Archive: February 2008
The Power of Words
I spent much of the day editing and updating our obituary of William F. Buckley Jr., the intellectual father of the modern conservative movement who died at his desk yesterday at age 82. The original story was written a few years ago by retired Post obituarist Bart Barnes, who graduated...
By Matt Schudel | February 27, 2008; 10:47 PM ET | Comments (0)
Going Up in Smoke
My recent foray into The Post's reporting on the waning days of Walt Whitman got me to thinking about the passing of other notables from days gone by. I looked up Mark Twain, who occasionally visited Washington and who was mentioned in The Post more than 400 times before his...
By Joe Holley | February 26, 2008; 3:59 PM ET | Comments (1)
Staring at the Sun
You cannot stare straight into the face of the sun, or death. La Rochefoucauld True? I suspect so, not only when we dare scrutizine our own demise but also when we come face to face with the passing of a loved one. Maybe that's what's happening when I'm interviewing a...
By Joe Holley | February 25, 2008; 10:02 AM ET | Comments (1)
The Fat Lady Sings for Thee
Any serious obit writer has more obits to do than she can handle. Some worthy ones never get completed. I'm not evolved enough to be an opera fan so I can't tell you how well known these people were, but it's tres interesting to read the obits in Opera News...
By Patricia Sullivan | February 22, 2008; 11:04 AM ET | Comments (0)
Joe Louis's Sister Dies of Hypothermia
An incredibly sad story, but the unfortunate obit lacks any revealing details of her relationship with her brother....
By Adam Bernstein | February 19, 2008; 4:43 PM ET | Comments (56)
Which Ex-Wife Called?
From today's Baltimore Sun, whose obit writers usually do admirable work: "Because of insufficient information given to The Sun, an obituary published in Saturday's editions for Col. William L. Rawlings Jr., a retired Baltimore police officer, failed to mention that five earlier marriages had ended in divorce." As our first...
By Patricia Sullivan | February 19, 2008; 10:43 AM ET | Comments (9)
Steve Fossett, Officially Dead
An Illinois judge yesterday declared the legal death of millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, who vanished during a routine flight in September. His wife petitioned for the legal declaration, and the judge said there was no reason to believe he intentionally disappeared. Newspapers around the world, including The Post, ran his...
By Matt Schudel | February 16, 2008; 1:17 PM ET | Comments (4)
When Lilacs Last Bloomed
The Washington Post covers the waning days of the poet Walt Whitman (Dec. 21, 1891-March 27, 1892) "Walt Whitman Dying: The Good Gray Poet is Beyond Hope of Recovery" (Dec. 21, 1891) "Walt Whitman Weaker" (Dec. 24) "Walt Whitman's End Near" (Dec. 25) "Walt Whitman Rallies" (Dec. 26) "Walt Whitman...
By Joe Holley | February 15, 2008; 9:57 AM ET | Comments (2)
Between the Weather and the Elections...
... Interesting people are still leaving this frail crust of earth. I'm biased, of course, but I thought the most compelling story in the paper today (Wednesday, Feb. 13) was Joe Holley's obituary of Glenn E. Wise, an inventor and official at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Joe has...
By Matt Schudel | February 13, 2008; 5:15 PM ET | Comments (0)
Habitually 'Convivial'?
Writing today's obituary for J. Michael Winston, I was reminded yet again of the difference between obits as news stories and obits as memorials. The distinction confuses a lot of newspaper readers. Writing an obit as news story, we have to report the facts of a person's life, which means...
By Joe Holley | February 13, 2008; 2:08 PM ET | Comments (0)
Hidden Stories
We've all had the experience of looking up a word in the dictionary and being distracted by another fascinating word, or looking on a bookshelf for one tome, only to find a related and utterly fascinating tale. So it was for me Friday, while working on Dr. Edward Chao's obit....
By Patricia Sullivan | February 9, 2008; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (3)
'Bloody Carnage'
For regular readers of Post obits, Bob Thompson's story in today's Style section is absolutely required reading.It's a fascinating profile of Drew Gilpin Faust, president of Harvard since last year and the author of a provocative new book about the Civil War. Entitled "This Republic of Suffering: Death and the...
By Joe Holley | February 7, 2008; 1:55 PM ET | Comments (1)
You Be the Editor
Last night, when the Post newsroom was in the full throes of Super Tuesday election frenzy, word came across the wires that Maharishi Mahesh Yogi died. We didn't get it in the Post, although the LA Times, with an extra three hours, did a nice job on its obit...
By Patricia Sullivan | February 6, 2008; 11:34 AM ET | Comments (5)
No One Dies of Old Age
Of all the questions we ask family members when we're gathering information for an obit, two invariably meet with the most resistance: cause of death and previous marriages. I can understand that second, third or fourth spouses might be reluctant to discuss their predecessors, but any marriage is (or should...
By Matt Schudel | February 6, 2008; 7:42 AM ET | Comments (4)
Britney Spears -- the Latest Craziness
A few weeks ago, John Rogers of the Associated Press wrote about preparing obits for young celebrities. Today Glamour magazine called, apparently following up on the same story. There's a ceaseless fascination with seemingly pre-mature deaths of pop singers and movie stars. So in that spirit, we bring you the...
By Adam Bernstein | February 5, 2008; 3:21 PM ET | Comments (1)
Blair House Aftermath
The death last Friday of retired Secret Service agent Floyd "Toad" Boring momentarily shined a light on a little-remembered episode of relatively recent American history -- the attempted assassination of President Harry S. Truman by two Puerto Rican nationalists. Boring, 92 at the time of his death, was one of...
By Joe Holley | February 5, 2008; 10:33 AM ET | Comments (0)
All Joking Aside
So a man tells a joke, and years later that's what ends up in his obituary? Such is the fate that befell Nixon-era agriculture secretary, Earl L. Butz, who died Saturday. Hey, a joke's a good way to go out; I'd love to leave 'em laughing. Unfortunately, Mr. Butz's obscene...
By Joe Holley | February 4, 2008; 11:11 AM ET | Comments (3)
