Posted by Alistair MacLean
on 8/21/2007, 7:07 pm, in reply to "surprised to see my message from several years ago"
85.3.241.193
Hello Maree. Despite being the youngest of Alistair's three sons, oddly enough I bear his full name. I read your post and felt compelled to reply, for I met dear Tom and Rena.
They both came to visit my dad in the mid-eighties out in Dubrovnik. I was astounded when Tom claimed I was the spitting image of my father. For Tom I was apparently something of a childhood duplicata of my father. We toured across Yugoslavia and I have photos somewhere of gentle Tom and myself in Belgrade looking upon the confluence of the Danube and the Sava. Sadly, my dad was already too ill to accompany us. He died a couple of years later and I believe Tom passed away a year after that.
It comes as no surprise to me that my father dedicated his final book to Tom and Rena. Tom was the closest friend he had ever known and I do truly mean ever. My father was fairly reclusive throughout his life yet, in the presence of Tom, his face would light up with an unrestrained glee, a glee which surpassed all I'd ever seen, even toward his immediate family. Once, whilst recounting his youth, a rarity in itself, he fondly reminisced upon how one day he had stolen some of his dad's tobacco and how they had both, he and Tom, climbed up a nearby tree to smoke it - he then became so dizzy he lost his balance and tumbled off the branch!
I must confess to feeling a certain envy. Being in their company I realised that I never had the good fortune of having such a childood friend as Tom. In fact, I will go so far as to say that, hands down, he's the kindest man I have ever met. I also remember Rena as being sweetness itself, despite having suffered the terrible trauma of a mastectomy.
I guess I just wanted to say that Alistair Stuart MacLean wasn't just a very good friend of your father's, Hamish MacDonald Fraser's family, he was their best friend.
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