Tom Donnelly

Tom Donnelly

This head portrait of Thomas J. Donnelly and three birds surmounts his gravestone in Rock Creek Cemetery. ...I assume that this IS a portrait of Tom Donnelly from its placement on his grave but I have no other evidence...

 

Tom Donnelly

Tom Donnelly was according to his NYT obituary “a critic of theater, film, television and books for The Washington Post.” He is identified on the gravestone as “Writer, Wit, Critic.” The entire epitaph reads:

Tom Donnelly

1918-1976

Writer, Wit, Critic

If you’d met him under an awning

Standing out of the rain

You’d remember him

The rest of your life.

The three birds  are perhaps intended as witty commentary on the observation that most, perhaps all, the statues in the cemetery are covered with bird poop.