A small tribute to Gwyn Williams
Roger Beaumont
Just to add to the picture of a good man gone...
Gwyn Williams was the first man I ever met when I decided to come
back to Thailand and attempt to live here..
I was in a bar along Buckskin Joe's down by the railway line.
Suddenly this skinny, energised guy leaps into the bar and starts
talking in fluent Thai to all the girls who were serving behind the
counter.. Not only that, he was talking to them in each of their
individual dialects. I was amazed by his abiltity to speak Thai - they
were amazed that he could speak better colloquial Thai than where they
came from.
We began talking and something in him said there was something in me
that was worthy of his help. And help me he did.
I was and still am a struggling writer. At the time I was working on a
travelogue of Thailand from a previous trip.
"I may be able to help you there." he said
The following weekend he invited me back to his appartment across the
river. He introduced me to people. He was genuine. He was interested
and interesting.
A month later I met him and his girlfriend at Mah Boob Krong. It was
nothing special but they were. They never spoke English together and
he told me that her family thought he was in God's eyes a real Thai,
but somehow there had been a mistake in the pigment department.
Life went on and because of the distances we only met spontaeniously,
which happened regularly about every three months. We had dinners,
usually at the New Cowboy Bar on Soi 22 and our conversation always
seemed to carry on where it left off. It never seemed like a
coincidence that we met on those occasions. I personally don't believe
in coincidence. Show me someone who believes in coincidenc and I'll
show you someone who hasn't been paying attention. This was the
natural itenary of our friendship.
After grazing, we'd go off to Cowboy to fool around. We laughed loud,
talked loud - usually at the same time - and had swordfights with
umbrellas in the middle of that street of promise and illusion.
Our friendship was based on collision..
I was always acutely aware and slightly in awe of his immense
knowledge of the Thai language. I was happily envious of his position
Thamassat. As has been stated by other friends, he could have left the
university life and made far more money in the corporate world of
teaching.
I don't think the idea ever entered his head. And I don't believe it
was either his intention or his purpose to come to this country to
make money for the sake of it. Gwynn was a giver and therefore far
more evolved than that.
I had not seen him for about five months when I got the news that he
had died.
It gives such credence to the belief that we really don't know what
we've got until it's gone.
I attended the cremation but wasn't quite able to take in the fact
that he was no longer with us.
As John Milton once wrote:
Every man's death diminishes us.
But some more than others, for Gwynn's absence is a presence.
At this time, I can only think that his vast talent and enthusiastic
humanity must be desperately needed somewhere else.
Vale Gwynn....
Roger Beaumont.