This post written by Mary Ricketson
Gene
Hirsch, MD, a poet of our mountains, died September 3, 2020, after a long
struggle with cancer.
He was a
well-known writer in western North Carolina.
He taught poetry at John C. Campbell Folk School for many years, and
helped Nancy Simpson start North Carolina Writers Network West 25 years ago or
more. He regularly attended critique
groups, read at organized events, and taught small groups of poets at his home
in Murphy. Gene was teacher and mentor
to be remembered. He lived in Pittsburgh
PA and in Murphy NC, and visited Murphy often, until May 2019.
Gene
was known as a loving man who listened deeply to every poem from any kind of
writer, rustic beginner to polished expert.
He cared about the craft of writing and also cared about the person
writing the poem. As a physician, he had
a long career practicing medicine. In
later years he taught doctors and medical students to provide the best of
medical and human help to dying patients.
The following is a quote, introduction to his long essay, Intimacy and Dying, written earlier this
year, unpublished.
I am a retired geriatrician who, for thirty five years, taught
humanistic values in Clinical Medicine to medical students and doctors. From
2000 to 2010, at Forbes Hospice in Pittsburgh, I guided students through the
ancient clinical art of responding to struggles and needs of dying people.
Among other curricular activities, with permission, we (2 -4 students and I)
visited patients in their homes, not to learn procedures for obtaining medical
histories, but for the specific purpose of listening to their thoughts,
feelings, ordeals and supports. They understood that they were being placed in
the role of teachers rather than patients. This proved to be important to all.
Gene
kept his illness private, made no apology for that request. He asked me to talk with him late in his
dying process, asked me to be “ears to listen, for some day my dying to be
worth my life.” I will have more to say
about that after I have settled enough to review the scratchy notes I kept of
this time. He also asked me to organize
a memorial after his death. He said he wants to be remembered in our
mountains. Once the world is safe to
gather in person, when the pandemic is over, we will have a memorial for
memory, poems, and a celebration of his life.
His
body has been cremated. At some time, in
respect for his request, his family will spread his ashes privately at his
former home in Murphy. He gave that home
to his wife’s son and family, a family who loves the mountains and the privilege
to vacation there.
During
the final months of Gene’s illness, he engaged the help of a friend and poet in
Pittsburgh, Judy Robinson, to organize and seek publication of his poems. The result of that effort is indeed a book,
published 7-15-20, available from Amazon, details below.
Cards and words of sympathy may be sent to Gene's wife, Virginia Spangler, 139 Overlook Drive, Verona PA 15147.
In
fond memory of Gene Hirsch,
Mary
Ricketson
Speak, Speak, pub July 15, 2020
Paperback $30, Amazon
Dr. Eugene Hirsch, Gene, to all who know him, has extended to me the privilege of editing his poetry, an assignment I accepted with pleasure. This collection, “Speak, Speak,” is the culmination of Gene’s long career of writing, and reflects the complexity of his mind and experience. As a physician/writer he joins a distinguished list, and in my opinion as a reader/editor, he earns his place among the others, notably Maugham, Chekhov, William Carlos Williams.
Judith
R Robinson, editor
