Bud Foote, 74, activist, pursued a better world

> By HOLLY CRENSHAW
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
> Published on: 03/16/05

Bud Foote was a folk-singing, rabble-rousing, protest-marching, storytelling, left-leaning activist. But only in his spare time.

The rest of the time he was a French-speaking, speed-reading, book-reviewing, poetry-writing, Princeton-educated scholar.

He hung out with ’60s folkies Joan Baez and Pete Seeger — who recorded one of his songs — became friends with science fiction author Isaac Asimov, penned articles for academic journals and such underground newspapers as Atlanta’s now-defunct The Great Speckled Bird, and wrote dozens of songs for political demonstrations and civil rights rallies.

“Bud had a continuing concern for the people who somehow get left out of the political equation,” said his wife, Ruth Anne Foote of Atlanta. “He was a radical and he was a feminist and he always had a vision of a better world where the doors are open to more people.”

Irving Flint “Bud” Foote, 74, died of complications from a stroke Saturday at his Atlanta home. The body was cremated. The memorial service is 4:30 p.m. today at Oakhurst Presbyterian Church. Wages & Sons Funeral Home, Stone Mountain, is in charge of arrangements.

He had a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s from the University of Connecticut and taught at Georgia Tech from 1957 to 1999.

He delighted in teaching survey English classes to technically inclined students and became legendary for freewheeling lectures that hitchhiked through the galaxy. He started a speed-reading program, based on his own practice of racing through a couple of books a day, and developed courses in African-American literature.

Mr. Foote, who named his cats after mythological characters, founded Tech’s hugely popular science fiction studies program.

He donated his collection of 8,000 volumes to its library. He collected musical instruments, a habit fueled by his early coup of scoring a valuable Martin guitar at a used furniture store for $10.

“Bud was definitely a raconteur, and I could listen to him for hours,” said friend Bill Hoffman of Silver Spring, Md. “He could be talking about something completely different and the next thing you know, he was quoting Keats or some philosopher. Everything he read, he took in.”

Harlon Joye of Atlanta, host of WRFG-FM radio’s “Fox’s Minstrel Show,” said Mr. Foote wrote scores of original songs and would take a melody such as Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” and add lyrics that lambasted Georgia’s Department of Transportation when it was planning construction through Atlanta’s intown neighborhoods.

Mr. Foote’s daughter, Anna Copello of Atlanta, who sang with him as part of the Adamantly Egalitarian String and Reed Corps, said folk, jazz and blues musicians — from Buffy Sainte-Marie and Bernice Johnson Reagon, to brothers Nat and Cannonball Adderley — would stop by their home while passing through town.

“No party was complete unless Dad got out his guitar and we sang,” she said, “and no dinner conversation was ever the same twice.”

Survivors include five sons, William Lewis Foote III and James Murray Foote, both of New York, and Joseph Nathaniel Foote, Samuel Joshua Foote and Lewis Ford Foote II, of Atlanta; his mother, Margaret Flint Foote of Concord, N.H.; his brother, William Lewis Foote II of Wolfeboro, N.H.; and four grandchildren.

Irving Flint Foote

Irving Flint “Bud” Foote, was born August 19, 1930, in Linconia, New Hampshire to Lewis Ford and Margaret Flint Foote. He grew up in Lincoln, Northwood and Goffstown, New Hampshire and graduated from Goffstown High School in l947.

Bud was an Eagle Scout.

Bud attended Princeton University. He spent his junior year in France studying at the Sorbonne and hitchhiking around Europe. This year of adventure was the source of many of his ideas about food, drink, jazz clubs and how to live the good life. He crafted his adventures and ideas into the stories he told, perhaps to you. He was fluent in French, opening doors to many friendships.

