What a Life!: Recent Episodes
Paul J. Batura
What a Life! Lessons from Legends Podcast is a daily commentary featuring 90 second (or so) obituaries of fascinating people who have lived interesting and meaningful lives.
Bestselling biographer Paul Batura believes if we want to lead a happy and fulfilling life, we should learn from those who just died. It's the wisdom of the ages. Obits can honor the dead - and educate the living. The best life is the life that makes the most of this one – and yet reaches happily and faithfully for the next.
Brian Shul, 75, was a fighter pilot who was shot down in Vietnam and yet recovered to fly the world’s fastest jet in top-secret Cold War missions.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
“I was fearless enough to not fear failure. I’m just going to try it. It’s a greater harm not to have tried.”
I don’t think you can motivate people. I think you have to motivate yourself. You either want it or you don’t.”
“Life is what you make it, and it goes by really quick.”
Rick Hoyt, 61, was the son of the father-son duo of TEAM HOYT, who together competed in more than 1100 races. He died May 22, 2023.
QUOTABLE QUOTES:
“Dad, when I’m running, my disability seems to disappear.”
“I use running to help motivate people and inspire them. You can do anything that you set your mind to do.”
“[Dad] I have a list of things I would do for you if I was not disabled. Tops on that list: I would do my best to race the World Championship Ironman pulling, pushing and pedaling you. Then I would push you in the Boston Marathon.”
Reverend Dr. Timothy Keller, 72, was a prominent founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. He was a teacher and bestselling author. He died Friday May 19, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“All death can now do to Christians is to make their lives infinitely better.”
“The central basis of Christian assurance is not how much our hearts are set on God, but how unshakably his heart is set on us.”
“If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said. If he didn’t, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on which everything hangs is not whether you like his teaching, but whether he rose from the dead.”
“Describe the God you’ve rejected. Describe the God you don’t believe in. Maybe I don’t believe that God either.”
“Contemporary people tend to examine the Bible, looking for things they can’t accept; but Christians should reverse that, allowing the Bible to examine us, looking for things God can’t accept.”
“Satan doesn’t control us with fang marks on the flesh but with lies in the heart. . . . Our best defense in the fight against [his] lies is not the production of incantations but the rehearsal of truth.”
“The gospel is that I am so sinful that Jesus had to die for me, yet so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. I can’t feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone.”
“The doctrine of sin means believers are never as good as our true worldview should make us. And the doctrine of common grace means unbelievers are never as flawed as their false worldview should make them.”
“Only if your god can outrage and challenge you will you know that you worship the real God and not a figment of your imagination. . . . If your god never disagrees with you, you might just be worshiping an idealized version of yourself.”
“The glory of God is available to you in the church in a way it’s not available to you anywhere else. . . . There is no more important means of discipleship than deep involvement in the life of the church.”
“You don’t fall into love. You commit to it. Love says, ‘I will be there no matter what.’”
“To say ‘I know God forgives me, but I can’t forgive myself’ means you’ve failed an idol whose approval is more important than God’s.”
“If you make work your identity and you succeed, it’ll go to your head. If you fail, it’ll go to your heart.”
“To be loved but not known is superficial. To be known but not loved is our nightmare. Only Jesus knows us to the bottom and loves us to the sky.”
“The only person who dares wake up a king at 3:00 a.m. for a glass of water is a child. We have that kind of access.”
“Tolerance isn’t about not having beliefs. It’s about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you.”
“Traditional religion says, ‘I give God a good moral record, so he has to bless me.’ The gospel says, ‘God gives me a good moral record through Christ, so I want to bless him.’ . . . Religion says, ‘If I obey, then God will love and accept me.’ The gospel says, ‘God loves and accepts me, therefore I want to obey.’”
“The gospel says you are simultaneously more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe, yet more loved and accepted than you ever dared hope.”
“If you’re falling off a cliff, strong faith in a weak branch is fatally inferior to weak faith in a strong branch. Salvation is not finally based on the strength of your faith, but on the object of your faith.”
“The temptation for those who suffer is to assume that because we can’t think of any good purposes God may have for our suffering, there can’t be any.”
“There are the good things of this world, the hard things of this world, and the best things of this world—God’s love, glory, holiness, beauty. The Bible’s teaching is that the road to the best things is not through the good things but usually through the hard things. . . . There is no message more contrary to the way the world understands life or more subversive to its values.”
“The Christian sex ethic was understood by the apostles to be a nonnegotiable part of orthodoxy, one of the core beliefs of Christianity. What Christians taught and practiced about sexuality was as much a necessary implication of the gospel and the resurrection as were care for the poor and the equality of the races. This makes it impossible to argue, as many try to do, that what the Bible says about caring for the poor is right but what it says about sex is outmoded and should be discarded.”
“Sex apart from marriage becomes a product we consume if we find someone attractive enough in quality and low enough in price. If the quality goes down or the cost goes up, we can walk away, because there is no covenant. But if sex comes only with the radical self-giving and whole-life commitment of marriage, that takes sex off the market, as it were, and makes it priceless.”
“When Jesus Christ was in the garden of Gethsemane and the ultimate darkness was coming down on him and he knew it was coming, he didn’t abandon you; he died for you. If Jesus Christ didn’t abandon you in his darkness, the ultimate darkness, why would he abandon you now, in yours?”
“Only a grasp of what Jesus did on the cross—the doctrine of substitutionary atonement—can prevent spiritual distortions. . . . Only this doctrine keeps us from thinking God is mainly holy with some love or mainly loving with some holiness—but instead [he] is both holy and loving equally, interdependently. Only this view of God makes the spoiled or the neglected into the healthy and the loved.”
“The secular framework . . . has nothing to give the wounded conscience to heal it. It has nothing to say to the self who feels it is unworthy of love and forgiveness. Anyone who has seen the depths of their sin and what they are capable of will never be mollified by the bromide of ‘Be nice to yourself—you deserve it.’”
“True repentance begins where whitewashing (‘Nothing really happened’) and blame-shifting (‘It wasn’t really my fault’) and self-pity (‘I’m sorry because of what it has cost me’) and self-flagellation (‘I will feel so terrible no one will be able to criticize me’) end.”
“Forgiveness is granted (often a good while) before it is felt—not felt before it is granted. It is a promise to not exact the price of sin from the person who hurt you. . . . It is likely you have always thought, ‘Well, I have to feel it before I grant it. I have to start feeling less angry before I start to not hold them liable.’ If you wait to feel it before you grant it, you’ll never grant it; you’ll be in an anger prison.”
“It is hard to stay angry at someone if you are praying for them. It is also hard to stay angry unless you feel superior, and it is hard to feel superior if you are praying for them, since in prayer you approach God as a forgiven sinner.”
“Prayer is the only entryway into genuine self-knowledge. It is also the main way we experience deep change—the reordering of our loves. Prayer is how God gives us so many of the unimaginable things he has for us. Indeed, prayer makes it safe for God to give us many of the things we most desire. It is the way we know God, the way we finally treat God as God. Prayer is simply the key to everything we need to do and be in life.”
“God will either give us what we ask or give us what we would have asked if we knew everything he knows.”
“We know God will answer us when we call because one terrible day he did not answer Jesus when he called. . . . Jesus’ prayers were given the rejection that we sinners merit so that our prayers could have the reception that he merits.”
“Mercy isn’t just the job of the Christian. Mercy is the mark of the Christian.”
“A good sermon is not like a club that beats upon the will but like a sword that cuts to the heart.”
“Expository preaching should provide the main diet of preaching for a Christian community. . . . [It] is the best method for displaying and conveying your conviction that the whole Bible is true. This approach testifies that you believe every part of the Bible to be God’s Word, not just particular themes and not just the parts you feel comfortable agreeing with.”
“Preaching is not only explaining the text but also using it to engage the heart. I often see preachers giving so much time to the first task that they put little thought and ingenuity into the second.”
“Every time you expound a Bible text, you are not finished unless you demonstrate how it shows us that we cannot save ourselves and that only Jesus can.”
“Christian communicators must show that we remember (or at least understand) very well what it is like not to believe.”
“The humanistic moral values of secularism are not the deliverances of scientific reasoning, but have come down to us from older times . . . they have a theological history. And modern people hold them by faith alone.”
“Through faith in the cross we get a new foundation for an identity that both humbles us out of our egoism yet is so infallibly secure in love that we are enabled to embrace rather than exclude those who are different.”
