Alfred Remembered at Poetry Reading

Friends, colleagues, students and well-wishers gathered Saturday afternoon for a memorial poetry reading to honor William Alfred, Lowell professor of the humanities emeritus, who died last May.

Alfred was 76.

The memorial consisted of readings from poetry and plays written by Alfred and others. About 125 people attended the event in Agassiz Theater.

The poetry readers shared the stage with a large red chair, on which was draped a coat and a hat, two items of clothing that "the Professor" rarely went without.

Alfred began teaching English at Harvard in 1954. In 1991, he retired from his professorship. He died in his Cambridge home on May 20.

Alfred, a playwright and poet, was particularly influential on several young actors, including Stockard Channing '65, John A. Lithgow '67 and Tommy Lee Jones '69.

Audience members said the memorial captured Alfred's essence well.

"It was magnificent," said William Wertenbaker '59. "It was William Alfred."

Richard Griffin '51, a friend of Alfred and an audience member at the memorial, remembered Alfred's sense of charity.

"He never, ever turned down a panhandler in Harvard Square," Griffin said. "He was a wonderful bridge between the community and the University."

Griffin recounts a visit to Alfred's house. When Alfred came to the door, he was carrying cash in hand, eager to hand it over to the panhandler he expected to be at the door.

Other readers included the Reverend Peter J. Gomes, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church, Channing, actor/director Kathryn Walker and actor Maeve Kinkead '68.