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Baron Taliesynne Nychymwrh yr Anghyfannedd Llanrhyddlad, OP
- Mundane name: Kem Cason
- Passed: 6/1/2018
- Order of Precedence entry
He was known as Baron Taly, Master Taly and also as Papa to me. As the person who built this memorial website, I don't often write these messages and SCA obituaries, as I try to remain invisible so that others can share while I stay backstage, just an unseen hand shepherding the words of others. Tonight, I can't. This will probably be one of the hardest things that I ever write.
Taly is gone.
Irascible, sarcastic, giving, querulous, brilliant, word smithing, loving, cat adoring, testy. Taly was many things to many people. A polarizing figure, some loved him, some did not, but I think at some level everyone respected him as our Grumpy Old Taly, one of the founders of Trimaris who helped to shape the kingdom from infancy and help shepherd it in to middle age. 40 years of service is a hell of a thing.
He spent most of his time working with the things that he loved most: heraldry, his local group of Mathom Trove and also being surrounded by his expansive household, Unicorn's Hospyce. Much of Trimaris can trace their "family" lineage back to this single bough of the tree that is Trimaris.
Those 40 years ago, Taly was the voice of Trimaris and appears as the herald in almost every picture that can be found of a royal court. He was the Baron Wyvernwoode and although he had not lived there in some time, it was always one of his favorite homes. In 1976 he received both his Award of Arms and the first coronet of Wyvernwoode. Take a moment and consider that date. Where were you in 1976? Taly and his insane curly hair (it had color then) were already serving what would be the Kingdom of Trimaris. I would regularly remind him that I was not yet alive while he achieved these feats and was always rewarded with a special frown that he reserved just for such remarks.
One of my favorite SCA memories of Taly was him stepping out of a cabin into the bright sunshine, clad in a white tunic with red circles on the fabric and a crimson wrap. I'd never seen anything quite like it before and said out loud, to my friend "What in the hell is he wearing?". My classics major friend stopped in her tracks and said something like "Holy s%^&. That's Etruscan. I think it's from the Tomb of the Leopard!". We didn't ask, but we figured he might have also acquired the clothing in ancient Etruria, as he seemed to be eternal. When I mentioned the outfit to him later and asked where he had gotten it, he winked at me and said "Let's just say I've had it for... a while.".
Outside of the SCA, Kem lived a remarkable life. He was educated as an ecologist and marine biologist. One of my greatest joys was the opportunity to walk a lonely stretch of beach with him on a blustery morning and have him narrate each shell I found and presented him. Common name, scientific name, diet, habitat... it was like being with the J.R.R. Tolkien of the ocean. It was fascinating and a side of this remarkable man that so many people never had the opportunity to experience.
That weekend we talked a lot about family and how both of ours were not always ideal. I lamented losing all of my grandparents who were my earliest heroes. Taly countered that he had no children or grandchildren of his own, so he could adopt at least one. From that day on the Atlantic shore onward, he was my Papa. That was almost two decades ago and he was in my life longer than my blood grandparents.
I loved him, laughed with him, cried with him and sometimes even fought with him- but he was never less than family. My crotchety old grandpa that was always in need of a haircut. My fellow lover of tiny old books and the treasures they might contain. A lover of cats, good stories, beautiful places who believed in caring for your family even when that was the hardest thing to do. He was my friend.
I know that everyone in Trimaris has a story of their own. Send them and I will add them here. Your memories and photos will help to carry him into legend and myth, a story we will tell our grandchildren someday.
Goodbye Papa. I love you.
~In service: Mistress Maol Mide ingen Medra, OL, OP, TG (Taly Grandkid)
melessee@gmail.com
Mother Night,
I come to speak for a friend.Today it was his time.Mother Night,Sweet Hekate,Guide and Guardian,Lead him gently, safely,On to the Underworld,Where those he has loved and lostWill be found again, welcoming himWith open arms and loving hearts.There let him restUntil he be whole again and readyTo take up the work.Or there let him stayUntil those he has loved and left behindAre brought to him in turn.With peaceful heart,I know it will be so.
