May They Rest In Peace
The New York Times magazine for Christmas Day, 2016, had a wonderful feature. They had articles about famous people (mostly) who had passed away during the year. Some of these people were unfamiliar to me, but all of their stories were interesting to me... and I think I learned a lot from reading about their lives. In case you do not have access to the NYT magazine, let me give you the names of these people, what they were famous for, and (whether you care or not), my observations.
Janet Reno (1938-2016) (Article by Michael Paterniti)
A "larger than life" (over 6 feet tall) tough lady who served as Bill Clinton's Attorney General for eight years. Even though she was involved in many contentious situations, she did not have many bodyguards, if any. Some of her most famous "situations:"
o The 51-day standoff with the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. She told the FBI to storm the compound.
o She ordered the seizure of 6-year old Cuban boy named Elian Gonzales.
o She assigned a special prosecutor to investigate "Watergate".. and we all know how that eventually introduced us to Monica Lewinsky.
o She successfully prosecuted Ted Kaczynski, the Unibomber.
o She successfully prosecuted the Oklahoma bombers, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.
She was a victim of Parkinson's and talked about herself as "... an old woman who shakes."
Janet sure packed a lot of living in her 78 years of life.
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Edgar Mitchell (1930-2016) (Article by Charles Homans)
When Edgar was 16 years old, a mysterious aircraft crashed near the Roswell, New Mexico ranch where he lived. This triggered a lust for exploration, which culminated in his becoming the "6th man to walk on the moon." On the flight back from the moon, Edgar had an epiphany. He said: "I realized that the molecules of my body and the molecules of the spacecraft had been manufactured in an ancient generation of stars."
His "discovery of the oneness of all things" led him to found the Institute of Noetic Sciences. He felt that exploration of the universe would have to be done outside of the boundaries of religion and science, and he elicited wisdom from shamans and Vodou priests.
I would have liked to have known Mr. Mitchell and had a chance to argue with him during a Mensa meeting. I wonder what he felt about Mufon?
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William A. Del Monte (1906-2016) (Article by Jon Gertner)
On April 28th, 1906, William A. Del Monte was a baby whose mother kept him safe when San Francisco suffered a series of earthquakes and the disastrous fires that followed. He was the very last survivor of that catastrophe.
Some good came out of the disaster, for instance: San Francisco built a much better system of fire-pumping stations and California adopted building codes so that future construction could withstand another earthquake.
Mr. Del Monte was an active participant in quake memorial programs. He wanted his fellow San Franciscans to remember what happened there.
I''ll enter some more folks in future blogs.
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