It is a great, a pleasant thing to have a friend with whom to walk, untroubled, through the woods, by the stream, saying nothing, at peace--the heart all clean and quiet and empty, ready for the spirit that may choose to be its guest.

She was an accompliCatherine Drinker Bowend violinist who studied for a musical career at the Peabody Institute and the Juilliard School of Music but ultimately decided to become a writer. Bowen did all her own research without hiring research assistants and sometimes took the controversial step of interviewing subjects without taking notes. " She was survived by a daughter Catherine Prince; a son Ezra Bowen the Sports Illustrated and Time-Life writer and editor; and grandsons Ezra D.

She won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 1958.