Mary Hemingway met Maria and Manolin, Pedro Jr.'s cousin, at the Finca not long after Hemingway committed suicide on July 2, 1961.
Manolin said, “Mrs. Hemingway, I want to show you something.”
He was holding a small package, postmarked Rochester, Minnesota, dated June 1961. Manolin opened it to the dedication page of The Old Man and the Sea, the book where Hemingway had paid tribute to his publisher, Charles Scribner, and editor, Max Perkins.
Under the dedication, Hemingway had written, in his distinguishable handwriting:
“To Manolin. You helped two old fishermen—Santiago and me—attain humility. I am sick now, and I have a hard time remembering things. Without memory, a writer is out of business, like a fisherman without bait. But please don’t worry. As you will read in this book, man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated. I wish you the very best.
Ernest M. Hemingway, June 16, 1961.
P.S. I see from the papers that your cousin Pedro is tearing up the Appalachian League—he’s hitting over .400. My, what a pretty swing!”