“[These are] Christianity’s unsurpassed offers—a meaning that suffering cannot remove, a satisfaction not based on circumstances, a freedom that does not hurt but rather enhances love, an identity that does not crush you or exclude others, a moral compass that does not turn you into an oppressor, and a hope that can face anything, even death.”
“If the suffering Jesus endured did not make him give up on us, nothing will.”
“Jesus is one of the very few persons in history who founded a great world religion or who, like Plato or Aristotle, has set the course of human thought and life for centuries. Jesus is in that tiny, select group. On the other hand, there have been a number of persons over the years who have implicitly or explicitly claimed to be divine beings from other worlds. Many of them were demagogues; many more were leaders of small, self-contained sects of true believers. What is unique about Jesus is that he is the only member of the first set of persons who is also a member of the second.”
“Everything in the Hebrew worldview militated against the idea that a human being could be God. Jews would not even pronounce the name ‘Yahweh’ nor spell it. And yet Jesus Christ—by his life, by his claims, and by his resurrection—convinced his closest Jewish followers that he was not just a prophet telling them how to find God, but God himself come to find us.”
“When you come to Christ, you must drop your conditions. You have to give up the right to say, ‘I will obey you if . . . I will do this if . . .’ As soon as you say, ‘I will obey you if,’ that is not obedience at all. You are saying: ‘You are my adviser, not my Lord. I will be happy to take your recommendations. And I might even do some of them.’ No. If you want Jesus with you, you have to give up the right to self-determination. Self-denial is an act of rebellion against our late-modern culture of self-assertion. But that is what we are called to. Nothing less.”
“When you say, ‘Doctrine doesn’t matter; what matters is that you live a good life,’ that is a doctrine. It is called the doctrine of salvation by your works rather than by grace.”
“It’s in death that God says, ‘If I’m not your security, then you’ve got no security, because I’m the only thing that can’t be taken away from you. I will hold you in my everlasting arms. Every other set of arms will fail you, but I will never fail you.’ Smelling salts are very disagreeable, but they are also very effective. But as you’re waking from your illusions, be at peace, because here’s what Jesus Christ offers to us if by faith we have him as our Savior.”
“If you want to understand your own behavior, you must understand that all sin against God is grounded in a refusal to believe that God is more dedicated to our good, and more aware of what that is, than we are. We distrust God because we assume he is not truly for us, that if we give him complete control we will be miserable. Adam and Eve did not say, ‘Let’s be evil. Let’s ruin our own lives and everyone else’s too!’ Rather they thought, ‘We just want to be happy. But his commands don’t look like they’ll give us the things we need to thrive. We’ll have to take things into our own hands—we can’t trust him.’”
“The only storm that can really destroy—the storm of divine justice and judgment on sin and evil—will never come upon you. Jesus bowed his head into that ultimate storm, willingly, for you. He died, receiving the punishment for sin we deserve, so we can be pardoned when we trust in him. When you see him doing that for you, it certainly does not answer all the questions you have about your suffering. But it proves that, despite it all, he still loves you. Because he was thrown into that storm for you, you can be sure that there’s love at the heart of this storm for you.”
“If you were a hundred times worse than you are, your sins would be no match for his mercy.”
QUOTE COMPILATION COURTESY OF THE GOSPEL COALITION
Marlene Hagge-Vossler, 89, was co-founder of the LPGA and a member of the LPGA Hall of Fame. She died Tuesday May 16, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“When I won the LA City Women’s championship in 1947 when I was 13, on the back of the scorecard it said, ‘No children under 14 are permitted on the course.’”
“In those days, it was tough to be a golfer if you were a girl. They didn’t allow women onto some of the snitzy golf courses in L.A.”
Don Denkinger, 86, was a Major League Baseball umpire best remembered for a blown call in the 1985 World Series. He died Friday May 12, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“Nobody wants to have the call that I did in the World Series. But I did. And now it’s part of history.”
“I’m not tired of talking about it. I mean, it happened. I just know that if the same thing happened now, they’d get it right on replay and it’d be over with.”
It’s life, and it goes on. I’m obviously reminded constantly that I made a mistake. You know what? I was an umpire for more than 30 years in the major leagues. I know I made a lot of mistakes. That one was just blown out of proportion.”
Denny Crum, 86, was a legendary college basketball coach. He died Tuesday May 9, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“Most of our future lies ahead.”
“I don't try to get players emotionally up for a game. It creates too many peaks and valleys... I strive for even keel; they will get up for the big games.”
John Pappajohn, 94, was an Iowa entrepreneur and philanthropist. He died April 22, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“If I can do it, you can do it.”
Larry Rivers, 73, was a renowned Harlem Globetrotter and arguably the greatest dribbler in the world. He died April 29, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“When I was seven years old and saw Marques Haynes, I knew that was what I was going to do,” Mr. Rivers later told the New York Daily News. “I took my ball with me everywhere, dribbled it every place.”
“They took me into a dark closet for my tryout to see how I could handle the ball with obstacles in my way. I made the team that night as a dribbler that does fancy tricks to go along with their comedy routines.”
The Lord blessed me in a special way, and with his blessing I can touch other people and make them smile, bring a little joy into their life if they’re a little sad.”
Ginnie Newhart, 82, was the wife of the legendary comedian Bob Newhart. She died April 23, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“Buddy came back one day and said in his own inimitable way, ‘I met this young guy and his name is Bobby Newhart, and he’s a comic and he’s Catholic and you’re Catholic and I think maybe you should marry each other.” “He listened, and I thought, ‘Boy, this is a very special person. He was compassionate. He cared. There was no phoniness. He genuinely cared whether I was happy or unhappy.”
Dr. Michael Brescia, 90, was a pioneering doctor who helped make dialysis possible for patients. He died April 19, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“We took a road. To the left, it looked shiny and gold. But to the right, it looked happier to us.”
“You have to be present, to touch, to hold, and you have to say it. Families need the same care as patients.”
“We are part of Christ’s redemptive mission. We make up for the misery of the world. Every time I go into a room, and I come out, I’m different. I made a difference in this world, to this person.”
Stu Leonard, Sr., 93, was a retail dairy pioneer. He died Wednesday April 26, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“A customer who complains is my best friend.”
"Rule 1: The customer is always right. Rule 2: If the customer is ever wrong, reread Rule 1." “If eighty percent of your sales come from twenty percent of all of your items, just carry those twenty percent.”
0400Herb Douglas, 101, was the oldest Olympic medalist. He died Saturday April 22, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
‘We all came here on different boats, but if we all don’t row together, America will sink.’ I’m going to do all I can to keep it afloat.”
“When you get to this age, what is the most important thing? It’s not always money. It’s memories.”
Ron Hamilton, 72, was a Christian music composer best known as “Patch the Pirate.” He died April 19, 2023. Quotable Quotes: “Not a lot of Christian pirates around. I’m about the only one. It’s a lot of fun.”
“Many people would see the loss of my eye and the need for wearing a patch as a great trial. But I see it as one of the greatest blessings of my life. It reminds me that God teaches us the greatest lessons in the deepest valleys.”
Burney Mattinson, 87, was Disney’s longest-tenured employee, completing just shy of 70 years of service. He died February 27th 2023 Quotable Quotes:
“Ever since I saw that film (Pinocchio), this was my dream, to work in this business. So I worked every day, drawing.”
“Animation is 75 percent thinking and 25 percent drawing.”
“The important thing to remember about good animation is that less is more. Moving the characters too much is the sign of a real amateur.”
Dr. Charles Stanley, 90, was pastor of First Baptist Atlanta for 50 years and founder of In Touch Ministries. He died Tuesday, April 18, 2023.
Quotable Quotes: “Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.”
“You always have God’s undivided attention.”
“Hellen Keller was blind and deaf when she graduated from college with honors. So what’s your problem?”
“I’ve found that at any age, and especially when you are my age, you have to keep planning and having goals.”
Robert Trotman, 82, was a swim coach committed to introducing the sport to those who would otherwise never have an opportunity to learn how to do it. He died March 22, 2023. Quotable Quotes:
“My thing has always been that I will give you what you need, and you work for what you want.”
“You get a child before he’s 10,” Robert said, “give him the training and inspiration to win, and then you’ll see a swimmer.”
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill.
