In a sentimental feature written for Daily Local News, West Chester’s Kathleen Boyer remembers spending an unforgettable day with one of the most influential American writers of all time, Harper Lee.

Boyer met Lee when a law school friend, Catherine Johnson, invited her to join her and her mother, Dr. Claudia Durst Johnson, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama nearly fifteen years ago. As Dr. Johnson was Harper Lee’s friend, they were invited to attend the University of Alabama’s celebration of the writer’s induction into the Alabama Academy of Honor.

Before the event, the three women joined Lee, or Nelle to her friends, at her hotel room for a drink and a conversation which included a discussion on the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals where it denied the request from Margaret Mitchell’s estate to stop the publication of Alice Randall’s first novel, “The Wind Done Gone, An Unauthorized Parody,” a take-off on “Gone with the Wind.”

Awestruck by the famous author, Boyer remembers her participation in the discussion not going so well.

“My attempt at an insightful remark about the court’s reasoning somehow came out as a twisted version stating the exact opposite of what I intended to say,” writes Boyer for the Daily Local News.

Lee didn’t mince words in her rejoinder, responding with “it’s the (expletive deleted) First Amendment,” but, as Boyer remembers, soon forgave her blunder as she worked as a public defender, something Lee admired.

The evening progressed with an intimate dinner in the company of a few friends, followed by the reception at the mansion of the university’s president. While happy about the prospect of dinner, Lee was apprehensive about the reception, not wanting to receive the dreaded ‘famous author’ treatment.

It turned out that the writer’s fears were unfounded, as she was treated as a treasured friend by attendees and not like a celebrity. When she jokingly suggested she would bring some common sense to the university’s board of trustees but doubted she would get appointed, one of the amused professors pronounced that “if Nelle Harper Lee wants to be on the University of Alabama Board of Trustees, Nelle Harper Lee WILL be on the University of Alabama Board of Trustees.”

Boyer concludes that she cannot say much about the “reclusive famous author” as she only met Nelle once but she clearly loved a good party.