From Greg Dziekonski

Dear Felix,

Each member of the Franklin High School class of 1952 was asked to list his/her ambition and pet peeve. While most people listed a career as their ambition, your ambition was "to live happily for 100 years." Whether this was your euphemism for devoting one's life to the flute or whether it reflected a precocious wisdom that life often winds up being what we didn't plan is anyone's guess. After all, you once told me that your first flute teacher, Fred Wing, started you on a wooden flute, because your "real" instrument hadn't been delivered yet. Who would have known that once upon a time when the Soni Ventorum was touring in Hawaii you preferred to hunt for trees at sea level rather than going up Mauna Kea to see the view.

I've never played the flute, but you taught me something else. You were always there when I needed information on the history of the Seattle music scene, in which you played such a substantial role. As soon as I dreamed up some obscure question to which I thought you might know the answer, you always responded with an elaborate explanation. Although I can never match Megan Lyden's herculean effort to preserve a record of yourcontribution to music, I've stashed away everything you wrote to me for posterity. In light of the enthusiasm with which you always responded to my queries, I think that would make you happy.

We sat together at clarinetist Ron Phillips's funeral two summers ago and we never seemed to stop chatting. As we sauntered through the museum-type displays illustrating Ron's life, you had an extra story to tell about every old photograph. I had never learned so much at a wake before.

Your high school annual states that your pet peeve was "growing out of a crewcut." Whether you were joking or whether this was a genuine outburst of teenage anxiety is something I'll never know, because I am now forced to painfully recognize that I can never ask you anything anymore. Your instruction went beyond chamber music groups and aspiring flutists. I wonder if you ever knew that. At least your friends now do. Thank you, Felix.

Yours,

Greg Dziekonski