Harry Walsh

Dan Jackson
December 2007

About twenty years ago, out of the blue, I received a letter from Russia. I recognized the Cyrillic alphabet but that didn’t tell me who the sender was nor where in Russia it had been posted. After some thought I called a patient who was a professor of French at Rice University and she suggested I call Dr. Harry Walsh at the University of Houston. I did and he graciously consented to translate the letter for me. I told him there might be more letters to translate and offered to pay him for his efforts. He insisted that he would be happy to translate all letters and refused to accept compensation.

That first letter which started our relationship was from my cousin Rakhil in Penza. Soon there were letters from cousin David in Simferapol and later from Israel, from cousin Dora in Evpatoria,and from Rakhil’s son Mikhail in Riga, Latvia. Some letters were long and complaining, some were grateful for contact with family in far off America; no matter, Harry carried on.

When necessary, Harry went to extraordinary lengths to clarify a point, such as the exact location of the village, Karenets, in Russia, where the saga of the Jackson family began. Undaunted, Harry went to a remarkable source, a set of the 60 volume Russian Encyclopedia Dictionary dating from 1896 in which he found maps to help him in his search.

When I told him how impressed I was with the literary quality of some of the letters, he assured me he had not made any changes and that our family wrote in unusually good style.

A bit of lagniappe to our connection to Harry has been his lovely wife Sandra whom he affectionally calls “The Red Head.”

Then about 4 years ago a young man from Dallas applied to Harry’s department at the University to be tutored in basic Russian. He explained that his church group had adopted an orphanage in Penza, Russia, and that he needed some accelerated tutoring so that he could converse with the Russian personnel at the orphanage during visits at the Russian New Year and at summer camp. Harry gave me his name, Michael Miller, and we have become friends with him and his wife Amy. He and his church group carry money, letters, and family pictures to cousin Rakhil in Penza twice a year. He and members of his group spend time with Rakhil (and her husband Isaac before his death 2 years ago), a contact that brightened their lives. It was also a way to send money to Rakhil in Penza dirrectly to avoid fees by banks in Houston, New York, and Penza.

It’s wonderful what the letter from Penza has done. Harry and Sandra have become our friends; We value their warmth and good company.

Harry and Sandra, you have our most profound thanks. Harry, you are a mensch.