George Verwer, 84, was a Christian evangelist and founder of Operation Mobilization, a ministry dedicated to reaching people in faraway places. He died Friday April 14, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“We who have Christ's eternal life need to throw away our own lives.”
“I believe the reason many Christians are so dull and lifeless in their faith is because they are not in the battle, not using their weapons, not advancing against the enemy.”
“Without Holy Spirit boldness, the world will remain unevangelized... there can never be a substitute for the power of the Spirit working through willing men and women, and that power will bring boldness.”
Virginia Norwood, 96, was the “Mother” of satellite imaging systems. She died March 27, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
"I never had doubts about the MSS, because I designed it and knew it would work."
“It was all fun. And when something is fun, you just keep at it.”
“[Don’t] accept other people’s negativity. If somebody says, ‘You can’t do it,’ I sort of prick up my ears and decide that I’ll do it.”
Leon Levine, 85, was the founder of Family Dollar. He died April 5, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“You quickly learned the customer is the most important person.”
“A desk is a dangerous place from which to watch the world.” – John le Carre
Harry Lorayne, 96, was a memory wiz and teacher. He died Friday April 7, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“You cannot possibly remember anything you do not observe; and it is extremely difficult to observe or remember anything that you do not want to remember, or that you are not interested in remembering.”
“In Order to Remember Any New Piece of Information, It Must Be Associated to Something You Already Know or Remember in Some Ridiculous Way.”
Jesus of Nazareth, 33, was a Galilean Jewish carpenter who changed the world by dying for our sins on a cruel Roman cross – and rising from the dead on the third day.
Quotable Quotes:
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
0400Kalus Teuber, 70, was the inventor of the board game THE SETTLERS OF CATAN. He died Saturday April 1, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“In the beginning, these games were just for me. I always have stories in my head — I would read a book, and if I liked it, I wanted to experience it as a game.”
“When I read about the Vikings, when they discovered Iceland, I thought: ‘What would happen if some explorers come to an island where there’s no one? What will they do?’”
“I never expected it would be so successful.”
Bernard “Bing” Newcomb, 79, was the co-founder of E*Trade. He died January 29, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision.” – Stevie Wonder
“I thank God for my handicaps, for through them I have found myself, my work and my God.” – Helen Keller
“Believe you can, and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights leader. He died April 4, 1968. Quotable Quotes:
“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
“May I stress the need for courageous, intelligent, and dedicated leadership... Leaders of sound integrity. Leaders not in love with publicity, but in love with justice. Leaders not in love with money, but in love with humanity. Leaders who can subject their particular egos to the greatness of the cause.”
Mark Russell, 90, was a political satirist and stand-up comic. He died Thursday March 30, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“I come from a funny family. There was a kind of competitiveness as far back as I can remember. We were always putting each other on.”
“I have 535 writers. One hundred in the Senate and 435 in the House of Representatives.”
“You know that a given in life in human nature, is that at a sporting event, a baseball game, a football game, you never introduce a politician, is because he'll be booed. I don't care if he's the most beloved person in the world, its part of the game.”
“I look at the paper. I like to have a newspaper. Then I start reading and reading and reading. And when I see something that makes me gag, I know we’re off to the races.”
Bill Leavy, 76, was a decorated and highly respected NFL referee. He died Tuesday March 28, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
"I know that I did my best at that time, but it wasn't good enough,"
"When we make mistakes, you got to step up and own them. It's something that all officials have to deal with, but unfortunately when you have to deal with it in the Super Bowl it's difficult."
“All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes.” - Sir Winston Churchill.
Bill Zehme, 64, was a celebrity biographer best known for his books on Frank Sinatra and Johnny Carson. He died Sunday March 26, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“I have the disposition of a psychoanalyst,” he once said. “I can talk to people. I like to ask questions. I like to fathom what it’s like to be them. You have to be very empathic. You have to be ready to understand what people are about. I strike some sort of a balance where I can play with people and at the same time, ideally, they reveal things about themselves.” “Life is a tidal wave. It’s a wave you’re caught in and the waves have just taken me where they’ve taken me.
“I’m generally an abuser of deadlines. I’m so late with this Johnny Carson [biography] it’s like I’m setting a new record for being late with a book. At this point I’m looking at the Guinness Book of World Records to see how many years it will have to be before I [set the record.]”
“The truth is, I have never written about a celebrity. I have always written about humans, replete with human traits and foibles and issues, who also happen to be famous.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 78, was an Allied Commander and two-term president of the United States between 1953 and 1961.
Quotable Quotes: “You don’t lead by beating people over the head; that’s assault, not leadership. Together we must learn to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose.”
“Always try to associate yourself with and learn as much as you can from those who know more than you do, who do better than you, who see more clearly than you.”
“A man will respect you and perhaps even like you if you differ with him on issues and on principles. But if you ever challenge his motives, he will never forgive you. Nor should he.”
Gordon E. Moore, 94, was the co-founder of Intel. He died Friday March 24, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“What I could see was that semiconductor devices were the way electronics were going to become cheap. That was the message I was trying to get across. It turned out to be an amazingly precise prediction — a lot more precise than I ever imagined it would be.”
[Dow Chemical] sent me to a psychologist to see how this would fit. The psychologist said I was OK technically but I’d never manage anything.”
“Fortunately, very much by luck, we had hit on a technology that had just the right degree of difficulty for a successful start-up. This was how Intel began.”
“Long before Apple, one of our engineers came to me with the suggestion that Intel ought to build a computer for the home. And I asked him, ‘What the heck would anyone want a computer for in his home?’”
On his own “Moore’s Law” - “It can’t continue forever. The nature of exponentials is that you push them out and eventually disaster happens.”
Saint Patrick was a 5th century British-born Christian missionary who was said to help convert the pagans of Ireland.
Quotable Quotes:
“Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me.”
“The Lord is greater than all: I have said enough.”
“I am Patrick, a sinner, most uncultivated and least of all the faithful and despised in the eyes of many.”
Robert L. Waltrip, 92, was founder of Service Corp. International, a nationwide chain of funeral homes and cemeteries. He died February 27, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“It was strange at school when the teacher would ask you, ‘What do you want to be?’”
“People that don’t buy our stock just don’t like money,” he told the New York Times in 1993. “It’s the greatest buy I’ve ever seen. People are always going to die.”
“The relationship a funeral director has with the people he serves is very rewarding,” Waltrip said. “If you don’t have empathy and a desire to serve, you won’t be very good. You’ll come across as cold.”
“From the time I made my first sale, a 1500-word short story in 1950, writing an entertaining narrative was my chief goal.”
“I think Dickens influenced my writing in the sense that he was such a marvelous delineator of character, creating unforgettable people, and he combined this with a strong sense of social justice. Stylistically he was a genius, but very much of his own period; I couldn't write a novel in a similar way even if I had the talent, which I don't. One respect in which my work mirrors Dickens is that I have very strong beliefs about issues I've written about, notably slavery and its consequences.”
“The appeal of our Civil War is obvious: the inherent drama of American fighting American, in the years of the greatest social change, in the shortest time, in all of our history. My long-held interest in Civil War spying was sparked by reading I did years ago.” “Watch a movie; have a good night’s sleep. The unconscious often comes up with the right answer for going forward.”
Richard Douglas Fosbury, 76, was an Olympic high jumper who won a gold medal in the 1968 Mexico City games. He died Sunday March 12, 2023.
Quotable Quotes: “On the podium I felt proud to be an American,” he said. “But most of all I thought about the people in my home town who had supported me even when I was struggling. I will never forget that.” “When you reach that elite level, 90 percent is mental and 10 percent is physical. You are competing against yourself. Not against the other athlete.”
“I was standing there crying after I came up short. And that’s when I decided I would win a gold medal in the next Olympics. Then I thought, ‘Why not go to two Olympics and win four gold medals?’”
“I feel so privileged to get to do this.” “Consider that some athletes have never had a conversation in their lives that didn’t have to do with swimming or diving or running or jumping. They’re interested only in their muscles, their times, their scores. Lots of people can tell you how high to jump, how fast to run, how deep to dive. But nobody tells you that you have to fit into that larger world, a world you pretty much ignored or took to be unimportant.” “To become the best in the world at what you do requires the kind of tunnel vision of a stalking beast.”
