It was with great sadness that I read of the recent passing of Maryanne Norton, someone whose generous spirit and knowledge of Duluth's history and its built environment were of such benefit to me over the past 15 years ("'An endless fount of stories,'" Sept. 20).
I first met Maryanne when she heard about my difficulties in locating information for a book I was writing about the history of Duluth's Morgan Park community. Given that I was a transplanted Northeastern Minnesotan who resided in distant Madison, Wis., Maryanne volunteered her assistance by spending considerable time searching for obscure sources in Duluth's city offices and library. More recently, Maryanne was helping me with a project that will feature the history of Highway 61 and the North Shore. Indeed, on the Saturday before her death, I received my final message from Maryanne, a succinct description of her efforts to "tackle the problem" we were having in understanding the history of a unique site on London Road.
I join with many others in acknowledging how much we benefited from Maryanne's encyclopedic knowledge of Duluth, a city she so obviously loved. Her own publications and constant willingness to assist many of us on our projects remain as testaments to Maryanne's abilities and generosity. She was one of those rare treasures who make our world a kinder and more enlightened place.
Arnold R. Alanen
Madison, Wis.
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The writer is a professor emeritus in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the author of "Morgan Park: Duluth, U.S. Steel, and the Forging of a Company Town."