Princeton shaped Bud’s intellectual life and critical capacities and afforded him strong friendships that he maintained throughout his life. He was awarded honors in English when he received his Bachelor of Arts, Summa Cum Laude, from Princeton in l952; Phi Beta Kappa, First in English. In l958 Bud earned a Master of Arts in English from the University of Connecticut. He credits the UConn graduate school with teaching him how to teach college students. Friends from UConn included Mary Arnold Twining, retired Director of Doctor of Arts in Humanities and Undergraduate Humanities Programs at Clark Atlanta University, with whom he maintained a lifelong friendship.

At UConn he met and married Caryl Kenig. They had two sons, William Lewis Foote, II, and James Murray Foote, both residents of New York City.

After Bud and Cayrl divorced, he met and married Martha (Miki) Rush. They had two children, Anna Kathleen Copello and Joseph Nathaniel Foote. Both live with their families in Atlanta. Bud and Miki divorced in 1967.

Bud and Ruth Anne Quinn married in l968. They had two sons, Samuel Joshua Foote and Lewis Ford Foote, II, both of Atlanta.

Bud became an instructor in English at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the fall of l957, beginning a career that spanned 40 years. Students, books and colleagues at Georgia Tech nurtured his interests and pursuits, which included teaching, reading and writing. He developed courses in speed reading, African American literature and science fiction, and brought noted science fiction authors to campus. He also wrote topical songs in support of peace, civil rights and women’s rights. His songs of protest opposed war, highways, and a variety of other issues. He played guitar and banjo and co-founded The Atlanta Folk Music Society.

Bud was an author and poet. His publications include The Connecticut Yankee in the Twentieth Century; Travel to the Past in Science Fiction and Between Me and the Beach; Poems from Dauphin Island, and St. Petersburg Poems: A Multimedia Presentation. He wrote jacket blurbs for noted science fiction authors and book reviews for The National Review, The Atlanta Constitution and the Detroit News. Unpublished works include the poems for Ruth Anne that are included in this booklet.

Bud wrote more than 100 “Foibles” for The Great Speckled Bird, an alternative Atlanta newspaper published in the ’60s & ’70s under the pen name “Og, King of Bashan.” He presented and published scholarly papers and served as a visiting professor at the Academy of Science in St. Petersburg, Russia. He retired in 1999 as a professor from Georgia Tech’s School of Literature, Culture and Communication, and was named Professor Emeritus.

In late 1979 Bud and Ruth Anne sponsored a family recently arrived from Vietnam; Ngoc (Kim) Nuegen, her brother Thein and her two young daughters Li and Lynn, who, with their families, continue to be dear friends.

After a pin-point stroke in May 2004, Bud confronted several challenging physical episodes over the year with his usual New England stoic tenacity. On March 12, he died peacefully at home from complications of a stroke, surrounded by his wife and family members, close friends and pastor.

He is survived by a rainbow of friends from many places and the close knit family which was so important to him:

Wife Ruth Anne
Son and Daughter-in-law William Lewis II and Monica
Sons James Murray, Joseph Nathaniel, Samuel Joshua and Lewis Ford II
Daughter and Son-in-law Anna Kathleen and Roger Copello
Grandchildren Cayrl Lucia, Matthew Tyler Copello, Kathrine Margaret and Victoria Rose
Mother Margaret Foote
Brother and Sister-in-law William Lewis and Mary
Nieces Debbie Merrit and Lisa Mullin & her daughter Allison Nicole
Sister-and-brother-in-law Martha Jane Quinn and Fred Raedels
Nephews John Mark Raedels and children Elizabeth Schuyler and Jarod Mark, and Christopher Quinn Raedels, wife Edna Lynette and children Quinn Walter and Carson-Faye.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to, The Georgia Tech Library, Bud Foote Fiction Memorial, Georgia Tech School of Literature, Communications and Culture attn: Ken Knoesple at GA Tech, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0165; or Clifton Sanctuary Ministries, Inc. 369 Connecticut Ave. NE, Atlanta, GA 30307.

The family will receive visitors at home; Tuesday March 15 from 4:00 to 8:00. Memorial services will be held at Oakhurst Presbyterian Church, 118 Second Ave. Decatur; March 16 at 4:30.