From Ann Carper

Doug Michels in 1994

It certainly gave me a pang seeing the scanned postcard from Doug his handwriting, the stamp pad words, and his trademark sign-offs. If, enjoyed is the word, then these email tributes have been wonderful in providing even more facets of the multi-faceted Doug and helping me connect the many friends that he has talked about over the years, some of whom I've met.

I met Doug in 1985 or Œ86, when I wrote the press release for his Bluestar exhibition at the AIA's Octagon Museum. That was about the only exhibit I promoted that ever got any major publicity. After that, it was the occasional get together at Teaism or a Thai restaurant on P Street ormeeting about editing/writing descriptions for a few of his projects.

In later years we stayed in touch mostly by sporadic burst of emails. Here's a picture from 1994, taken in front of an antique store in DC. Doug had gone with me on the inspection of a condo I was buying and had taken Polaroids of the rooms (including the doorknocker) for me. He also used the realtor's floor plan to come up with three different interior design schemes. Even though we lived about two blocks away, I don't think he ever saw my apartment again. Probably because I didn't want him to know that my Shaker Spartan-ness couldn't accommodate his "bright red Bertoia chairs floating on a sea green carpet".

Like another woman wrote, I don't think we had that much in common, certainly not in the creativity arena. But Doug was always so encouraging and enthusiastic about anything I wrote for him. He was the most positive person I've ever met, even when it must've been hard for him to keep his spirits up.

Our last communication, probably about a month ago, was about the Octagon curator in charge of his Bluestar show. She's now in Houston,and they had reconnected somehow. It was nice recalling how we had first met. My condolences to all of you who knew him better than I, and especially to his family. One thing we did have in common was great parents. A good chunk of our face-to-face meetings was always about them - their support of him, but also their own vitality, travels, and interests.

My heart goes out to Mr. and Mrs. Michels, to Annie, Carolynn, and the rest of the family. I will be out of town at a wedding this weekend, but will be thinking of all of you.

My condolences to all of you . . .

Ann Carper