I shared a plane ride with Ms. Travers from Los Angeles to New York once. She sat near the window in a black dress and black veiled hat. I sat on the aisle and got to growl at the gawkers that couldn’t leave the poor lady in peace.

Man, this has been a tough summer. They say that when the icons of your youth pass away it makes you face your own mortality. Ah well, that day will come, but it’s not today.

So long Mary, I’ll always remember that “…the answer my friend is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind.”