Comments on: Review: LUCIEN AGNIEL – Code Name: “Icy”.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:10:11 +0000

For what it’s worth, here’s my reply to Joseph Welsh above:

Dear Joseph

You may be right in your conjecture, but the inscription does begin “My love, …” and is dated 1970, and Lucien’s first wife, who died in 1973, was named Elizabeth. I have assumed that the Elizabeth was she.

— And his reply:

Steve,

Lucien had remarried by the time I met him. Her name was Madeline (?). She was pale with dark hair and seemed frail to me.
You’re right about the inscription… My Elizabeth and Lucien were just friends.
I never knew the name of his first wife… the subject never came up.
Thanks for the e-mail. You’ve stirred old memories.

Regards,
-Joe Welsh

By: steffi

steffi — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:50:54 +0000

I don’t know Betsy.

I have a cookbook Dad gave to Mom
“For my dear Elizabeth at the 47th parallel- AND UNTIL THE DAY I CAN INDULGE HER IN HER FAVORITE HABIT.”

Love, Lucien………………………..

By: Betsy Agniel Scott

Betsy Agniel Scott — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:33:40 +0000

Lucien Agniel was my father and I agree with the comment posted by Joseph Welsh – the book must have been dedicated to someone other than my mother because no one in our family ever called her Elizabeth – she was Libba to us. My dad died in 1988 of pneumonia after a valiant struggle with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. He loved writing his “spy” novels. I remember when I was in high school he would get up at the crack of dawn during the week and write for a couple of hours before going to work. He had a lot of fun with these books and it’s nice to see that they haven’t been entirely forgotten.

By: Jennifer Whitmore

Jennifer Whitmore — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 06:40:18 +0000

I worked with Lucien Agniel in Georgetown, SC for a brief time on a daily tabloid newspaper. His wife, Elizabeth, was ill with a brain tumor and later passed away. Does anyone, particularly Ted, know where his daughter Stephi is now? She and my husband at the time and I spent a lot of time together. Lucien was a wonderful man and I have often wondered what happened to him after Elizabeth died.

By: Joseph Welsh

Joseph Welsh — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:38:32 +0000

I knew Lucien Agniel, briefly, while in Berlin. He was active in the army’s MWR theater program. In fact, the woman I was to marry (and who ran the Music and Theater program), produced Lucien’s (one and only) play, “Father Ruffian.” This was in ’74 or ’75… had to be, because the space used for production was located in the HQ compound on Clay Alee. The theater location was moved to Andrews Kasern in the Lichterfelde section of Berlin by 1976.

I was thinking about Lucien today because of an article I’d read on Noel Coward… Lucien played the lead in a short play taken from Coward’s “Suite In Three Keys,” titled “Come Into The Garden, Maude.”

It happens that I liked the play so I remember it clearly.

Your mention of the inscription to “Elizabeth” got me to thinking… the wife that I wrote of was named Elizabeth and she both produced his play and directed him in the Coward piece. Could the inscription have been to her? They were friends. We went to dinner together a few times. Elizabeth and I divorced in ’87 and she had moved almost constantly since those days, working for the air force then the navy before finally retiring to someplace in Texas. She may have given up the book, along with others, to save on weight in moving. Just a thought on my part.

By: Ted Agniel

Ted Agniel — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 02:49:03 +0000

Steve,

Lucien Agniel was my uncle. He was a great story teller and his visits to our house were always highly anticipated and enjoyed. He also wrote a history of the Revolutionary War in the South, the title of which I believe is The Late Affair has Almost Broke My Heart. I’m interested in learning how you happened to get the copy of Code Name: “Icy” with the inscription to Elizabeth, and also whether you would be interested in selling it. Please respond to tdagniel@hotmail.com. Many thanks,

Ted Agniel