RICHARD FRANKLYN SEARIGHT

Richard Franklyn Searight (RFS), born in 1902, was a magnificent man who, in his own quiet, unassuming way, left a gigantic void in the universe when he passed away in 1975.

He was born and raised in the small port city of Manistee, Michigan, the only son of Benjamin Franklyn Searight and Fidelia Taylor Ellis, two thespians who toured the country leaving their charge in the custody of his grandfather, Dr. Ellsworth Stiles Ellis, the town's medical doctor. It was in the vast library of the erudite physician that the young Richard read the classics, began his mastery of the English language, and developed his life-long fervent fondness for the printed word.

To earn a living, after a few minor jobs, he was first a telegrapher who worked for Western Union. In the 1940s he became an accountant who developed his own private practice and served his clients until his untimely death near the shores of Lake Superior, his favorite place on earth. He was treasurer of the Detroit North End Lions Club for thirty-three years, an ardent Mason, an avid fisherman, and a devoted friend to all who knew him.

Richard was more than just a loving and staunchly devout husband to his wife Dorothy and loving father to his two children, Marjorie and Franklyn. He loved to laugh and tell stories and read his favorite authors. His youthful ambition, never realized and probably for the best, was to be a noted author. To this end, he composed one of his first novelettes, "The Brain in the Jar" which was published in the near-legendary pages of the November 1924 issue of Weird Tales, a story that was to be reprinted in the June 1936 issue of that same magazine. His stories and poetry can be found in two volumes published by the Necronomicon Press entitled The Brain in the Jar and Others and The Sealed Casket and Others. A third volume, comprising the remaining fiction and poetic fancies from his typewriter, entitled The Cosmic Horror and Others, will hopefully be forthcoming in 1999. His epic novel, Wild Empire, which captures the adventurous and tempestuous spirit of those hearty souls who pioneered the hazardous copper fields of the Michigan Copper Country in the mid 1840s, can be ordered from Iroquois Press. But his most notable claim to fame in the field of writing was his penpal association with the noted author Howard Philips Lovecraft who many now regard as the greatest author of all to delve into the grotesque arena of the macabre.

Much more about Richard can be found in the Necronomicon Press edition entitled H.P. Lovecraft Letters to Richard F. Searight, July 1992, edited by David E. Schultz & S. T. Joshi with Franklyn Searight, which includes a quite lengthy section detailing the life of RFS. There is also much to learn about him in the introductions to the earlier mentioned three volumes of fiction and poetry available from the Necronomicon Press.