Goodbye to Katharine, 1977-1981 Summary and Analysis

In July 1977, Katherine White dies of congestive heart failure after 48 years of marriage to E.B. White. His letters from this time reflect his great loss and the darkness that descends on his life, lifted occasionally by visits from relatives and his own wry outlook on life. Faced with more than 500 letters of condolence, White is forced to have printed a short acknowledgement card; faced with the mountain of literary effects left by his wife, he is impelled to accept help from a young friend named Kathy Hall who once helped him organize his papers from Cornell. Portions of Katherine's books and papers are donated to several colleges including Bryn Mawr, Cornell, Yale and Bowdoin.

In a January 1978 letter to CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney, White politely declines to be interviewed on television, telling him...