Bill at 96 and Michael Connelly

Last Monday (sixth of April) we celebrated a glorious landmark in the family: my darling husband’s NINETY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY! Wowzer. As Bill mentioned a few times (rather in awe), that means he has lived ninety-six years and is now on his ninety-seventh. Wowser.

Then the next day Professor William Park taught his first class in some time: “The World of Michael Connelly.”  It’s a four-part course (four April Tuesday mornings) on the novels of the brilliant American detective novelist. Given under the auspices of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute* at UC Santa Cruz, sixty students signed up, some participating via Zoom.

Comfortably perched in a tall bucket chair and without referring to a single note, Bill began with an overview of the history of the novel (“One of my specialties”). That led to the history of the detective novel…and thus to Michael Connelly. Bill has read–listened to, as macular degeneration keeps him from reading print–all Connelly’s forty-two novels and one work of non-fiction. A few he’s read more than once.

Bill’s been thinking about this class, day and night, for most of a year.

A month of so ago Bill wrote Mr. Connelly telling him about the course and inviting him to join the class: “Osher has no money for guest speakers (or for faculty, for that matter). But I can offer you a good lunch and some good conversation.” To our surprise and delight, this man who has sold over eighty-nine million copies of his books said he would appear by Zoom the second half of the first class—and perhaps for the third class as well.

Tuesday morning, greeting the class, Bill did not mention Michael Connelly was in the offing…

Naturally it was a colossal surprise to suddenly see this gifted man appear on the big screen before them. Mr. Connelly is handsome with expressive regular features, snowy white hair and a trim snowy white beard (Bill’s beard is voluminous and gray). Connelly could not have been more agreeable, more attentive, more responsive to the students—all of a certain age, you understand. He graciously answered questions, bantering decisively but warmly, for nearly an hour.

Then as time grew short, I’m sure everyone was as surprised as Bill and I to hear Michael Connelly playfully ask, “And now, I have a question for you, Professor Park: Why are you doing this?”

Bill responded, “Because I think you are the finest writer of detective fiction we have.”

“He’s a mensch!” the professor murmured on our way to lunch.

Bill will be posting his four lectures for the delectation of all on his long-neglected blog, williamjohnpark.com—I’ll see to it. Meantime, if you haven’t, do treat yourself to a brilliant read. Bill suggests you might begin with Connelly’s fourth novel, The Last Coyote.

In addition to his extraordinary gifts, why Michael Connelly’s work so touches Professor William Park comes down to a rare odd kinship. Even though lived at a distance, their lives touch in several ways. Beginning with their Irish roots. Then both were born in Philadelphia… Michael, on Bill’s mother’s birthday. As young boys, both were transplanted to Florida, Bill to Miami and Connelly to Fort Lauderdale. Florida was their indelible beginning….

Michael Connelly went to The University of Florida…discovered detective fiction…began writing it. Bill went to Princeton and Columbia …began teaching…Hamilton College and Columbia, ended up at Sarah Lawrence College teaching Literature and Film Studies for thirty-eight years. Connelly never stopped writing. Bill has spent his entire life either as student or teacher. When he retired from Sarah Lawrence and came to Santa Cruz, he continued teaching. This Connelly course is his thirteenth for Osher. Too, from early on Bill has been writing..nothing like forty-two, but a distinctive collection about Hollywood, film noir, the rococo, the early novel…and there’s a manuscript of a novel in a drawer…

Hey, how about the novel we just finished…sent off with high hopes?

Today, for a mercy for a wonder we had a lovely letter from our editor friend…it’s not for her press but she lifted our spirits by saying “it was fun reading your novel. Full of life and wonderful insights…” We’re meeting with her when we’re in New York for our granddaughter’s graduation from Columbia… She “has a couple of ideas.”

Kindly hold the good thought for us…

But now we look forward to three more Michael Connelly classes. And perhaps time with the gifted fellow himself.

What a lucky girl…

*If you live in a college town and are an older adult who enjoys “learning for the joy of learning– without examinations or grades–and keeping in touch with a larger world,” inquire of your college if they have a chapter of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. There are 125 across the country from Maine to Hawaii and Alaska. This from their website, https://www.osherfoundation.org/index.html. I learned about OLLI from my cherished best friend in high school, Diane Dean Bridgford, who was very active in OLLI at UC Irvine.

**williamjohnparksblog.com