Nan Merrill, who passed away peacefully last night after a long illness, was a true friend of silence. Quiet, unassuming, and thoughtful, she was generous with others and focused and present. I knew her when I was the promotion manager at Continuum, and we published her Psalms for Praying, a re-imagination of the psalms to emphasize their irenic, compassionate features. When one of her editors, Evander Lomke, moved to the Lantern offices, it felt that it would only be a matter of time before she would be published by us. And so it was.

Sadly, Walking with Wisdom was published only a few months before her passing. Nonetheless, it contains the essence of Nan: generosity, thoughtfulness, and a dedication to saying only the necessary and considered rather than the glib and specious. We're glad she lived to see its publication. Her organization Friends of Silence will, we believe, continue to send out its reflections on the contemplative life, and carry on Nan's wonderful work.