Thomas Savage (novelist)

Savage studied writing at Montana State College (today the University of Montana), where he met Brassil Fitzgerald (1896–1962), a professor of English literature and a novelist, who introduced Savage to his only daughter, Elizabeth Fitzgerald, who then left to study English Literature at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

Thomas Savage (April 25, 1915 – July 25, 2003) was an American author of novels published between 1944 and 1988.

He is best known for his Western novels, which drew on early experiences in the American West.

Savage was born in Salt Lake City in 1915 to Elizabeth (Yearian) and Benjamin Savage.

His parents divorced when he was two years old, and he moved with his mother to a ranch near Lemhi, Idaho.

When his mother remarried Charles Brenner in 1920, Savage moved with his mother and his stepfather to the Brenner cattle ranch in Beaverhead County, Montana.

Charles Brenner adopted young Savage, who took the Brenner name.

However, Savage felt like a misfit on the ranch.

Savage was home schooled in the early grades but the Brenners sent him away to Dillon, the nearest town of any size, to attend high school.

Savage's early experiences influenced his writing and are reflected in many of his novels.

In 1932, Savage graduated from Beaverhead County High School.

Savage published his first story, "The Bronc Stomper", in Coronet in 1937, to some critical success, and then joined Elizabeth at Colby.

He and Elizabeth were married on September 15, 1939; theirs was the first marriage of two Colby students.

They received their B.A. degrees in 1940.

Both would become well-known novelists, writing as Thomas Savage and Elizabeth Savage.

After their marriage, the Savages lived briefly in Chicago before moving back to Montana in 1942 to work on the Brenner ranch.

World War II made it hard to find ranch hands, and Charles Brenner needed help.

But Savage still felt out of place on the ranch, and he dropped the Brenner surname and returned to using his birth father's name.

After just a year, the couple moved away from the ranch, settling in Massachusetts.

By the time Savage was 29, he had worked as a wrangler, ranch hand, welder, and railroad brakeman.

In 1944, Doubleday published Savage's first novel, The Pass.

In spite of encouraging sales, revenue from the book was not enough to support the Savage family, which now included two boys, Robert and Russell.

Savage secured a teaching position at Suffolk University in Boston where he taught from 1947 to 1948.

His daughter Elizabeth was born in 1949, the same year he began teaching at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, founded just a year earlier.

One of the few non-Jewish faculty members, he was promoted to assistant professor in his third year.

While married, Savage had several long-term and close relationships with men, only after he began slowly coming out in the late 1950s.

His wife was aware of his homosexuality before they married.

Late in life, he told his daughter he should not be characterized as bisexual.

In 1953, he published his third book, A Bargain with God, his most popular success, confirmed when republished in a condensed version by Reader's Digest.

By 1955, Savage was able to leave Brandeis and devote himself to writing full-time.

In 1955, the Savages purchased a home in Georgetown, Maine, where they would remain for nearly thirty years.

Tom wrote a total of 13 novels.

Elizabeth Savage's ambition to be a novelist was also realized, once their children were sufficiently raised.

She wrote nine novels, including the famous Last Night at the Ritz. She also helped edit her husband's novels, a task at which he thought she excelled.

In 1982, the Savages built a home on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound, on property given to him by his sister.

Savage published his last novel in 1988.

Set in Montana, The Corner of Rife and Pacific follows the founders of a tiny Montana town over several generations.

Elizabeth Savage died on Whidbey Island in 1989.

Savage kept a photo of her by his bedside until his death.

He observed that any loving partnership required laughter and good conversation, and after her death he often complained that he missed her conversation.