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『最後のジェントルマン』(The Last Gentleman)

　2004年10月9日に享年78歳で亡くなられた、オックスフォード大学教授でオールソウルズ・カレッジのフェローだったブライアン・ウィルソン(Bryan Ronald Wilson)先生との思い出を綴ろうと思う。それが、この日記である。
　ウィルソン先生は、私にとって宗教社会学の師であると共に、実父を学生時代になくした私には、父のような存在となり、二人の息子にとっては「優しいお爺さん」であり、芸大油絵科出身の妻・厚子にとっては深い教養やワインの友として心から通じ合える先輩だった。

2013年5月27日
　ウィルソン先生との最後の別れの場面から記していこう。以下は、2011年7月4日の彼の遺灰を散骨した際の記録である(facebook, 2011.8.10メモに投稿)

It has been 12 years since I visited Oxford last in 1999. It was another sad story. An aim to be there was to pay the final tribute to Dr. Bryan Wilson, who died on October 9th, 2004. But surprisingly I found in February, 2008, that Bryan’s body was finally cremated according to his own will, but that his ashes were still at the office of funeral company in Oxford without scattering in any garden of remembrance. It was normally the responsibility of the family, but Bryan’s only one sister was very old and unwell, and so it might be difficult to execute.

In May of this year when I began to make a concrete plan to attend the SISR conference at Aix en Provence in France, I again found by emails of Jim Beckford that the ashes were not yet scattered and the executer of Bryan Wilson’s will was planning to scatter in the middle of June. I decided to visit the memorial garden, or to join the scattering if it could be done on the date when we would visit after the SISR conference.

Fortunately the executor, Mr. Piller, agreed to wait for our arrival at Oxford, then on Monday, 4th July at 12:30, Bryan Wilson's ashes were scattered by Mark, who is a fellow at Exeter College at Oxford and took care of Bryan’s last years until at the moment of his death, around a young Maple tree, both side of which are a big pine tree and a cherry tree. These trees we thought Bryan loved. It is a very good point at the Oxford crematorium, where all of us finally chose, at the top of wide slope on the right hand side from the entrance of the crematorium. Bryan himself had visited this crematorium and decided to be scattered, and he did not want to leave any physical memorial such as nameplate or symbol. Therefore we just scattered his ashes around the foot of the tree.

Of course Dr. Wilson had already been resting in Peace, I believe, but I felt a load off our mind now. From now on, whenever we visit the maple tree at the Oxford Crematorium, we can remember Dr. Wilson and to pay our respect. Moreover whenever we remember the maple tree and wherever we see a maple tree in the world, we can think of Bryan.

The address of the Oxford Crematorium is as follows;

Bayswater Road, Headington, Oxford OX3 9RZ
Telephone: 01865 351010
Fax: 01865 358991
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Our website for Bryan Wilson’s memory
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