Mistress Warijna Waleska Kaztjmjr, OL
Principal of the Order of the Laurel, Kingdom of Trimaris
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Parker
Baron Taliesynne had such a profound effect on me and my household when I was new to the SCA. He was an amazingly well-traveled man, rich in experiences and stories, and so very kind. He also pointed out to his protégé Knikolos Major of Salem-By-The-Sea that it was obvious that he was going to marry me, so when was he going to get on with it? When Knikolos and I married and started our own household Mermayde Keepe, we based much of our structure on that of Unicorn Hospyce, especially that of the “Honored Guest” status, which I always held with pride within Taly’s home and heart. It has been many years since I've seen him, but blessed be Facebook that allowed us to be in communication in the last several years. He will be greatly missed and long remembered.
Mistress Christianna MacGrain, OP, OL, Meridies
We were all saddened to find out late last night about Taly's passing.I went into my archive and found two old photos of Taly you may post anywhere you like: both taken at Meridies' winter Crown List at Oleno State Park, FL in early February of 1980. (Coldest damned event of my life, with nighttime temps in the high teens. The temp never got out of the mid-30s that Saturday.)One shows Unicorn's Hospyce with Taly and Queta arriving on the list field in the morning with their household and the other is the new prince, Duke Orlando Cavalcanti, administering the fealty oath with the knighthood, presided over by then Kingdom Herald Taliesin. These are both as large and as hi-rez as I can make them.
Mistress Hollyn of Kestrelmere, OL
For years (1978ish maybe through about 1993), EVERY time Taly first greeted me at each event, he would, at the top of those heraldic lungs, Announce my arrival with a very-over-pronounced french accent: "AHLLLY SUUUUN JOOOUUUNNNNTERRRE!
Over and over.Again.Well, I had HAD it.. So, I plotted and planned and finally formed my response: at the next event, I would sneak up on him from behind, and announce "TALLY-HO, Grape NE-HI!!!"And so My Moment arrived: The screen porch, WeWa, TMT 1993: Tally's back was to me, and he was talking to other people. I breathed in deeply, ready to pronounce my revenge, when that Old Man, turned around, arms spread wide, and at the TOP of HIS LUNGS, Greeted me with "YOLAAAANDAAAAA!"I died. Everyone around us died. And I was Yolanda for about 5 years....Let that memory lighten grief, and may his memory be eternal.
Baroness Alysoun Jeunterre, OP
One of the great-grandkids
Photo credit: Thomas the Oppressed
The Great Druid has gone into the WestFriday nite, as the sun was setting, The Great Old One of Trimaris left his earthly remains and sped on the rays of the dying sun into the land of Annwn, where all is fair and lovely, and pain and suffering are no more.James "Jimmy" K.E.M. Cason was born in 1935 and raised in the wilds of Palatka. After graduation, he joined the United States Air Force and served , particularly in Germany, in the Intelligence Gathering field. He also traveled to Australia to work as a volunteer diver in a program to control the Crown of Thorns starfish. He got his degree in counseling and his Masters Degree in Anthropology and worked in Hawaii while researching the anthropology degree. He was curious about everything and anything. He loved science fantasy books and read voraciously. He collected exotic seashells and displayed them in his home. A lover of cats, he was not above adopting dubious strays that showed up in his backyard and blessed him with rounds of kittens. They were given descriptive names like "Chattanooga" and "Booger". He had a sister, Diane, and a niece Hannah who in her turn made Tally a great uncle. There was an extended family of tall aunts and uncles that over the years declined in numbers. There was his mother, Miss Vashti, that everyone swore would outlive the universe, who passed at age 94. Tally was very devoted to her and tended to her as she was bedridden in her later years. They dwelt in the modest family home on Mosely Avenue in Palatka. KEM passed just three months short of his 83rd birthday in September.
It all sounds very cut and dried and not very exciting.
