THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

Beguildy,
Knighton,
Radnorshire

Wed 27 Aug. [1958]

My dear Ursula,

Mary and I are in the depths of Wales and by the merest accident were in the local pub when the morning news came on.  How happy an ending – the tide just ebbs and the great life goes out with it.¹  How happy I am to think of the near 50 years during which he was everything I admired most in a man and in music – and all the time he was endlessly kind to me and I have never been able to show it openly.
There have been few people ever in the world who have asked so little for themselves and given so much to other people.
We go back to B’ham for two nights and then back to Wales, but we are always obtainable at short notice through the School.
And you know we are both of us ever your friends.
Stuart & Mary

1.  VW had died suddenly early in the morning of 26th August of coronary thrombosis. In many ways this was ideal since the cancerous prostate removed in August 1957 threatened a bleak future. UVW  told Oliver Neighbour that because of that his death was right and ‘it was time’.