Jan Balet (1913-2009)

Sad news from Jan Balet's children that Jan passed away on Saturday, January 31st. As many of you will remember, Jan was in the hospital after a fall. He had sent a note by way of his children, Peter and Marie, expressing his enthusiasm to correspond about his career and planned to write again after his recovery. Unfortunately that recovery never came.

Just two weeks before Jan passed away, I discovered a copy of his first children's book, Amos and the Moon, in a dusty old used bookstore an hour's drive from here. It was published 61 years ago, when Jan was just 35. In all my years of searching I've never come across any Jan Balet children's books, and this one is apparently quite rare.

A long, successful and varied career lay ahead of Jan Balet in 1948. I was looking forward to hearing all about it from him and sharing those details with you in another series of posts. I'm sure you are as sorry as I am that that won't happen now.

Without further comment from me, I'd like to honour the memory of Jan Balet by presenting images from Amos and the Moon each day this week. Marie sent a copy of Jan's obituary, which I will post at the conclusion of the story on Friday. My condolences to Jan Balet's family and friends.