Fr. Philip M. Solem was assistant pastor at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Parish in Duluth, Minnesota. He was 28 at this time.
Gary A. Solbue was activities adviser for San Diego State College in California.
Ambassador Soedjatmoko writes from the Embassy of Indonesia in Washington, D.C. Raden Soedjatmoko Saleh Mangoediningrat went also by the nickname "Mas Koko" or simply "Koko". By the end of their five hour meeting in Washington, D.C., the two men referred to each other as Tom and Koko.
Ambassador Soedjatmoko writes from the Embassy of Indonesia in Washington, D.C. Raden Soedjatmoko Saleh Mangoediningrat went also by the nickname "Mas Koko" or simply "Koko". By the end of their five hour meeting in Washington, D.C., the two men referred to each other as Tom and Koko.
Gary Snyder was a poet associated with the Beat Generation in the San Francisco of the 1950's. He was the protagonist in Jack Kerouac's «The Dharma Bums». His writing interests have included ecology and the myths of Japan, China, and of the Native Americans. He knew Merton's poet friend, Cid Corman, and Merton's friend in publishing, James Laughlin. At this time, Snyder was spending some time in the Sierra Nevada mountains between living in Japan and studying Zen. (Source: "Snyder, Gary". Biography from Hutchinson Encyclopedia of Biography . 2000. Online. Biography Reference Bank. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 9 May 2006. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)
The Rev. Eric Snyder was associate secretary for the Division of Community Services of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church. He writes from New York.
Sociologist and economist Dallas Walker Smythe was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, and moved to the United States in 1918. He was a life-long pacifist. In the late 1930's, he became a civil servant in Washington, D.C. In 1948, he joined the new Institute of Communications Research at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It is from here, he writes to Merton and Merton responds. (Source: Gourlie, Michael; Caitlin Webster; Frances Fournier; and Enid Britt. "Dallas Smythe fonds". Jan. 1998. Website of Simon Fraser University Archives. Accessed, 9 May 2006: Bellarmine University Library. ‹http://www.sfu.ca/archives/F-16/F-16fonds.html›.)
Fr. Thomas Fidelis Smith was a Trappist monk of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia.
Susan Smith was a student at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri at the time of writing. Following Merton's correspondence with Barbara Ann Braveman, another member of the staff of the student publication «Free Lance» (also "Freelance"), Smith came to Gethsemani to interview Merton on March 30, 1968 with Sandy Meyer, and students named Sally and Mike (possibly Michael Castro?).
Fr. R. F. Smith was a Jesuit priest and editor for «Review for Religious» in St. Mary's, Kansas.
Grover Cleveland Smith writes from Durham, North Carolina. At the time, he was an English professor at Duke University.
Elwyn A. Smith was the Co-editor of the «Journal of Ecumenical Studies» at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
E. Gene Smith writes from Seattle, Washington. He was a student of Dezhung Rinpoche, a Buddhist mystic residing in Seattle after exile from his native Tibet.
Charles Smith was Chairman of Chicago CORE and writes from Chicago, Illinois.
Catherine Smith writes from Escanaba, Michigan. She seems to have been an artist working in a variety of media, including pottery, sculpture and fabrics. She seems to have met or known Merton's friend Sr. Thérèse Lentfoehr, who tells Merton of seeing Smith in Escanaba.
Carleton Smith was a close friend of Cardinal Koenig, Archbishop of Vienna and head of the Secretariat for Non-Believers. The cardinal made a delegation to the United States in 1967 for the secretariat, which occasioned Smith to visit Gethsemani twice to dialogue about this dialogue with non-believers and other issues. Merton became godfather to Smith's son, Raphael, and corresponded with his wife, Anne. An authority on art, he founded as served as chairman of both the National Arts Foundation of New York and the International Awards Foundation. In his varied career, he served as music editor for «Esquire» and recorded folk songs from around the world. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 556.)
Anne Smith was married to another Merton correspondent, Carleton Smith. She sends Merton some photographs taken by her husband.
Rev. Glenn Smiley was Associate Executive Secretary for the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Nyack, New York, at the time of writing. He was a pacifist, prominent in the Civil Rights Movement, and a friend of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nancy Smiler was an editorial assistant at Bantam Books in New York.
