I'm sorry to report that Fletcher Collins passed quietly away yesterday morning, Friday, May 6. Fletch's protege, Custer LaRue, whom many of you will know from her recordings with the Baltimore Consort, spent the previous night singing to Fletch as he fell asleep, and he died around 6 a.m., perhaps with those songs in his dreams, exactly as he would have wanted to go. I will miss spending Happy Hour with him in the afternoons (Fletch always drank whiskey, and plenty of it, which is also probably how he would have wanted to go!).

Fletch's family is very pleased and proud that MRDS will be honoring him at next year's Congress. Thanks especially to Clifford Davidson for suggesting it.