Driving Mister Bellairs

We're going back through the archives and sharing some thoughts about John and his work that have crossed our path over the years.
Today, some memories from Maura Bresnahan, who had the privilege of giving the famous author a lift home:

John Bellairs visited my graduate class, a children's literature course I was taking at Salem State College. It ran on Saturday mornings during the fall of 1990. I would say he spoke about his books at the last session, which would have been in December, about three months before he died.

The funniest thing was that I ended up giving him a lift home because I lived the nearest to him from the college which was about a 45 minute ride away! I remember him dressed in overalls and blowing his nose on a red bandana; he did not bother primping for his visit. What stayed in my mind most was his talk about setting and the places he visited in the Merrimack Valley that would work their way into the stories about Johnny Dixon.

As the years have passed I only have vague memories of his visit though I did find him very charming.