Obituaries: The Final Word

by
Duncan L. Dieterly

When you exceed sixty years, you begin to peruse the obituaries, not to find friends but to
see whom you successfully outlived today. An obituary is a notice of the death of an individual,
often with a biographical sketch, found in a newspaper. Presumably, all people who die are
subject to a final obituary. An average day at the LA Times produces about forty obituaries.
There is one lead obituary, several minor ones and the rest are then listed in columns, with each
person’s running from two to a dozen of lines. The people who expired are generally older but
unfortunately, the list also includes younger people. On the day, I reviewed it the youngest was
only forty-four, the oldest ninety-three. There is also an occasional ‘in memoriam,’ in memory
of someone who died in a previous year.
That day, there was a noted dermatologist, Dr. Albert Kligman (ninety-three) who was a
faculty member of the University of Pennsylvania and had developed the acne drug, Retin-A and
anti-wrinkle cream, Renova; along with an actress, Betty Lou Keim (seventy-one), a 1960s band
member of the group Strawberry Alarm Clock, Lee Freeman (sixty), an ultra orthodox rabbi,
Menachwm Porush (ninety-three), a novelist, Judith Page Mitchell (seventy-seven), and Thomas
Michel Eggers (sixty-one) a former aide to Rep Ronald Packard.
I was intrigued by the dermatologist’s early experimental work in prisons; I did not
remember the actress nor the band much less Mr. Freeman the musician nor had I read any of the
novels of the author. The others I did not bother to read but noted their ages. I know from past
experience, of obituaries written for family members or friends that frequently are not accurate
nor complete. It is hard to image a lifetime of laughter and tears summed up in a couple of
hundred words.
What was written about each of them, accurate or not, will be forever logged in the
Ethernet. But each person had a family, friends and neighbors as well as associates and
colleagues. What did they remember about them and how long before they also fall to the scathe
of death? When will the person be completely forgotten? One, ten, twenty years or more?

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 Eventually there will be no living being to remember their deeds and their records will
deteriorate, become lost and forgotten. It seems sad to think that will happen to anyone but on
the other hand it is bound to happen to the majority of us (Ozymandias by Shelly). Only in the
world of the academia, which digs up the past, allows for the possibility of a person to remain or
be reinstated to public awareness as part of history. Future generations will only know these
people from reports and they become plaster people whose exploits loom on in time. The world
is built on the people that inhabit it but in death they become grains of sand and each of them
loses their hard fought individuality.
Individual success, contributions and achievements fade with the passage of time along
with any living memory of their existence. The challenge of life is to live it well but be prepared
to fade away like …old soldiers. I suspect there is no living soul on this earth who personally
remembers my great grandfather, --- but me. When I am gone, there will be no one. However,
in some old clippings his name may appear regarding his achievements unless they are lost in a
fire. With the advent of the 21st century and the ubiquitous internet, all of us will leave behind an
electronic footprint in the yobibytes of pulsating energy swirling around our planet.
Well now, every morning I am able to read the obituaries I will think of the deceased
with more respect and be cheerful that I am able to read yet another obituary page. After all, we
do not live to read our own.
The End

Copyright © 2010 by Duncan L. Dieterly

665 words

April 30, 2010