by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"
... that the average life span of a male born in the United States is about 76 years of age, so by the time an individual has beaten that number by a handful of years, as I have, he has outlived a number of people, relatives, associates, friends, acquaintances, etc.
Wasn’t it Yogi Berra who observed that “a lot of people my age are dead.”
That’s especially true, I think, when one grows up and ages pretty much always in the same town in which he was born.
I have not made a habit of eulogizing folks I knew who died. Some were worth some nice words, I know. Others didn’t make much of an impression, good or bad. Still others ... well, as that fairy tale mother cautioned, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.
I debated (appropriate slip in word usage?) devoting a column to the late Brother Leo Ryan, and finally decided to say something.