Jean Faust, 98, was a pioneering baseball player who starred on the South Bend Blue Sox for eight seasons. She died February 28, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“I was a mathematical whiz in school, and I got to where I could remember the rotation that I pitched to the best hitters. I always changed it the next time they came up to bat, so there were little crazy things like that I used to do that gave me a little edge.”
“People who don’t like their jobs, I feel sorry for them, It’s your life! If you don’t like your job, and you’re depressed – to do something you really love to do is a great way to live.”
General Theodore Kanamine, 93, was the first Japanese-American General in the United States Army. He died Thursday March 2, 2023.
Quotable Quotes
“My awards and citations were for various tasks associated with my numerous assignments. I simply did what was necessary in the very best manner I could.”
“My conditions in Korea and Vietnam were somewhat primitive – but other soldiers were much more uncomfortable.”
“War is no fun! We must do all we can to avoid war - but if war is the only choice - we must win!”
“Life is not always 'peaches and cream'. Tough times and big problems arise but a close family and good friends can solve almost anything. Home and country must be protected. Have the personal discipline to know what is right and develop the skills necessary to do whatever the task is in the best way you know how. This reflects my development in the military and the way I live my life today. I believe in the philosophy of 'Duty - Honor - Country'. I think my family and friends know this.”
Barbara Bryant, Ph.D., was the first woman to ever be appointed Director of the United States Census. She died Friday March 2, 2023. She was 96.
Quotable Quotes:
“I was always the editor. The editor of the church newspaper, the editor of the Michigan League of Women Voters’ newsletter.”
“I came from a company that did a quarter of a million telephone interviews a year. One thing we learned is that 20 minutes is about as long as you can stretch the telephone interview. There are instances where you could go further if the person is terribly interested in the subject matter or completely convinced of the value of the survey, or has been inter- 16 viewed in person at some prior time.”
Greta Anderson, 95, was an Olympic and Marathon Swim Champion. She died February 6, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“You just don’t think about it. You forget about it and you just swim.”
“So life goes on. Find something else and get happy,” she said. “Whoever has a perfect life from the beginning to the end?”
“What woman doesn’t get extra satisfaction out of beating the stronger sex at anything?” she said. “I always want to beat everybody else in any race against me, but I always feel better when I finish ahead of some men.”
“One of the great lessons I've learned in athletics is that you've got to discipline your life. No matter how good you may be, you've got to be willing to cut out of your life those things that keep you from going to the top.”
“It may sound strange, but many champions are made champions by setback. They are champions because they've been hurt. Their experience moved them, and they pulled out this fighting spirit, making them what they are. Sometimes in life, God gives us a difficulty in order to bring out the fighting spirit. Everything that happens to you can happen for good if you have this spirit. The essential thing in life is not in the conquering, but in the fight.”
“Goals give purpose,” Bob once wrote. “Purpose gives faith. Faith gives courage. Courage gives enthusiasm. Enthusiasm gives energy. Energy gives life. Life lifts you over the bar.”
Albert Okura, 71, the founder of the Juan Pollo chicken franchise in California. He died January 27, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“I learned to pace myself, not to panic, and stay calm in the face of hundreds of customers.”
“I didn’t want to be 50 years old and tell people that I worked for Burger King.”
"I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know how to cook chicken. I didn't even like chicken. But I told myself I was going to do this, and I was going to stick with it no matter what. I made a commitment."
Red McCombs, 95, was a billionaire entrepreneur. He died Sunday February 19, 2023. Quotable Quotes:
“I was an entrepreneur before I knew what the word was and certainly before I could spell it,” Mr. McCombs said in a 2006 radio interview. “New deals, new opportunities, new ventures are always a part of my life.”
“Instead of wanting to win, we expected to win,” he said. “There's a lifetime between wanting something and expecting something. When you expect something, it means you've prepared, done the work, and EXPECT TO WIN!!”
“I would never have thought I could ever have had a chance to do something like Clear Channel,” he wrote. “That’s why I don’t really believe in long-term plans. There was no way I could have ever planned Clear Channel.”
David Oreck, 99, was an entrepreneur and founder of the Oreck Vacuum Cleaner Company. He died February 15, 2023.
Quotable Quotes: “You have but a fleeting moment to touch somebody on the eyeball and get their attention. Don’t blow it.”
Reverend George M. Docherty, 97, was the longtime pastor of New York Avenue Baptist Church in Washington D.C., and a popular pastor to many presidents. He died November 27, 2008.
Quotable Quotes:
“I came from Scotland, where we said, ‘God save our gracious queen,’ ‘God save our gracious king.’ Here was the Pledge of Allegiance, and God wasn’t in it at all.”
“There is something missing in the Pledge, and that which is missing are the characteristics and definitive factor in the American way of life,”
Tim McCarver, 81, was a Major League Baseball veteran and National Baseball Hall of Fame Announcer. He died Thursday February 16, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
"Ballplayers, they're making more money than ever, but I don't think they're as happy. Not too many guys look like they're having a good time. It's a conundrum."
“When Steve [Carlton] and I die, we are going to be buried in the same cemetery, 60-feet 6-inches apart.”
“If somebody told me back in 1980 that I would have a 32-year career, and that I'd be [elected into the Hall of Fame], I'd say no way. For three years, I couldn't even break into the Phillies broadcast booth. I was just hoping to make it, much less be mentioned as a Ford Frick winner. Believe me, when I started out, this award wasn't even close to being on the radar.”
Shoichioro Toyoda, 97, was the second generation owner and president of the Toyota Motor Company. He died Tuesday February 14, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“We felt we suffered from large-corporation disease, … so we embarked on a cure. We have a saying: ‘A large man has difficulty exercising his wits fully.’”
“We owe a great deal of thanks to America for our sense of the importance of quality.”
Ted Lerner, 97, was a real estate developer and owner of the Washington National baseball club. He died Sunday February 12, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“True measure of excellence is not what we’ve achieved for ourselves – but what it enables us to do for others.”
“Striving for excellence, building for future generations – that way it’s not about the properties. It’s about the communities. It’s about the future.”
“The highest honor is to have your family involved in the family business.”
Saint Valentine was a Catholic priest who was beheaded for secretly conducting marriage ceremonies. He died February 14, 269 AD.
Quotable Quotes:
“Love is the master key that opens the gates of happiness.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes.
"Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in a love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything." - Joseph Whelan, S.J.,
“I didn't marry you because you were perfect. I didn't even marry you because I loved you. I married you because you gave me a promise. That promise made up for your faults. And the promise I gave you made up for mine. Two imperfect people got married and it was the promise that made the marriage. And when our children were growing up, it wasn't a house that protected them; and it wasn't our love that protected them--it was that promise.” – Thorton Wilder
John J. Boyer, 86, was a blind and deaf software developer whose multiple companies developed numerous products to assist people with various disabilities. He died January 17, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“To be respected in this society, you have to have a job, and that’s as it should be. But I know what it’s like to be labeled unemployable, and I really want to see other handicapped people gainfully employed.”
“My working relationship with the Lord is that I do what is possible. And He will do the impossible.”
Marianne Mantell, 93, was the co-founder of Caedmon Records. She died on January 22, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
On her first recording: “What we heard was like a thunderbolt, transforming with its electricity,”
“We were not just out to preserve celebrity voices (to the extent that a poet is a celebrity). Our purpose was literary: to capture on tape as nearly as possible what the poet heard in his head as he wrote.”
Robert Orben, 95, was a comedy writer and White House speechwriter. He died February 2, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“The secret of writing comedy is to know where it’s all going, then get ahead of it.”
“If you can't get there first, better never than late.”
“Sometimes I get the feeling the whole world is against me, but deep down I know that’s not true. Some smaller countries are neutral.”
“Let us never forget that no man is perfect - until he writes his resume.”
If you feel compelled to donate to earthquake relief, Convoy of Hope is one trustworthy, faith-based agency:
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Steven Carl Tucker, 64, was president of Circle Y Saddlery. He died on January 17, 2023.
04Melinda Dillon, 83, was an actress best known for her role as “Mother Parker” in “A Christmas Story.”
Quotable Quotes: “I was offered a lot of shows that I didn't do—musicals, the part of Eve in ‘Applause,’ and ‘Beekman Place’ and others; Irwin Shaw wrote a play for me that I didn't do—I didn't want to. In my life, at that time, I wasn't ready for a career; 1 wanted to be protected and married, so that's what I did.'’