But I knew KEM , and I knew Tally for 38 years, and am devastated at the loss of both.
As Mistress Maol said, he was a complex man....charming, highly intelligent, funny, irascible , grumpy, especially before coffee, fussy, generous, mentoring and loyal.
Tally came into the lives of a little Shire called Blackthorne back in 1980. It was mostly 20 somethings, young, vibrant, and needing a lot of guidance. Tally would come to visit, teach us heraldry, SCA customs and courtesies, garb information, protocal and precedence. We nicknamed him "Merlin". He was tall, possessing golden eyes and a preternatural grace when he moved. We all adored him madly, and he molded us and shaped us well. From that little group sprang Duchess Elspeth MacNaughton, Baron Master Geoffrey of Lincoln, Baron Master Jean Phillipe Duvier, Mistress Morgana ferch Morgan, Mistress Eleanor Powe, and Mistress Tamara Nabokova. As Prinicple of the Order of the Pelican he helped shape and guide the Pelicanate, the Norrey School of Heraldry, the blossoming region/Principality/Kingdom of Trimaris. Most folks do not even know that Tally was a heavy weapons fighter when he was founding Baron of Wyvernwood. I once asked him how he did at fighting, and his succinct reply was " I sucked !"
As the head of Unicorn's Hospice and Unicorn's Keype, he saw to the care and feeding of many a newcomer. His companion and sidekick in this venture was Mistress Enriqueta Isabella de Reyes y Mora. At many a camping event our little shire would gaggle like eager children around their campfire for spirits and stories long into the night. They were larger than life, magical and charismatic. We wanted to be them when we grew up ! Tally never ceased to amaze us...we knew his love of heraldry... he would often find obscure heraldic beasts for us to suss out names for(my favorite is still the Yale ! No, it is NOT a college !) We helped him grow St. George's fair from three people into a yearly event with dozens of fighters and LOTS of heraldry ! Yet he could still dazzle us with Welsh poetry, give us the latin name for obscure seashells, point out the names of the stars in the heavens and still make us feel like we were blessed to be in his presence.
In his later years when friendships faded and folks drifted away, our little shire of Sudrholt adopted Tally. .Master Sean Ui'Neal and Viscount Alexander and Hon. Ld. Devlin McLeoid fixed up his house, rearranged his furniture so his scooter could get around, and I painted his bathroom. Master Sebastian Halyburton and Ld. Willfred of Wallingford redid hid roof.As a minister he also married a number of us folks in the SCA, me inlcuded.
But he knew that his time was coming. A few months ago as we sat at Camp Imokallee basking in warm sunbeams, I looked at him and said "We sit with a lot of ghosts". He reached out and took my hand and said"I know". There was no need for naming the lost, we knew them all. So we had a quiet moment, and I knew that soon he would be one of those....and so did he.
My hope is that there is an SCA heaven.....I can see Tally striding into the camp in that purple houppelonde, sleeves flapping in the breeze, curls tossing, and Mistress Enriqueta handing him a cup of coffee and saying"about time you got here". Duchess Ljudmilla will run over for a hug, Mistress Cher will demand attention for a heraldic question, Count Takamatsu will look up and say "Hey Y'all !!! Have some Barbecue !" in his Southern drawl, and Lord Knickolos Major will grab Tally for a bear hug, to be followed by another hug from Mizzy Atalaya. Gentle Strider well take his arm to bring him over to the camp chairs, and they will all settle for a good coze and a storytelling session. The ancient Welsh believed in Annwn, the land of the fair, and this is what I would picture for Tally.
Now Duke Baldar and I will have to sit with the ghosts, and hold hands, and remember the Great Old ones, and not saying anything,,,,,,,just remembering. Our lives will be altered and dimmed by Tally's passing, but if we are true to the pragmatism that he taught us, we will endure and go on.
I am minded of the final line from the movie "Gladiator".."I will see you again my friend, one day......but not just yet..not just yet."
Submitted with greatest love,
Duchess Elspeth MacNaughton, OL, OP, OR
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