I don't do this sort of thing often, so please excuse the length of this
comment.

Ned left a lasting impression on me as well.

Within the first couple of years of the existence of histarch, I was a
frequent correspondent.  I remember when Ned first blustered into what was,
at the time, a fairly small community.  Indeed, given my particular
theoretical bent at that time, I was probably one of the first people he
attacked!  There can be no doubt in my mind that I probably deserved
it.  Despite his deserved Carmudgeonly reputation, which, by the way, he
admitted early on that he was quite proud of, I found all of Ned's
correspondences to have a hardened but pleasant wit and a ready bemusement
just below the surface temperature inversions and high pressure systems.

Though Ned and I were not close, I did have the pleasure of meeting him in
person several years later, after moving to New Jersey.  The first time we
met in person was at a MAAC meeting, I believe it might have been 1999 or
2000.  Shortly thereafter, I asked Ned and several other veterans of both
CRM and academic archaeology in the area, to provide advice as part of a
short-lived external committee to help me establish a contracting program
here at CFAS.  Ned's views on hiring and preparative education for the
archaeological labor force were very much on-point.  I am sure many of you
have heard them already, but one of the obvious and overlooked (by me)
points that Ned stressed was basic writing skill.  And, the more time I
spend teaching undergraduates, the more I find myself echoing those same
sentiments.  I have to admit that I think of Ned almost every time I have a
one on one with a student who needs to learn to express himself or
herself  more clearly and concisely. A few years later at an ASNJ meeting,
I had the distinct pleasure of hearing Ned tell me that he admired my work,
and then, this year, at Rehoboth Beach, I said hello, and though I'm pretty
sure he remembered who I was, our interests were both drawn elsewhere
fairly quickly. Oddly enough, I think Ned and I corresponded more readily
and openly than we ever could communicate in person.  It was always in his
off-list e-mails that I identified the odd, cynical, sarcastic, and yet
celebratory sense of humor I will remember him for.  Perhaps that simply
reflects our common love of the craft of writing.

My best wishes to Ned's people.


Matt Tomaso, RPA
Associate Director and Principal Investigator
Center for Archaeological Studies
Montclair State University
Upper Montclair, NJ.  USA

http://picard.montclair.edu/archaeology/