“I had had the American dream—to go to New York and study with Lee Strasberg. I guess I just wasn't prepared for it all to happen so quickly in New York. I'm not sophisticated; hadn't had any kind of cultural education, at all, so when it came to meeting people, and presenting any kind of ideas I might have to Offer, I would be terrified.”
“I think that says ‘Fragile,’ honey.”
“I promise you, Daddy is not going to kill Ralphie!”
“BB guns are dangerous. I don’t want anyone shooting his eye out.”
Dr. Dennis O’Leary, 85, was the Dean of Clinical Affairs at George Washington University Hospital, and who became the spokesperson following the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. He died January 29, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“It was blinding. They put me at the podium from which microphones of every imaginable size and shape extended in every direction. It was definitely showtime.”
“I looked out over that classroom where I had many times put medical students to sleep, and it was blinding. They put me at the podium from which microphones of every imaginable size and shape extended in every direction. It was definitely showtime. I was matter-of-fact about telling what I knew.”
“I could only relay what I knew. There was no intent to suggest anything different.”
John Adams was a diehard Cleveland baseball fan whose drumming at games became a fixture for the Indians and Guardians for nearly 50 years. He was 71.
Quotable Quotes:
“God didn’t give me the reflexes to play on the field. Every time I swing, I get a hit, so it’s like instant gratification.”
“There’s nothing like being down at the ballpark. Because it’s more than just the game; it’s all the people around you and all the people you see. It makes the experience of a baseball game way above just sitting at home.”
Irv “Bob” Born was “the Father of Peeps” and the owner of “Just Born Quality Confections.” He was 98.
Quotable Quotes: “He was a kind person, he was generous with his talents, sharing his abilities. He was very fair minded: he wanted to embrace differences rather than just tolerate them.” – Ross Born, son and CEO. “The candy business was kind of catchy. It was interesting to him. He enjoyed the science, the technology, the processing. He was very much into the equipment.” – Ross Born
“Bob will be remembered as a tireless and passionate advocate for the candy industry and a wonderful supporter of our community.” – David Shaffer, company executive
Cindy Williams, 75, was an actress best known for her role of Shirley Feeney in the hit sitcom, “Laverne and Shirley.” She died January 30, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
"He [God] was always present. So, if it was imbued in my spirit; I mean, it gets really heady.”
“If it was Sunday, I was in church."
"I learned all of my Bible stories. I loved all of the powerful images and escaped into them. Jesus and Moses and the great people of the Bible … For that hour in Sunday school, I was safe.”
Gregory Allen Howard, 70, was a Hollywood screenwriter best known for “Remember the Titans.” He died January 27, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“At Princeton, I fell in love with history, American history. I didn’t know what my path would be, but it had to involve reading and writing history.”
''For a lot of people, high school was the apex of their lives. It was when everything worked. There was an innocence about it, a sense of community. So anytime you get back into that realm, it's fine.'' ''Remember the Titans'' strike a nerve simply because ''a lot of guys played high school football, and before that, Pop Warner football.'' ''You're talking about millions of guys. It's a bonding experience like you can't believe, and for a lot of men it was the last time they were important or heroic. It touches a nerve of a time when I was last innocent.''
Billy Packer, 82, was a longtime college basketball television analyst. He died January 26, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“Look, I'm abrasive. I've always pushed the edge, but the positions I've taken are not off the top of my head.''
“It's time to emphasize the facts concerning the academic accomplishments of the athletic departments in relationship to the general student body. The perception of the dumb jock is not a reality.”
“In life, you gotta have some fun,”
Lloyd Morrisett, 93, was co-creator of “Sesame Street.” He died January 15, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“My dissertation [at Yale] was on whether or not it was possible to improve performance by thinking about it.”
“I said, ‘Joan, do you think television could be used to teach young children?’ Her answer was, ‘I don’t know, but I’d like to talk about it.’”
“It was a lot of to do. Everybody was committed, excited, we worked well together. We were involved in something new, and it was really fun.”
J. Richard Steadman was a renowned orthopedic surgeon who pioneered procedures and treated both elite athletes and ordinary patients. He died January 20, 2023. Quotable Quotes: "I take every opportunity that I can [to ski]. But I do follow my own rules, such as conditioning myself before skiing. And I try to ski in control."
On treating Bode Miller:
“I recognized that ligaments didn’t just go away, that if they were torn close to the bone, sometimes they partially healed. The same technique I used to form cartilage at the end of the bone, if I used that procedure in the area where the ligaments attached — and created an environment where the ligament could accept the healing process that I’d created — I could (avoid) the full reconstruction.”
Lord Randolph Churchill, 45, was Leader of the House of Commons and the father of Winston Churchill. He died January 24, 1895.
Quotable Quotes: “The duty of an Opposition is to oppose.” “Talking jaw is better than going to war.”
“Commanders and senior officers should die with troops. The honour of the British Empire and the British Army is at stake.”
Joseph A. Hardy II, 100, was a business magnate who started the 84 Lumber Company – and lived a very colorful life.
Quotable Quotes:
“The only guy I need to keep whipping is myself. I really am tough on myself but that’s the way it has to be.”
“I always wanted to be a big shot. It’s a bunch of crap to think I was some sort of visionary.”
“As you get older, before you cash in, you wonder — lumber. It’s pretty good. But is that all there is?”
“I get a kick out of life. I really, really do.”
Hody Childress, 60, was a farmer in Alabama who anonymously supplied medicines for fellow residents in Alabama. He died January 1, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“Don't tell a soul where the money came from - if they ask, just tell them it's a blessing from the Lord.” – Hody Childress
“His kindness motivated me to be more of a compassionate person. He was just a good old guy who wanted to bless his community, and he certainly did. He established a legacy of kindness.” – Brooke Walter, pharmacist
“If what he did could touch one person and let them know there’s still goodness in the world, it’s worth it. It’s what my dad would have wanted.” – Tania Nix, daughter
Carl Hahn, 96, was an automobile executive and former CEO of Volkwagen who championed the export of the Beetle. He died January 14, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“I learned, apparently very fast, to get to know and understand America. And I loved it.”
“The unification of the two German states puts an ultimate end to the chapter of horrors of World War II and its consequences,”
''The people who bought the Beetle were customers with a very high education level. They liked its driving qualities.”
Sister Andre Randon, 118, was a French Catholic nun who had the distinction of being the oldest person in the world. She died January 17, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
‘I’m not afraid of Covid because I’m not afraid of dying.”
"People say that work kills, for me work kept me alive, I kept working until I was 108."
"People should help each other and love each other instead of hating. If we shared all that, things would be a lot better."
Robbie Knievel, 60, was a stunt performer and son of the famous daredevil, Evel Knievel. He died January 12, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
"I'm tired of doing shows where people come up to me and say, you know, 'Always respect your father.' I don't need people telling me what our relationship is, between me and my father."
"I wanted to beat every guy who beat my dad, and I beat them all."
“When I made the jump (over Caesar’s Fountains) and said, ‘That was for you, Dad,’ he (Evel) ran up and hugged me, with tears in his eyes. I had never seen him so emotional.”
“This is crazy ’cause life is crazy.” “During the last few years of my father’s life, we spent a lot of time together. We reminisced about the crazy lives we’d lived, and how lucky we’d been time and time again. I’d say to him, ‘I love you, Dad,’ and he’d tell me, “I love you, too, Rob.’”
“The creation of the United States of America is the greatest of all human adventures. No other national story holds such tremendous lessons, for the American people themselves and for the rest of mankind.”
“Ronald Reagan looked, spoke, and usually behaved as if he had stepped out of a Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover from the 1950s. More important, he actually thought like a Rockwell archetype. He had very strong, rooted, and unshakeable views about a few central issues of political and national life, which he expressed in simple and homely language. Like [Margaret] Thatcher, Reagan saw himself as a radical from the right, a conservative revolutionary who had captured the citadel of the state but, like Thatcher, still treated it as an enemy town.”
“If everyone agrees that television has unrivaled efficiency at selling goods, services, culture, music, God, politics and fashion,” he once wrote, “why does the industry continue to claim that the one thing it cannot sell is violence?”
Lisa Marie Presley, 54, was a singer-songwriter and the only child of Elvis and Priscilla Presley. She died January 12, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“Anytime I was in Memphis with my dad and at the house, I was happy. That was, like, a given. It was what I lived for. And I still feel the same excitement and warmth.”
