… Praised Be The Beautiful Dreamers

The prose featured in this Christmas 1971 edition, unless credited otherwise, reflects the thoughts, dreams and philosophy of one we knew as Marvin Weese. In my opinion he was one of God's rarest creations, beautiful in every human way, especially in the simple way in which he attuned the nature of his soul to the soul of Nature. His vocation was in the world of commercial art and publication design. He was the only man I know personally who could conceive, and produce by his own hand and resources a complete and finished book. His avocation was the appreciation of Beauty and the mediums through which he expressed his feelings for it.

Elmer Marvin Weese was born in Kansas, lived a great part of his formative life in Arizona, and his later years were spent in California. Although some of his early writings have appeared in past issues of our magazine, we discovered the rarest gems during the planning of this magazine.

The last communication I had with him was last spring, to tell him his essays would be the feature of our December issue. He said, "if I hear you right, one of the beautiful dreams of my life will be even more beautiful in reality." Marvin Weese died two months later, in a place designated on the map befittingly as Paradise, California.

Marvin Weese's words expressed in the verses of these pages reflect the man's humility and deep love for truth and beauty. They were inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi's “Canticle to the Sun,” his hymn of gratitude to God. Praised Be The Lord! for “our Brother the Sun, who brings us light, our Sister the Moon” and for Brother Wind and Sister Water and Brother Fire and “our Mother the Earth.” It was his last testament to the beauties of the world he loved, composed during the last months of his mortal life.