| Date: | 10-03-05 3:06 pm |
| Name: | Francoise de Rocher |
| Location: | University of Alabama |
| Message: | Dear sweet Rick, I think about all the great times we had together, and how you liked to laugh, and loved my crème au caramel, and all the funny expressions you invented in French. I am so glad to have been your friend and I hurt as much as I loved you. |
| Date: | 09-03-05 9:36 pm |
| Name: | Karim Walker |
| Location: | Not entered |
| Message: | I only met Dr. Lockwood twice, but he was a nice and very intelligent man. I am coinsidering minoring in French because of his advice. |
| Date: | 09-03-05 5:34 pm |
| Name: | Jane Lockwood Lincoln |
| Location: | Cape Cod, MA |
| Message: | This website is a wonderful tribute to my cousin, Ricky. Reading the inspiring words as well as his accomplishments (which he would never disclose !!)has helped ease the pain of his loss. His wit, laugh and love is going to live on in all of us. We look forward to being with family on the 21st. |
| Date: | 09-03-05 3:47 pm |
| Name: | Lauren Weingarden |
| Location: | Tallahassee, FL |
| Message: | I have known Cynthia since graduate school at University of Chicago and although I knew Rick only peripherally, I know that he had a generous mind and spirit. He was certainly a devoted father and husband, whom I always admired from afar. Rick and Cynthia lived and travelled extensively with their children throughout Europe and, since 1982, he enabled Cynthia to commute to FSU to become the stellar scholar and teacher we have known her to be. |
| Date: | 09-03-05 3:12 pm |
| Name: | Sarah Schroeder |
| Location: | Rutgers |
| Message: | I only knew Rick for about seven months. He hired me as the new undergraduate secretary of the department in August. Instantly, he made me feel welcomed and accepted. Did you know that Rick was a "chocolate thief"? He would come into my office and stare at the chocolates that I kept on my desk and sometimes he would resist and walk away, but most of time he could not control the inevitable and would take one and then walk away mumbling some excuse for having done so. Once, I walked into my office to discover a note where I kept the chocolates that said, "My class loved your chocolates!" He had taken the whole bag! Rick was also a plant lover. His office looks like a greenhouse. I was lucky to have him as my boss. His laugh made me smile. I miss seeing his red van in the parking lot as he was always the first one in. Personally, what I admired most about Rick was his devotion to his two children. He spoke about them often and when he did, you could see the love in his eyes and you could feel his protection for them. Even though I only had seven months with him, he has left an empty spot in my heart. |
| Date: | 09-03-05 1:09 pm |
| Name: | Abby Zanger |
| Location: | Cambridge, MA |
| Message: | Since hearing the terribly sad news I have been replaying images in my mind of Rick from over thirty years of knowing him: from our graduate school days in Baltimore, from the 1979-1980 academic year we all spent in Paris, of research trips that had Rick and Cindy rendez-vous-ing outside the old BN to trade off the stroller with "Teddy" (Meara was not yet born!), to our more recent infrequent emails and encounters at conferences catching up on professional and family news. Above all, I remember with great fondness Rick as an advanced graduate student when I was a new first year student and how he quietly guided me through my first class with Louis Marin. I never even had to ask, he just came over to me one afternoon, asked if I was lost, which, I must admit, I was. So he matter of factly told me I just needed to read two essays by Benveniste to know exactly what Louis was all about, and of course he was absolutely right. And, he even lent me the book. And this he did with such grace and kindness that I never felt embarrassed. To help without diminishing is a talmudic quality that I am certain others have experienced from Rick. He was so smart and so unassuming and generous and although I have not had frequent contact with him in the last few years, I will really miss knowing he is there in my professional universe. I send my deepest sympathies to Cindy, Teddy, Meara and his colleagues, and friends. |
| Date: | 09-03-05 7:54 am |
| Name: | meara |
| Location: | new jersey |
| Message: | I think that we should mention that he had a tractor that he loved very much and took very good care of it. He wanted to drive it in the tractor parade but now he's never going to get to do that. |
| Date: | 09-03-05 7:52 am |
| Name: | meara |
| Location: | new jersey |
| Message: | He was my Dad. We are all going to miss him very much. I would also like to thank him for helping me with my french so I could get a better grade. We love you Dad! |
| Date: | 09-03-05 5:55 am |
| Name: | Jeffrey Mehlman |
| Location: | Boston, MA |
| Message: | What I remember of Rick from his Hopkins years, aside from his obvious intelligence, was his uncommon decency and his quirkily ironic (almost contagious) sense of humor. His smile alone set the stage for just such contagion. I have no doubt that his mere presence in the classroom made me a better (or at least a more amusing) teacher,and I am inclined to say that Diderot, over whom we labored, may have become a funnier author in the process. We saw each other only sporadically after Baltimore, but I feel the loss deeply. |
| Date: | 08-03-05 8:47 pm |
| Name: | Darlene Diaz |
| Location: | NJ (Rutgers) |
| Message: | I had the pleasure of being one of Professor Lockwood's student last semester in his French Poetry class. His style of teaching was amazing and unique. His approach and humor kept me motivated in his class. I am extremely saddened with this lost. I feel very blessed to have been given the opportunity to have him as a professor. My sincere condolences go out to his family. God Bless |
| Date: | 08-03-05 7:17 pm |
| Name: | Kenneth Yanes |
| Location: | Rutgers - New Brunswick |
| Message: | Professor Lockwood will certainly be missed by all. As an undergraduate French major, I find that professors of his calibre are an example and inspiration to all students in the department. I was in his Classical French Drama class not too long ago. I remember it as one of the most enjoyable classes during my studies at Rutgers. His approach was unique and at times comical. His intellectual brillance was complemented by his sincerity and good nature, never pedantic nor distant with his students. He offer me some suggestions for my senior thesis and recently, last week actually, was helping me with a book collect to raise funds for the Phi Sigma Iota scholarship. He was always glad to help and contribute. A true scholar and a good-hearted person. My sincere condolences to his wife and children. |
