Walker Percy was born in Birmingham, Alabama on May 28, 1916. He was an author who devoted his literary life to the exploration of “the dislocation of man in the modern age”, and his interests included philosophy and semiotics (the study of communication through signs and sign systems – closely related to linguistics). After marrying Mary Bernice Townsend, the family settled in Covington. Mary and one of the daughters had a bookstore on Lee Lane, where Percy often wrote in an office on the second floor. Walker Percy passed in 1990 and is buried on the grounds of St. Joseph Benedictine Abbey.
