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I have a secret
addiction. I find I am fascinated by The New York Times
obituary page. Amazing people die every day ... yet outside
of their particular field of expertise, their lives go mostly
unnoticed. Some of these individuals whose names are not
known to us, have, nonetheless, had a lasting effect on
our own lives due to their medical or scientific research.
One recent obituary concerned a doctor whose early research
while he was in the Army led to the development of the type
of film used to distinguish cancerous from noncancerous
tissue. His discovery made possible my early breast cancer
detection and treatment, yet I was never able to thank him
or even be aware of his work and his name.
Recently, Mark Edelman, the last surviving leader of the
Jewish revolt in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising of April, 1949,
passed away. Despite having only homemade weapons and faced
with overwhelming odds, the rebels fought for three weeks;
knowing they would not win, but determined to cheat the
Germans of the ability to pick the time and place of their
death. Edelman and a handful of others escaped through the
sewers, and he eventually became a cardiologist in Poland
after the war. How many of us could show such bravery and
how many other heroic acts go unnoticed and unheralded?
Another interesting life that ended recently was that of
Donald McLaughlin, a Yale graduate who helped design the
interior of Tiffany’s new flagship store in New York.
The work of which he was most proud, however, was the official
logo he created for the United Nations. “I believe
that the U.N. is our best hope for world peace,” he
said.
Perhaps the end of an elegant era, as well as the end of
a man who caught the spirit of that era in his photographs
of models posed stylishly in haute couture, left us with
the recent death of the photographer, Irving Penn. He worked
for Vogue longer than any other photographer and his camera
caught the images of celebrities as well as strikingly beautiful
models. One of the most beautiful, Lisa Fonssagrives, became
his wife.
Like many of my friends, when I want to add something classic
and well made to my wardrobe, I head to the nearest Talbots.
Although now owned by General Mills, the woman who started
Talbots with one shop in an antique house in Massachusetts,
Nancy Talbot, died in September of Alzheimer’s disease.
Nancy’s classic look and enthusiasm for bright colors
grew that one small shop into a 586-outlet empire. She painted
the door of her first store a bright red, a trademark of
all Talbots, to this day.
Other obituaries finally reveal the secret love affairs
or little known facts about famous people; stories that
couldn’t be printed while they were still alive, but
I much prefer the stories of interesting lives, well lived,
even though I have never heard their names before and will
probably forget their names as soon as I put the paper away.
Where else, but in the obituaries could you become acquainted
with a society matron who led a double life as a stripper,
or a boy raised in poverty who left millions to his hometown
library?
Of the many who have recently left us, the one I would
most liked to have known was Mimi Wedell, who died at age
94 after starting a modeling and acting career when she
was in her 60s.
Although she had only small roles in low-budget films,
in her mind they ranked as major motion pictures and she
therefore developed the aura of a “star.” She
had a positive, upbeat attitude about everything and loved
glamour and illusion. She appeared in print ads for Burberry
when she was in her 90s and was known for her eccentric
ways and her flamboyant hats.
She could have been a mascot for the Red Hat society as
she was fond of saying, “Hats give you a frame. However
dreary you feel, if you put on a hat, by golly, you’ve
changed everything.” She sounded to me like the kind
of delightfully off-center, unsinkable, go-for-it kind of
gal who would enrich all who knew her.
I guess I appreciate a well written obituary because in
a few paragraphs it sums up what we are losing when a particular
person dies. As Jim Nicholson of the Philadelphia Daily
News once remarked, “A little life well lived is worth
talking about.”
Jean Cherni is founder of Senior
Living Solutions, a retirement advisory service. Contact
her at jeancherni@sbcglobal.net or 15 The Ponds, Branford
06405.
H. Pearce Company REALTORS®
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