Fr. Gerard Stephen Sloyan was, at the time of writing to Merton, a professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has written some texts on theology and morality.
William Milligan Sloane was a publisher (William Sloane Associates) writing from New York. He also was an author of mysteries and science fiction.
Lydia Pasternak Slater was a research chemist from Russia who emigrated first to Germany and later to Great Britain after the Nazi rise to power. She wrote poetry and translated works of her brother, Boris Pasternak.
Mary Ellen Slate was married to Merton's Columbia classmate, John Slate.
John H. Slate was a classmate of Merton's at Columbia University. He was a lawyer with the firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom in New York, and specialized in aviation law. In addition, he contributed humorous pieces to «Fortune», «The Atlantic Monthly», and «The Saturday Evening Post». Merton had heard reports about Slate from other Columbia alumni friends, but had not been in direct contact for many years. Slate died of a heart attack later in that same year they were in contact concerning the literary estate.
Irene Skolnick was Managing Editor of «The Hudson Review» in New York at the time of correspondence with Merton.
Edward Skillin was the long-time editor of the Catholic magazine, «The Commonweal», and wrote to Merton from New York. In 1967, he shifted from sole editor to publisher, a position he held until his retirement in 1998.
Fr. Baldwin Skeehan took over from Thomas Merton as novice master at Gethsemani Abbey after Merton retired to his hermitage in 1965. He served as novice master until 1968 and was later Prior of Gethsemani. He would later leave monastic life.
Br. John Lyons was a Salvatorian writing first from Mount St. Paul College in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and later from New Holstein, Wisconsin.
Fr. Jean-François Six was a priest from Paris, France.
Dick Sisto is a jazz vibraphonist and is currently the music director of the Seelbach Bar at the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. He shared an interest with Merton in Zen Buddhism and currently conducts meditation workshops. His wife, Penny Sisto, is a fabric artist who has created Merton-themed quilts.
The Sisters of Loretto are a Catholic community of religious sisters based in Nerinx, Kentucky, near to the Abbey of Gethsemani. Thomas Merton had many close contacts among the sisters including Sr. Mary Luke Tobin.
Elbert R. (Bert) Sisson writes from Bryans Road, Maryland. After retiring from active duty in the army in 1945, he worked for the federal government until 1972. He was a political activist and liberal democrat, once running for public office in 1974, but withdrawing when his wife took ill. He was opposed to the Vietnam War and wrote a book under the pen name Rory McCormick, entitled «Americans against Man» (New York and Cleveland: Corpus Books, 1970). (Source: Sisson, Maura A. Obituary of Elbert Sisson. Genealogical website. Accessed 3 May 2006. ‹http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~dasisson/richard/aqwg203.htm›.)
Andrew Sinclair was from Lorrimer Publishing Limited in London, England.
John N. Sims was a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and chairman of the Faculty Retreat Committee.
Sr. Lois Marie Simmons was a Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary from Richmond, Virginia.
Poet Charles Simic was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He came with his family in 1949 to the United States, and they settled in Chicago, Illinois. His college studies began at University of Chicago and then New York University. He finished his undergraduate work at NYU after two years of service in the army. After working as a proofreader for the «Chicago Sun-Times», he spent the late 1960's as an editorial assistant to the photography magazine «Aperture» in New York, where Merton corresponds with him about contributing to «Monks Pond». He would later become a professor of English at the California State College, Hayward, and at the University of New Hampshire, Durham. Since his first published work before writing to Merton, he has published a number books of poetry. (Source: "Simic, Charles" Biography from World Authors 1970-1975. 1980. Online. Biography Reference Bank. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 3 May 2006. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)
Sr. Emmanuel de Souza e Silva was a Brazilian nun of the monastery of the Virgin Mary in Petropolis (whose order joined with the Benedictines during their correspondence) and long-time translator of Merton's works into Portuguese. Although born in Brazil, she had spent some of her academic studies in England and France. She was also a social worker in her home of Rio de Janeiro before religious life. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 181.)
