Starkey Flythe Jr.

I didn't know Starkey well, but I remember him as brilliant, witty, and very funny. The world is poorer without him in it.

I would go over to visit Starkey, and he was either rooting around in the garden or taking care of his mother and father. It was such a dear, original arrangement...the old parents in a big bed in the sun room, and Starkey either rolling his eyes or telling me to call his folks by their first names, "because they don't get to hear that anymore" Mr.Flythe senior (I assume his first name was Starkey, but I felt it was presumptuous to call him anything but that) would say to his wife, Mary....

Starkey was an exceptional poet who encouraged others in their writing- a truly exceptional man.

I had the supreme honor to "edit" Starkey's humorous, touching essay about North Augusta, "A Little Different, A Little the Same" for an anthology titled State of the Heart: South Carolina Writers on the Places They Love." His tribute to the people who made North Augusta a wonderful place to grow up should be required reading for anyone who knows what it's like to live in a small town. What treasures he's left us.

Though I only knew Starkey a short time, I will forever be changed by his kind and gentle spirit. I will forever remember serving with him as a Lay Eucharistic Minister at the early Sunday service at St. Paul's. I enjoyed his wry wit and his knowledge and his unique personal view of the history of St. Paul's and Augusta. I am truly saddened to learn of his passing. The world was a much kinder place with him in it.

You will be missed,dear friend It was much too soon for you to leave us.

Starkey was my 9th grade English teacher at Paul Knox Junior HIgh in North Augusta. At the time, we select few advanced students were not happy with the grades he gave us; however, I look back on him as one of the best teachers I ever had. In fact, I used a lot of his "techniques" as I taught English for 30 years. He was a good friend and the epitome of a Southern gentleman. May his soul rest in peace; may his memory be eternal.

Starkey was a dear friend. I will miss his smiling face and accepting demeanor. He could make anyone feel special, for this he will have a place in my heart-forever.

I loved Starkey. After I left North Augusta, he would call me up once a year and we would laugh, talk about art and poetry, gossip and discuss our lives. I can see him battling the weeds in his garden of iris, surrounded by his yard of high trees and tangled plants...complex, flowery, a region of stickers,critters and beauty. A bit like Starkey himself. I miss him so.