Willard Richardson Espy (December 11, 1910February 20, 1999) was an American editor,

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

, writer, poet, and

local historian The British Association for Local History (BALH) is a membership organisation that exists to promote the advancement of public education through the study of local history and to encourage and assist the study of local history throughout Great Bri ...

. Raised in the seaside village of Oysterville, Washington, Espy later studied at the

University of Redlands The University of Redlands is a private university headquartered in Redlands, California. The university's main, residential campus is situated on 160 acres (65 ha) near downtown Redlands. An additional eight regional locations throughout Califo ...

in California before becoming an editor in New York City, as well as a contributor to ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'', and other publications. In the 1960s, he began publishing books on

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

as well collections of poetry collections, and became the best-known collector of and commentator on

word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, pho ...

of his time. In 1977, he published the national bestseller ''Oysterville: Roads to Grandpa's Village'', a semi-autobiographical novel about his familial heritage in the Oysterville community. Espy died at New York Hospital in Manhattan in 1999, and was interred at

Oysterville Cemetery Oysterville cemetery, one of the oldest cemeteries in Washington (state), Washington State, began in 1858 on land owned by F.C. Davis. Located about a quarter of a mile outside the historic Gold rush, gold-rush Boomtown, boom town of Oysterville, ...

Early life

Espy was born in Olympia,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

in 1910, the sixth of seven children, to Harry Albert Espy (1876–1959) and Helen Medora Espy ( Richardson; 1878–1954). His father, a one-time Washington state senator, was of Scots-Irish descent. His mother was from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, the daughter of a local preacher. He and his siblings were raised in the coastal village of Oysterville, Washington, which had been founded in 1854 by his grandfather, R. H. Espy, a settler who arrived in

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. O ...

via The Oregon Trail. Espy graduated from the

in 1930 with a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

after which he spent a year abroad, enrolling at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in Paris, planning to study philosophy. He returned to the United States in 1932, working as a newspaper editor in California, later moving to New York City where he was eventually hired by ''

'' in 1941. Espy spent next sixteen years working for ''Reader's Digest'' in various positions, including as promotion director.

Career

Espy's writing career took off in the late 1960s; he eventually authored fifteen books on language, and his poetry and articles regularly appeared in ''

'', ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'', and '' Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics''. Espy earned praise from contemporary critics such as Louis Untermeyer and

John Chancellor John William Chancellor (July 14, 1927 – July 12, 1996) was an American journalist who spent most of his career with NBC News. He is considered a pioneer in TV news. He served as anchor of the ''NBC Nightly News'' from 1970 to 1982 and continu ...

. Summarizing Espy's writing, critic

Alistair Cooke Alistair Cooke (born Alfred Cooke; 20 November 1908 – 30 March 2004) was a British-American writer whose work as a journalist, television personality and radio broadcaster was done primarily in the United States.Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and his home in Oysterville, and wrote nationally bestselling books on local history, including '' Oysterville: Roads to Grandpa's Village'' (1977) and ''Skulduggery on Shoalwater Bay'' (1998). Two of his books on wordplay, ''The Game of Words'' and ''An Almanac of Words at Play'', were honored at the Governor's Writers Day Awards (now the Washington State Book Awards), and the latter was a national bestseller. He was also a contributing writer for ''

''Espy, Willard R. (1986) "All End-Letters Different in a Poem," ''

'' (Word Ways): Vol. 19 : Iss. 3 , Article 3. and other publications.

Death

Espy died aged 88 at New York Hospital in Manhattan on February 20, 1999. He is interred in a family plot in Oysterville Cemetery. His second wife Louise, a native of New York, died in November 2011, and was interred beside him.

Legacy

The Espy Foundation was established in 1998; the non-profit foundation, based out of Espy's home in Oysterville, Washington, served as a retreat space for artists and writers in the Pacific Northwest. In December 2010, the foundation officially closed. Espy's light verse has been compared to that of

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...

W. S. Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most fam ...

Ogden Nash Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his light verse, of which he wrote over 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York Times'' the country's bes ...

and Cole Porter.

Bibliography

* ''The Game of Words'' (1971) * ''Oysterville: Roads to Grandpa's Village'' (1976) * ''The Game of Words'' (1972) * ''Omak Me Yours Tonight, or, Ilwaco million miles for one of your smiles: A Ballard of Washington State'' (1973) * ''An Almanac of Words at Play'' (1975) * ''The Life and Works of Mr. Anonymous'' (1977) * ''O Thou Improper, Thou Uncommon Noun'' (1978) * ''Say it My Way: How to avoid certain pitfalls of spoken English together with a decidedly informal history of how our language rose (or fell)'' (1980) * ''Another Almanac of Words at Play'' (1981) * ''The Wars of the Words'' (1980) * ''A Children's Almanac of Words at Play'' (1982) * ''Have A Word on Me: A Celebration of Language'' (1984) * ''Espygrams: Anagram Verse'' (1982) * ''Word Puzzles: Anagrams from America's Favorite Logophile'' (1983) * ''The Garden of Eloquence: A Rhetorical Bestiary'' (1983) * ''Espygrams II: 80 New Anagram Verses'' (1984) * ''Words to Rhyme With'' (1986) * ''The Word's Gotten Out'' (1989) * ''Skullduggery on Shoalwater Bay'' (1998) * ''The Best of An Almanac of Words at Play'' (1999)

References

Works cited

External links

Willard Richardson Espy
at

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Espy, Willard R. American book editors American humorists American male novelists American people of Scotch-Irish descent American philologists American male poets 1910 births 1999 deaths Reader's Digest The Atlantic (magazine) people Punch (magazine) people The Nation (U.S. magazine) people Writers from Olympia, Washington University of Redlands alumni 20th-century American poets People from Pacific County, Washington 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century philologists