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Mr. McCourt, the acclaimed New York City school teacher who gained international prominence with the 1996 retelling of his impoverished formative years, died on Sunday, July 19, after a battle with meningitis and melanoma. He was 78.
"It is difficult to absorb his death, although I have known, like many others, for days, that he was 'failing quickly,'" Davyne Verstandig, the director of the Litchfield County Writers Project at the UConn Torrington campus, wrote in a tribute to Mr. McCourt.
Through her organization, Ms. Verstandig worked with Mr. McCourt several times, and referred to him, an author of only four books, as her "most popular" guest speaker. But as admired as he surely was, he wasn't the only impactful scribe to grace Ms. Verstandig's program.
Along with the Brooklyn-born, Limerick-raised raconteur, the Litchfield County Writers Project has featured an impressive array of writers, all of whom have made the state's Northwest Corner, a place so full of prose and poetry that Ms. Verstandig likens it to "Paris in the 1920s."
So plentiful are the publishing world elite that the program director's library has a collection of 1,500 literary volumes that are all tied to county residents, past or present.
Mr. McCourt's passing, though, narrows the focus and turns the spotlight to the arts and cultural riches of one small, magical place-Roxbury-which may without exaggeration be cast as the epicenter for a broad pool of talent.
Iconic American playwright Arthur Miller wrote "Death of a Salesman" in his Roxbury home, where he lived-at one time with then wife Marilyn Monroe-until his death in 2005.
"Sophie's Choice" novelist William Styron, who died in 2006, had a home in town. And famous American sculptor and inventor of the mobile, Alexander Calder, also had a home here before his 1976 death.
"All of them were huge losses. I remember when Arthur Miller died, someone asked [Oscar-nominated actor and town resident] Richard Widmark about him, and he said 'He was my neighbor,'" recalled Ms. Verstandig. "I think they had a real sense of neighborhood here, away from the glitter and glamour of somewhere else."
First Selectman Barbara Henry is a fan of her fellow citizens. Even if she wasn't rubbing elbows with them on a regular basis, she knew, and even had a rapport with, the late greats like Mr. Miller and Mr. McCourt, both of whom she referred to as "very unpretentious." And she marveled at how well Mr. McCourt assimilated into the community.
"He invited me up to his home one time because he was having a road problem," recalled Ms. Henry. "He was so jovial, and I just thought that it was great that he felt he could call me to say he had an issue with the road."
He saw himself as a citizen, one who was willing to give back. Not only did he lecture on the UConn Torrington campus, but he also aided the Roxbury Senior Center and was a fixture at the "Celebration of Young Writers" sponsored by the Washington-based After School Arts Program (ASAP)
It was the educator in him. After all, Mr. McCourt spent 30 years teaching English in the New York City school system. Whenever anyone is asked about him, he is often described, in one way or another, as a caring instructor, even in his later years.
"I think he was a teacher no matter what he was doing," said JoAnne Torti, the executive director for ASAP. "He always had something to say that was enlightening. There was something down-to-earth and fun about the way he expressed it."
He was comfortable being himself in Roxbury, and perhaps that is why so much talent gravitates here. Its seclusion, coupled with its friendly atmosphere, is both inspiring and offers an enduring sense of place."
"We really have so much talent hidden here; it's one of the best kept secrets," said Ms. Henry, who refuses to reveal the location of anyone's residence. "It's changed over the years, but it still has the quaint feel. They can walk around without having people all over them."
And though the passing of these infinitely gifted artists is a great loss, Roxbury still claims a disproportionate share of accomplished creators, actors and writers, including award-winning Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim, playwright A.R. "Pete" Gurney, actor Denis Leary, Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter and others.
As for the deceased, Ms. Verstandig will ensure that their legacies endure. She is now working on a video composite to honor Mr. McCourt, and one day she hopes to contribute to a book about the cultural history of Litchfield County.