"Leaving my first marriage, for the person that I left it for — that was probably the biggest mistake of my life," she would later say.
“It's hard for me to be happy because I'm always worried about something going awry or what could happen to screw it up. It's hard for me to sit and look around, going, 'Ah, I'm really happy.' I'm not that kind of person.” “I've been through so much in my life. I've seen so much. I know how fast things can change. I know someone can be here one minute and gone the next.”
Joan Cumming Batura, 80, was a wife, mother, grandmother, homemaker, writer and very curious person. She died January 12, 2012.
Quotable Quotes:
“A little learning is a dangerous thing.”
“Good things come to those who wait.”
“Pride goeth before the fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)
“We are wonderfully and fearfully made.” (Psalm 139:14)
Ron Labinski, 86, was the founder of the architectural firm, HOK Sport. He died January 1, 2023.
Quotable Quotes: “Before Arrowhead, all the stadiums were built to compromise both football and baseball. Arrowhead was the first modern stadium built solely for football. What we did here in Kansas City revolutionized the way people think about stadiums and stadium design.”
“It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that there was a market out there.”
"The world's our future, I believe," he said.
"If there's one thing I really feel good about, it is the fact that this (stadiums he designed) is going to have a life beyond myself."
Adolfo Kaminsky, 97, was a French spy whose ability to forge documents saved thousands of lives during World War II. He died Monday January 9, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
Having “Jew” stamped on anything meant you were in danger.”
“The neighbors thought we were painters. We had paintings on the walls and paintbrushes and all kinds of colors.”
“The risk was the same if you did nothing. So at least working in the resistance, I could fight. I was fighting for humanity.”
“If I couldn't have saved so many people, I wouldn't have survived myself. Most of my friends who were survivors ended up committing suicide. It's just really tough, so many people were treated like animals with no respect. It's just really hard to bear.”
“I did what I had to when I had to and I was lucky to be able to do it.”
Jack Hayford, 88, was the longtime pastor of The Church on the Way in Van Nuys, Calif. He died Saturday January 7, 2023.
Quotable Quotes:
“The Bible is ... as necessary to spiritual life as breath is to natural life. There is nothing more essential to our lives than the Word of God.”
“Breakthrough happened around me when breakup happened within me.”
“The words that come out of our mouths are a direct indicator of what is in our hearts.”
“Rule with the heart of a servant, and serve with the heart of a king. This is how Jesus used His authority.”
Kenneth Hill Rowe, 90, was a North Korean Air Force pilot when he defected with his Soviet-made MIG to the United States in 1953. He died December 26, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“[In North Korea] You flew until you died. I almost lost my life many times.” On the risk of defecting: “I figured I had a 20 percent chance of success. I thought that was good enough.”
“Nobody seemed to know what to do. I shouted ‘Motorcar, motorcar, motorcar,’ which was about the only English I remembered from high school, hoping that someone would bring an automobile to drive me to headquarters.”
Joyce Meskis, 80, was the former owner of the famed Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver, Colorado. She died December 22, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“I grew up in an ethnic neighborhood where you had your little grocery store and your bar on the corner. And you had your little book shop and local library down the block. Retail was different then. The first change we saw was the supermarket phenomenon, which forced many shops out of business.”
“I’m a bookseller who still, 50 years after my first bookselling job, gets a thrill out of seeing a person’s eyes light up with the joyful and thoughtful pleasure of reading a book.”
“It seems to me the legacy of any bookstore is in the love of reading and the critical thinking fostered in the customers we’ve served. One hopes it carries forward, playing some small part in making a better world.”
Walter Cunningham, 90, was a member of the first manned Apollo mission. He died January 3, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“We carried the nation’s hope with us. Twenty-one months before, a fire on the very pad from which we launched had killed three of our teammates. One more setback now, and the prospects of landing a man on the moon before 1970 would be gone forever.”
“The task wasn’t only technical. We also had to address any psychological barriers that still remained.”
“I consider it a spectacle I took part in. I came away thinking there wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.”
"About 20 years ago, a small group of scientists became concerned that temperatures around the Earth were unreasonably high and a threat to humanity. In their infinite wisdom, they decided: 1) that CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels were abnormally high, 2) that higher levels of CO2 were bad for humanity, 3) that warmer temperatures would be worse for the world, and 4) that we are capable of overriding natural forces to control the Earth's temperature. Not one of these presumptions (opinions) has proven to be valid."
James Merritt Ives was an American lithographer. He died on January 3, 1895.
Quotable Quotes:
When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” – Ansel Adams
“Taking an image, freezing a moment, reveals how rich reality truly is.” – Unknown
“I don’t trust words. I trust pictures.”— Gilles Peress
“Every artist has a central story to tell, and the difficulty, the impossible task, is trying to present that story in pictures.” — Gregory Crewdson
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee.” – Proverbs 23:7
Pope Benedict XVI, 95, was head of the Catholic Church between April 19, 2005 and February 28, 2013. He died December 31, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
"Truth is not determined by a majority vote."
"We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God.”
"The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness." “The world needs people who discover the good, who rejoice in it and thereby derive the impetus and courage to do good.”
The number of deaths in the United States in 2022 are expected to fall by 7%.
Quotable Quotes:
“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.” – Jim Rohn
“Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.” – Henry Van Dyke
“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.” – Benjamin Franklin
Pelé was an international soccer star sensation who transformed the game around the world. He died Thursday December 29, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.”
“The more difficult the victory, the greater the happiness in winning.”
“I don't believe there is such a thing as a 'born' soccer player. Perhaps you are born with certain skills and talents, but quite frankly, it seems impossible to me that one is actually born to be an ace soccer player.”
Herb Kelleher, 87, was the founder of Southwest Airlines. He died January 4, 2019.
Quotable Quotes:
"Your people come first, and if you treat them right, they'll treat the customers right."
"You don't hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills."
"If you don't treat your own people well, they won't treat other people well."
One piece of advice that always stuck in my mind is that people should be respected and trusted as people, not because of their position or title.
Arnold Fulton, 91, was an umbrella manufacturer in the United Kingdom. He died October 6, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“There were six people who risked their lives to save mine, including one priest who was shot by the communists in 1969 because he was too outspoken.”
“I hold no grudge against the German people.”
“I knew if I could develop a colorful range [of umbrellas] with superior quality I would have my niche.”
“I can be quite impulsive, and I think in business you must seize opportunities.”
“I wouldn’t say I was the best businessman in the world. I seem to have just been very lucky.”
Don Christopher, 88, was best known as the “Garlic King.” He died December 12, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“We’ve made garlic fun. You’ve got garlic festivals everywhere. And all those health considerations. It’s always in the news.”
'The last thing we would ever have thought of doing was to make an odorless garlic. We say: 'Brush your teeth. Use mouthwash. Eat a lemon. But get rid of the odor altogether? Never.''
Robert L. May, 71, was a copywriter for the Montgomery Ward Department Store, and best known for writing, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” He died August 11, 1976.
Quotable Quotes:
"I was heavily in debt at age 35, still grinding out catalogue copy. Instead of writing the great American novel, as I'd always hoped, I was describing men's white shirts."
“I needed Rudolph more than ever. Gradually, I buried myself in the writing.”
"Nobody wanted him (Rudolph), not with 6 million copies already distributed. Finally, I found a publisher, a little guy with a big nose, who said he knew what it was like for Rudolph and was willing to take a chance on a printing."
Franco Harris, 72, was an NFL Hall of Fame running back with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He died December 21, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“How you look at a situation is very important, for how you think about a problem may defeat you before you do anything about it.”
“When you get discouraged or depressed, try changing your attitude from negative to positive and see how life can change for you.”
“Remember, your attitude toward a situation can help you to change it. You create the very atmosphere for defeat or victory.”
“It’s not a thing of how many carries, but were you effective when you did carry.”
Stanley Drucker, 93, was the principal clarinetist with the New York Philharmonic, where he served for 60 years. He died Monday December 19, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“You absorb the personality and talent of whoever’s up on the podium.”
“You learn all of this stuff. And after a point, somebody has to tell you, ‘Forget it all, just go out and play.’”
“You give and take; you don’t only take. It’s a chamber music situation. You play to enhance. [You need to know] what you have inside, what your sensitivity is.”
