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 strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

, writer, poet, and

local historian Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural history, cultural and social history, social aspects of history. Local history is not mer ...

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

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

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 wi ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

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

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

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, ph ...

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 Weill Cornell Medical Center (; previously known as New York Hospital, Old New York Hospital, and City Hospital) is a research hospital in New York City. It is the teaching hospital for Cornell University's medical school and is part of NewYork-P ...

in Manhattan in 1999, and was interred at Oysterville Cemetery.

Early life

Espy was born in Olympia,

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

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, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, 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 United States, Union as the Oreg ...

via The Oregon Trail. Espy graduated from the

in 1930 with a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

after which he spent a year abroad, enrolling at the Sorbonne 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 the 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 '' Punch'', ''

'', ''

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

'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly 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 ...

'', 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 television news. Chancellor served as anchor of the ''NBC Nightly News'' from 1970 to ...

. Summarizing Espy's writing, critic

Alistair Cooke Alistair Cooke, Order of the British Empire, KBE (né 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 Unite ...

wrote: Later in life, Espy divided his time between

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

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

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, mathematician, photographer and reluctant Anglicanism, Anglican deacon. His most notable works are ''Alice ...

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 poetry, light verse, of which he wrote more than 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyme, rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York T ...

and

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...

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 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 American philologists