Ludovico Silva was a poet, philosopher, essayist, literary critic, and professor at the Universidad Central in Caracas, Venezuela. He authored over thirty books and was one of the founders of the magazine «Papeles». In the 1970's and 1980's, his writing turned to ideas of alienation, socialism, and Marxism. It was Silva who asked Merton about a typical day at the hermitage which prompted Merton to write one of his most famous pieces, "Day of a Stranger". Merton also wrote a prologue for Silva's poem and book, «Boom!!!». (Source: «The Courage for Truth», p. 223.)
Clara Silva was a poet who sends Merton an incribed copy of her book.
Rabbi Lou H. Silberman was a professor from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, who came to Gethsemani with Rabbi Zalman Schachter in mid-August 1962 to speak to the novices regarding Hebrew, the Psalms and the Dead Sea scrolls.
Paul K. T. Sih was an author of histories of China and translator of Chinese classics. Sih was born near Shanghai, China. Nominally a Buddhist from a family that did not stress religion, he was exposed to Christianity through earning a doctorate in Rome, Italy, and though a Chinese government position in Rome. Through this job, he met Merton's friend John C. H. Wu, who was Chinese ambassador to the Vatican. Wu, having bridged connections between Christianity and Taoism, was a factor in Sih's conversion to Catholicism. In 1959, Sih became a professor of history and Director of the Center for Asian Studies at St. John's University in New York. It was here he began his correspondence with Merton. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», pp. 548-549.)
Ambrose Siers was Promotion Manager of the Thomas More Association. He writes from Chicago, Illinois.
Meg Shore was a student at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and a student of Denise Levertov.
Swami Shivapremananda is the rector and spiritual master of the Cento Sivananda Yoga-Vedanta in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Howard Fenimore Shipps was a professor in the Department of Church History at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky.
Fr. James Shine was from a monastery (Camaldolese?) at New Boston, New Hampshire.
Francis Shih-hao Shieh was an assistant professor at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Richard E. Sherrell was Managing Editor of «The Christian Scholar», a publication of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Bob Shepherd was a friend of Merton's from Lexington, Kentucky. He worked in communications and public relations offices at Transylvania College and at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
Maynard Shelly was editor of «The Mennonite», the weekly publication of the General Conference Mennonite Church. He published Merton's poem, "Chant to Be Used in Processions around a Site with Furnaces," in the November 21, 1961 issue of «The Mennonite». Maynard visited Merton at Gethsemani in August of 1962 and wrote an editorial in «The Mennonite» about his visit.
Lawrence Joseph Cardinal Shehan was Archbishop of Baltimore, Maryland.
Jane M. Sheets writes from Princeton, New Jersey and later from Haverford, Pennsylvania. She did a study of Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa and thanks Merton for his translations and commentary on Pessoa.
Fr. John B. Sheerin was Paulist priest and editor of «The Catholic World». He writes from New York.
Wilfred Sheed was Book Review Editor for «The Commonweal» and writes from New York. He was the son of Frank Sheed and Maisie Ward (Sheed and Ward publishers). He developed a style of prose influenced by his trans-Atlantic upbringing, born in London and spending much time in New York. After work at such Catholic publications as «The Commonweal» and «Jubilee», he became an essayist, novelist and short story writer. (Source: "Sheed, Wilfrid" Biography from Current Biography. 1981. Online. Biography Reference Bank. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 2006/04/25. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)
With his wife Maisie Ward, Francis Joseph Sheed founded the publishing house of Sheed and Ward in 1926. Sheed was a Roman Catholic theologian and leading apologist of the 20th Century. Born in Australia, he moved to London after his law studies and married Ward in 1926. The following year the established a Roman Catholic publishing house concerned not only with theology but broader issues of literature and culture. In 1933, they founded a New York branch of the publishing company and thenceforth Sheed spent time between the London and New York offices. (Source: "Sheed, F. J." Biography from Current Biography. 1981. Online. Biography Reference Bank. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 2006/04/25. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)
In 1962, Dan Shay was a 34-year-old carpenter's apprentice, a member of a number of Catholic organizations, and a conscientious objector from St. Louis, Missouri.