Jay H. Leve, 66, was the founder of SurveyUSA. He died on December 5, 2022.
Quotable Quotes: “We could do for pennies what they were doing for dollars, and we could do in hours what they were doing in days.”
“I revolutionized the public opinion polling business by eliminating the single largest cost of conducting research; by shortening turnaround time; by changing how survey research is priced; by changing how questions are asked; and by re-thinking how best to collect data.”
“Unbounded creativity combined with an ability to synthesize, write and edit is what made me successful.”
Frank Shakespeare, 97, was a television executive whose sharp relationship and communication skills helped change history. He died on December 14, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“When people everywhere can see, read, and hear everything that happens—at the time it happens—there will be little incentive to absorb officially distributed material, except in closed societies.”
“I know of no effective substitute for the exchanges of exhibits, concerts, theater productions, and other cultural events or face‐to‐face meetings with opinion‐makers, artists, scientists, and tourists.”
“I am hopeful that with the massive development of communications we shall be able to live in a world where free access to the minds of people everywhere will enable us to achieve our goals through competition in thoughts and ideas rather than in armaments and power pressures.”
Over 180,000 people die every day around the world. That’s over 2 deaths per second. Of course, most of them we’ll never meet or know anything about – but everyone single one of them meant the world to somebody.
Quotable Quotes:
"The value of life is not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them; a man may live long yet very little." - Michel de Montaigne
"If you truly believe in the value of life, you care about all of the weakest and most vulnerable members of society." - Joni Eareckson Tada "To add value to others, one must first value others." - John C. Maxwell
Walt Disney, 65, was an animator, film maker and theme park pioneer. He died December 15, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”
“I'd say it's been my biggest problem all my life. It's money. It takes a lot of money to make these dreams come true.”
“Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.”
"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."
Frances Hesselbein, 107, was the former CEO of the Girl Scouts of America. She died December 11, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“The purpose of life is to love and be loved. In that order.”
“To serve is to live.”
“We should be engaged and involved in moving across sectors.”
“It’s the quality and character of the leader that determines performance and results. All of us lead in our own way, and when we don’t see ourselves as categories, we are far more effective.”
Anna Mary Roberts, 101, was an American painter who famously took up her crafted at the age of 77. She died December 13, 1961.
Quotable Quotes:
“Life is what you make it.”
“I would never sit back in a rocking chair, waiting for someone to help me.”
“A strange thing is memory, and hope; one looks backward, and the other forward; one is of today, the other of tomorrow. Memory is history recorded in our brain, memory is a painter, it paints pictures of the past and of the day.”
Air Force Colonel Joseph Kittinger, 94, held the world record for decades for freefalling from the edge of space. He died Friday December 9, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“Life is an adventure, and I’m an adventurer. You just have to go for it. That’s the American way.”
“As I jumped, I prayed, ‘Lord, take care of me now.’ That was the most fervent prayer I ever said in my life.”
“Everybody wants coconuts, but nobody has the guts to go up there and get them.”
Mills Lane, 85, was a Nevada judge and well-known boxing referee. He died Tuesday December 6, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“Let’s get it on!”
“My window of time is about a quarter of a second. That’s how long I’ve got to make a lot of decisions. How hurt is the guy? Can he defend himself? Basically is he in real trouble? It’s not long.”
“We must focus on people as people, regardless of race, creed, color or gender.”
“Do you realize marriage is a life sentence, no parole?”
Gary Rasor, 83, was an Army veteran and Home Depot clerk tragically killed trying to stop a shoplifter. He died on November 30, 2022.
The Rasor Family has established a GoFundMe campaign “to help raise funds for medical expenses, funeral expenses, family travel expenses, and some reward money so we can speed up the process of bringing his assailant to justice.”
Click here for more information.
Sal Durante, 81, gained fame for catching Roger Maris’ 61st home run on October 1, 1960. He died Thursday December 1, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“I watched the pitching motion, the release of the ball, and I had my eye on the ball all the way to Roger’s bat.”
“I thought it was a million-to-one-chance.”
Nicholas Bollettieri, 91, was a Hall of Fame tennis coach who ran the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida. He died Sunday December 3, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“You can't be patient if you're not strong.”
"Believe in yourself and never never doubt your ability to do it."
“Only a few, determined individuals possess the resolve and focus to become the best at anything; and I wanted to be one of them.”
“With dreams comes responsibility.”
Bob McGrath, 90, was a children’s television performer who starred for over 50 years on the PBC classic, “Sesame Street.” He died December 4, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“Bottom line, I got my job from 5-year-olds.”
“Not only is it a great job working with great people, but knowing the impact that ‘Sesame Street’ has had on millions of kids all over the world has to be the most gratifying thing that anyone could possibly hope for. Having the opportunity of doing this has been phenomenal,”
“I’m really very happy to stay home with my wife and children a little bit more. I’d be so greedy if I wanted five minutes more.”
Hiroshi Miyamura was the first Japanese American to be awarded the Medal of Honor. He received it for his gallant service in the Korean War, during which time he was a POW for 27 months. He died November 29, 2022. Quotable Quotes:
“I didn’t want to see my men killed. I didn’t think I was doing anything heroic.”
“To me, the flag represents the men and women who defended this country. … Throughout history, it has been the symbol of this country.”
“In combat, you have to make decisions, and you don’t know whether it’s right or wrong. I asked God for guidance, and he helped me make decisions.”
Freddie Roman, 86, was a comedian and former dean of the New York Friars Club. He died November 26, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“My humor is basically exaggeration of real life.”
“I took a cholesterol test. My number came back 911.”
“The one thing about the Jewish audiences in the mountains, you had to be good. If you weren’t good, they let you know. They didn’t boo. They were very respectful. They just got up and walked out. And if you were no good, at the end of the night you were working to 200 chairs.”
John Brown Jr. was a Kentucky business mogul best known for purchasing Kentucky Friend Chicken from Colonel Harland Sanders and serving one-term as the state’s governor.
Quotable Quotes:
“Let me be free; let me be myself. I am different.”
“Colonel Sanders is an artist, and like all artists he is a perfectionist and he has painted a dream for all of us.”
“I worked hard for my money. I made it legally, and I paid taxes on it. If I want to take it out of a bank in wheelbarrows, that’s my business. It’s my money, and I can do with it what I want.”
Michael Maccoby, 89, was a business psychologist and author, perhaps best known for his book, “The Productive Narcissist.” He died November 5, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“I think a sense of humor is the emotional equivalent of a sense of realism. One should not take everything seriously, and everybody takes some things seriously.”
“Why would you ever rest from what you love?”
“Promising young leaders should be given responsibility early on. Even at the top, leaders should keep learning. Perhaps, especially at the top when they think they know it all.”
Alvin Segal, 89, was a Canadian American businessman whose company, Peerless Suits, made private label suit brands for numerous department stores. He died November 4, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“No one is more surprised than I am by the events that have taken place during my eighty-three years of life.”
“My heroes weren’t baseball players or movie stars. They were Franklin Roosevelt, General Dwight Eisenhower, and General Douglas MacArthur.”
"Don't look back - you'll only get a crick in your neck."
Robert Clary, 96, was a French born actor , who despite being held captive in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, would go on to gain fame by playing a POW in the hit sitcom, “Hogan’s Heroes.” He died November 16, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
"The whole experience was a complete nightmare, the way they treated us, what we had to do to survive. We were less than animals. Sometimes I dream about those days. I wake up in a sweat terrified for fear I'm about to be sent away to a concentration camp. But I don't hold a grudge because that's a great waste of time. Yes, there's something dark in the human soul. For the most part human beings are not very nice. That's why when you find those who are, you cherish them."
"The show was a satire set in a stalag for prisoners of war, where conditions were not pleasant but in no way comparable to a concentration camp, and it had nothing to do with Jews.”
"Showbiz is like a roller coaster and you take what roles are offered to you.”
Gerson “Bud” Friedman, 90, was a promoter who pioneered the modern-day comedy club. He died November 8, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“I’ve always been a ham.”
“Richard Pryor once said I had taken advantage of him because he was Black, and I was absolutely heartbroken. When I got home my wife said, ‘You should have told him you take advantage of all performers, regardless of race, creed or color.’”
Robert Kern, 96, grew a small business selling generators out of his garage into a $1 billion empire. His motto? Solve big problems! He died November 8, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“If you are only working to solve problems you can accomplish in your lifetime, you are solving problems that are too small.”