| Date: | 08-03-05 6:04 pm |
| Name: | Pamela A. Claxton-Moffatt |
| Location: | Fernandina Beach, FL |
| Message: | Before Rutgers, Professor Rick taught at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Having come to Rutgers from there to complete graduate school in 1992, I could see that he had left in his wake enduring friendships with his fellow faculty members. At Rutgers, I enjoyed his classes as a student, his advice as a teacher of teachers, his focus when working for him on research related to developing the French program, and his insight into my own research as he rigorously participated on my dissertation committee from overseas. As a teacher, like a Bodhisattva, he expressed the six perfections with charity and humor. He generously gave of his time and wisdom with students and was unselfconsciously ethical. He practiced a kind of engaging patience that was not passive or boring, but nurturing and took tremendous effort. He had a way of correcting foolishness that was downright Socratic. Although capable of sharing his own erudition, he was adept at drawing insight out of others. He had an ability to concentrate where others would have given up or lost interest. As a reader, he could see into the heart of issues. Without getting lost in the jumble of verbiage, he'd slice straight to the core of what mattered, yet make you feel like you'd thought of it yourself. It was easy to feel at ease around Rick because he had this happy way of being True to what mattered. He bore things that others would not or could not, and in so doing, somehow paid a cosmic debt for all of us of lesser character. I remember watching his curly hair grow increasingly unruly week by week until Cynthia would take shears to them. Then he would come to work shorn and happy. This regular transformation from woolly professor to clipped sheep over and over had a poetic comfort in it. Like the tides shifting, winter wheat growing from stubble to harvest and planted anew; seasons passing from Indian summer to winter and spring and inevitably the worst pollen ever; chapters would be outlined, written and revised; the first class of the semester taught, midterms & finals given – a churning sea of recurrent hellos and good-byes. Yet, Rick's hair never said good-bye. His curls and his heart belonged to her alone across all the activities and miles when she was away at her post in Florida. To see Rick disheveled and waiting for a trim, like seeing him tidy and shorn, was to see Cynthia's love for him and his for her. I remember Rick visibly puffing up with pride at the mention of his children, Teddy and Meara. Humble by nature, he would try to suppress too overt a reaction, but even if he bent over a little and cast his eyes down to disguise it, his chest would swell with pride and he'd sit a little taller in his chair despite himself. And as a Dad, he exuded a calm surety about parenting -- his steadiness gave me hope that I too would find my way through this uncertain adventure. Rick's deep love for his family seeped into all that he did, and made everything he did somehow better, somehow more meaningful. I caught only glimpses of the tremendous sacrifices made by Rick and his family for the sake of others. He led a public life of service to the French Department and University as a whole as well as to his students, dix-septiémistes, and fellow scholars of all sorts. Yet supporting his public life, was his family. Their love for him and his for them was tangible. The vibrancy of their love created, for this observer, substantial hope for things yet unseen. Rick will forever be connected to his family's love and sacrifice, a love that is greater than self and transcends this moment in time, a love that knows no physical boundaries or intellectual barriers. I hope Rick's spirit will ever be felt at Rutgers, a place where he gave his utmost. I believe he will be watching over all of us to see that each one of us realizes those better things yet unseen. Moreover, I can imagine him straightening things out for wandering souls in the afterlife -- a friendly face that shines out of the darkness to light a path for those who have lost their way. Seeing that light, I hope to get a chance to stop by and visit Rick's office in Heaven one day. I will want to check and see if there is a monkey swinging from a tree growing there and to see the look on Aristotle's face as he contemplates a bust of Homer Simpson. May God's peace be upon all those who share in the Lockwood family's loss, and may our gain be how each one of us has been touched for having known such a beloved spouse, father, teacher, friend and scholar. |
| Date: | 08-03-05 5:07 pm |
| Name: | David Levitt |
| Location: | Highland Park, NJ |
| Message: | I knew Rick not as a colleague or a teacher but as a girl scout. Our daughters met in pre-school in 1994, and I came to know him as down-to-earth guy, who always made time to enjoy life and to be there for his kids, by helping out the girl scout troop and in a myriad other ways. His spirit lives on in Meara, who shares his sense of joy and optimism. He was a prince of a guy. To Ted, Meara and Cynthia, Mary Ann, Katie and I wish you peace and comfort in the days ahead. |
| Date: | 08-03-05 11:23 am |
| Name: | Michèle Longino |
| Location: | Duke University |
| Message: | Rick Lockwood was a colleague and a friend. Fellow dix-septièmiste. It was always promising to see his name listed in conference programs. I knew there would be good conversation. He was a kind, generous person, with a delightful, wry sense of humor, total devotion to his family and to the profession. He had last contacted me just a few weeks ago, to investigate the possibilities for Rutgers to join our Paris study program. We had a witty conversation, did some business, and agreed to lift a glass together at the next possible opportunity. He was a fine man, I will miss him. I miss him now. He is a loss to us all. |
| Date: | 08-03-05 10:34 am |
| Name: | David Bell |
| Location: | Duke University |
| Message: | I knew Rick best as a graduate student at Johns Hopkins. His unfailing good humor and sharp critical sense made him a much-appreciated friend and colleague. I am deeply saddened to hear of his death. The profession has lost a truly exemplary human being. |
