RIP Alan Thomas

[Bethany K. Dumas]

I am sorry to report thatI learned recently of the April 6 death of
our colleague Alan R. Thomas, of the University of Wales in Bangor. I am
told that the funeral was on April 12. There is a brief announcement at:

http://www.bangor.ac.uk/linguistics/about/AlanThomas.php

Alan was known to many of us for his research on language variation, of
course, and as a conference organizer (Methods and others). We have a
special fondness for Alan here in Knoxville, for he taught as a Visiting
Professor at The University of Tennessee on a few occasions, and he had
many friends here. We shall miss him.

Bethany