“A company is not defined by its bricks and mortar. It is defined by its people.”
David Davis, 86, wrote and produced “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” as well as “The Bob Newhart Show.” He also created “Taxi.” He died November 4, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“The key to the show, believe it or not, was that we wanted to give him [Bob Newhart] a life at home. We wanted to do a show like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, where he lives and where he works. … We did not want to do a show with kids. We did not want to do a show with dogs and pets like the old situation comedies of all.”
“We always just wanted to do an honest, real show about real people. When you do a show for six years, the real people become less real.”
Mehran Karami Nasseri was an Iranian refugee who lived in Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport for nearly 20 years. He passed away November 12, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
''The airport is not bad, is very active and functions every day. I see different passengers every week from all over the world and it is quite interesting.''
“I realize I am famous. I wasn’t interesting until I came here.”
Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr., was a comedian who became a household name in the 1980s, largely attributed to his physical style of presentation – primarily smashing things like watermelons on stage. He was born July 24, 1946. He died November 11, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“I was watching comics, and I felt like I could do it better. So I just stated, and I did it.”
“If ‘pro’ is the opposite of ‘con,’ is ‘progress’ the opposite of ‘congress’”?
“I have so much fun being a new dad. Everyday would be a new joke especially seeing the world through my daughter’s eyes.”
Fred Hickman was a popular sports television broadcaster. He was born October 17, 1956. He died November 12, 2022.
“The best kids are usually in athletics. That benefits the kid and the community.”
“One of the biggest compliments I get is ‘I really don’t like sports, but I like watching your show.’”
"What job could be more fun? I think I'll keep it."
Dr. Edward C. Prescott was a Nobel Prize winning economist. He was born December 26, 1940. He died November 6, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“You can’t spend your way to prosperity.”
“Sometimes pessimism or optimism gets popular, and it's contagious.”
“There is an old maxim which states that good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from poor judgment. I think something similar can be said of government policy, to wit: Good policy comes from experience, and experience comes from poor policy.”
George Paz was the chairman and former CEO of Express Scripts. He died October 23, 2022 at the age of 67.
Quotable Quotes:
“It’s critical to surround oneself with a strong team.”
“The cost and quality of health care is a great concern to all Americans.”
Dr. Samuel Katz was a pediatrician and virologist best known for helping develop the measles and polio vaccines. He was born May 29, 1927. He died October 31, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
"Every time a mother holds her healthy infant to be immunized, she is demonstrating great faith in the potential benefit and safety of the vaccine and trust in the clinician who recommended it."
“I came along at the right time, in the right laboratory, with the right colleagues.”
Ray Guy was an NFL Hall of Fame punter. He was born December 29, 1949. He died November 3, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“As I look back on what I've achieved in my life, I realize it all started growing up in a very warm, loving and caring family life.”
“You have to respect people – and they got to respect you.”
“A God-given talent is one of the greatest gifts an individual can be blessed with. But to use a God given gift for just one's self is not the answer. The true benefit of a gift is to share with others.”
Mary Hoffman Sheppard was a teacher, mother and the deeply devoted wife of New York Yankees public address announcer, Bob Sheppard. She died August 6, 2022 at the age of 95.
Quotable Quotes:
“Always pray before making a decision and keep balance in your life.”
“Bob’s advice is good advice. When communicating, always be clear, concise and correct.”
Stephen B. Douglass was the former president of CRU/Campus Crusade for Christ. A graduate of MIT and Harvard Business School, he was convicted to utilize his gifts and talents in service of the Lord. He died Saturday October 29, 2022 at the age of 77.
Quotable Quotes:
“God can use you probably more than He already is. If you are open.”
“There are many ways to make a difference in people’s lives. But none is more significant than helping people establish a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.”
“I can’t wait for the day when we’ll never have to say ‘goodbye’ to each other ever again.”
Msgr. John Paul Meier was a Roman Catholic priest perhaps best known for his multi-volume work, “A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus.” He was born August 8, 1942. He died October 18, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“Education is the process by which you unlearn everything you once knew.”
“Who did Jesus claim to be? He apparently was quite sure of who he was, although no one since has been. The crux of the problem lies in the paradox that although Jesus rarely spoke about his own status, he implicitly made himself the pivotal figure in the final drama he was announcing and inaugurating.”
“What is beyond dispute is that Jesus of Nazareth is one of those perennial questions in history with which mankind is never quite done. In a ministry of two or three years he attracted and infuriated his contemporaries, mesmerized and alienated the ancient world, unleashed a movement that has done the same ever since, and so changed the course of history forever.”
Jerry Lee Lewis was a legendary American musician. He was born on September 29, 1935. He died October 28, 2022.
“Faithfulness in small things leads to faithfulness in great things, and never the other way around.” “I work to please my audience.”
“My momma always said, 'You and Elvis are pretty good, but y'all ain't no Chuck Berry.”
John Shea was a prolific home builder and chairman of J.F. Shea Company. He was born September 29, 1926. He died October 16, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“If you really want to help inner-city families, the best place to put your efforts and your dollars is in Catholic schools. They are very, very effective.”
“That [working with laborers] was probably the best learning experience I ever had,” he said. “I learned the way they think. When I got to be a supervisor, I didn’t yell at guys or go after them in too tough a way.”
Jules Bass was a famed director, producer and composer. He was born September 16, 1935. He died October 25, 2022.
Company: Rankin/Bass Entertainment
Quotable Quotes:
“If you're judging any creative effort, longevity is the reward.”
Red Auerbach was an NBA Hall of Fame coach and general manager with the Boston Celtics. He was born September 20, 1917. He died October 28, 2006.
Quotable Quotes:
“Take pride in what you do. The kind of pride I'm talking about is not the arrogant puffed-up kind; it's just the whole idea of caring - fiercely caring.”
“Everyone is born with a certain potential. You may never achieve your full potential, but how close you come depends on how much you want to pay the price.”
“I don't believe in statistics. There are too many factors that can't be measured. You can't measure a ballplayer's heart.”
“Winners train, losers complain. Give me twelve players that want to win and they will find a way to win.”
Roger Welsch was a professor of anthropology turned storyteller born November 6, 1936. He died September 30, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
“My life is a series of stories, so I have to tell you a story.”
“In Lincoln academic circles everybody around me is the same. They’re all professors. In suburbia, everybody pretty much has the same income. But in Dannebrog, I sit down for breakfast and converse with the banker, the town drunk, the most honest man in town, a farmer, a carpenter and my best friend.”
“My little town is like an extended family. There are my favorite uncles. A mean cousin or two. Some kin I barely see and do not miss. And some I can never get enough of.”
There are so many surprises. Every week out here when we turn on television to listen to the weather, there’s a new record set — record highs, record lows, record change, record snowfall, record draught. That means we don’t know anything yet. We haven’t the foggiest notion what this place is like. We still don’t know what the parameters are of this place.”
Beryl Benacerraf was a pioneering radiologist born April 29, 1949. She died October 1, 2022.
Quotable Quotes:
"Because of dyslexia, my brain works differently, and I can see these patterns. I do have a gift that other people don’t have, and I will always stay ahead of the crowd and see more in an image than other people. You can’t overcome it; you can work around it and make it work for you, but it never goes away. That’s probably a good thing, because if dyslexia went away, then the other gifts would go away, too."
“You develop the ability to be a big-picture person rather than a detail-oriented person, dyslexics think much faster, and it’s a more creative way of thinking. I’m very proud of it.”
“I was never accommodated. I had to swim in the waters with everybody else.”
Dietrich Mateschitz was an Austrian billionaire businessman born May 20, 1944. He died October 22, 2022.
Company: Red Bull
Quotable Quotes:
“I don't believe in 50 friends. I believe in a smaller number. Nor do I care about society events. It's the most senseless use of time.”
“It’s a must to believe in one’s products.”
“The most dangerous thing for a branded project is low interest.”
What a Life! Lessons from Legends Podcast is a daily commentary featuring 90 second (or so) obituaries of interesting people who lived interesting and meaningful lives. Bestselling biographer Paul Batura believes we can and must learn from those who just died. In fact, we often learn as much or even more from their successes as we do from their mistakes. The best life is the life that makes the most of this one – and yet reaches happily and faithfully for the next.