He Wanted the Moon (29 page)

The Crown publicity and marketing teams are unrivaled. Thanks to Annsley Rosner, Lauren Kuhn, Jay Sones, and Danielle Crabtree for the attention and intelligence they brought to the task of alerting the world to
He Wanted the Moon.
Thanks also to the superb Crown sales team. And of course, to our publisher, Molly Stern, for her superlative leadership—and for giving me the extraordinary opportunity of seeing my father’s words in print.

And then there is the marvelous Eve Claxton, my expert in all things that make editing an art. Her first words to me were, “Your story knocked my socks off.” Well, Eve, you have knocked my socks off. Your never-ending wisdom, patience, and understanding helped make the months of work fly. We faithfully spoke on Fridays at 4 p.m., a day and time that will always bring a smile to my face. Thank you, Eve, for everything tangible and intangible.

And lastly, from my children’s point of view, the evolution of the book was a significant undertaking. During the days of discovery, they showed grace and compassion in trying to assimilate the facts I was carefully sending their way. It is my hope that by understanding their grandfather’s victories and misfortunes, it will allow them to gain a better insight into our family history, and, at the same time give them a perspective that will enhance their lives. It is with the deepest love possible that I thank Jake and Meg for sticking by me all these years.

Photograph Credits

fm.1
  (Dr. Perry Baird’s manuscript stack): Frank Procopio, Woodstock, Vermont

3.1
  (postcard of Westborough State Hospital): Perkins and Butler Inc. Worcester, Massachusetts

10.1
  (postcard of Baldpate Inn): W.R.M Haverhill, Massachusetts

All other photographs: Baird Family Collection

Source Credits

All manuscript pages, correspondence, and medical records of Dr. Perry Baird are courtesy of Mimi Baird.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:

Copyright Clearance Center:
Excerpt from “Biochemical Component of the Manic-Depressive Psychosis” by Perry C. Baird, Jr., M.D. (
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease,
April 1994). Reprinted by permission of Wolters Kluwer Health, rights administered by Copyright Clearance Center.

The Dallas Morning News:
“Obituary of Perry C. Baird” (May 1959). Reprinted by permission of
The Dallas Morning News.

Harvard Alumni Association:
Excerpt from a letter by Dr. Thomas Lanman. Reprinted by permission of the Harvard Alumni Association.

The Harvard Medical Library:
Excerpts from the letters of Perry C. Baird (Papers of Walter B. Cannon [H MS c40, box 110] and James Howard Means [GA 54, box 1]). Reprinted by permission of The Harvard Medical Library in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine.

Dr. Elliot S. Valenstein:
Excerpt from a letter by Dr. Elliot S. Valenstein to Mimi Baird. Reprinted by permission of Dr. Elliot S. Valenstein.

About the Authors

M
IMI
B
AIRD
, a Bostonian, is a graduate of Colby-Sawyer College. After working in the Dean’s Office at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, she later moved to Woodstock, Vermont, where she worked as a manager at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. This is where she met a surgeon who had once known her father, a meeting that prompted her quest to finally understand her father’s life and legacy. Her trusteeship at the President Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation led to the building of the President Calvin Coolidge Museum and Educational Center in Vermont. Mimi has two children and four grandchildren. This is her first book.

E
VE
C
LAXTON
was born in London and moved to New York in 1995. She has been instrumental in creating six works of nonfiction as a cowriter or ghostwriter, and is the editor of
The Book of Life,
an anthology of memoir. She has also worked for StoryCorps, the National Oral History Project, sourcing and recording stories for the broadcast segment on NPR and for the organization’s books. Eve lives with her husband and three children in Brooklyn.