I am so sad to report this. I knew Finley as a friend as well as a
storyteller. The storytelling community has suffered a real loss.
==================================
Noted storyteller presumed dead
Fire under investigation
08:14 AM CST on Sunday, November 30, 2003
By Donna Fielder / Staff Writer
An internationally known raconteur who helped found Denton's Tejas
Storytelling Association apparently died in a fire early Saturday at his
home.
Finley Stewart
Finley Stewart, 41, lived alone on the top floor of the two-story house in
the 2000 block of North Bell Avenue. Neighbors believe he was at home at the
time of the fire, and firefighters found the body of a male near the door
after the fire was out. There has not been a positive identification, but
relatives and friends are acting on the assumption the dead man is Stewart.
"I called him a leprechaun," said his friend and fellow storyteller Shelly
Kneupper Tucker of Denton. "He was so full of fun all the time.He had
ideas - oh God, he had wonderful ideas! He was fun. I can't imagine a world
without him."
The two-alarm fire started at about 3 a.m. Denton Fire Battalion Chief Tom
Nations said the top floor was in flames when the first units arrived, and
he called for a second alarm, which brought another shift of firefighters to
help.
Firefighters entered a south window but were unable to reach the point of
the fire's origin because of the heat and flames, he said.
Fire Marshal Rick Jones said the human remains were found near the door to
the outside staircase at the northwest side of the house.
He said Saturday evening that no cause of the fire had definitely been
determined, and the investigation was continuing into the fatality.
He estimated damages at $75,000.
Amy Hallmark lived on the bottom floor of the wood-frame house. She and her
two teenage children were at home, she said, and escaped without injury.
Firefighters were able to protect some of her belongings from fire, smoke
and water damage. But the house is damaged beyond repair.
The American Red Cross and the fire department Victim's Support Program are
helping the family. To help, call 940-349-8846.
Hallmark said her son heard noises less than an hour before the fire broke
out.
Authorities believe a house fire on the 2000 block of North Bell Avenue
killed Tejas Storytelling Association co-founder Finley Stewart. The cause
of the second-floor fire is under investigation.
"He heard people outside the window whispering," she said. "And he heard
glass breaking in our house."
Deborah Conte and Gary Hayden own the house and a smaller two-apartment
dwelling behind it. Conte said Saturday morning that she and her husband
found a broken window and a brick inside the lower apartment in the back
building that had not been there Friday.
"There is something very strange here," she said.
The fire marshal said the noise and the broken window are part of his
investigation but he could not comment further.
News of Stewart's death rocked the local community of storytellers. He
helped found the early Denton Storytelling Guild, and later the statewide
Tejas Storytelling Association. He was an early executive director of the
association.
Patsy Patterson, a longtime patron of the arts in Denton, said Stewart was
an excellent storyteller who was instrumental in founding the venue in
Denton.
Robert Estes, who was president of the Denton Arts Council in those early
days and was principal of Borman Elementary School, said his school was one
of Stewart's first ventures into telling stories to children. Estes said he
helped Stewart make his stories age-appropriate.
"He did relate well to the children," Estes said.
The story began 20 years ago, when Stewart took performance studies classes
from now-retired University of North Texas professor Ted Colson. One segment
was on storytelling, and Stewart loved it, Colson said. That launched a
career that few people have earned a living doing: telling stories.
Professor and student remained friends after Stewart's graduation with both
bachelor's and master's degrees in education and speech communications.
"He was terribly busy. He just got back this week from telling at the United
Nations International School in New York. Last month he was in Argentina and
he'd promised to go to Brazil next year," Colson said.
He last saw Stewart in the early morning hours Saturday. He lives nearby,
and Stewart walked down and had dinner with Colson and visiting relatives,
Colson said. They lingered over drinks talking, and then Stewart walked
home.
Colson said he didn't hear the sirens of the fire department passing his
house a few hours later and was stunned when Stewart's niece, whom Colson
said Stewart supported through high school and was helping through UNT,
called with the news.
"He was a very dear friend. I don't think anybody is believing this yet. We'
ll all miss him terribly," he said.
Stewart had just released a new CD of his stories and had published two
books about storytelling.
He had been honored statewide and nationally for his storytelling, friends
said.
Professional storyteller Elizabeth Ellis, herself nationally renowned, knew
him for 19 years, she said Saturday.
He was "the senior member of the storytelling community," she said, the
guiding force behind the movement that has made the art popular over the
last 25 years.
"He was a force of nature," Ellis said. "He had more ideas in half an hour
than most people have in a year's time. He had the tenacity to make them
happen - the perseverance. A lot of us have ideas but nothing happens. He
was one of the hardest working people I ever met."
Ellis said the news has shocked the storytelling community statewide and
nationally and Stewart's death will touch many people.
"When storytellers are at a loss for words, that's pretty bad. I'm
overwhelmed."
DONNA FIELDER can be reached at 940-566-6885.
Mary Ludwick, Librarian K-5 Elementary
Owen Elementary, The Colony, Texas (near Dallas)
ludwickm@lisd.net (school address)
ludwick@swbell.net (home address)
"Those who don't read have no advantage over
those who can't." Mark Twain
Quote of the Day:
"There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer
shelf life."
Frank Zappa
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