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The Screaming Moderate

Sunday comics

3/30/2014

2 Comments

 
 I'm a regular reader of letters to the editor and obituaries. I find some of the best writing in obits and enjoy the stories of famous and not famous people' lives. One letter and one obit stood out to me the past couple days. 

The letter was in the Washington Post yesterday. It was in reaction to a language usage in the Post. Reader Audrey O. Stewart had said she didn't understand a quote containing the phrase "a social more." William Collinge of Gettysburg, Penn., wrote: "I'd have thought it was widely known that when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie -- that's a more!"  

Then there was the obit today of Jack Ready, a former Secret Service agent who was in the car behind JFK's when the bullets flew in Dallas. At one point in his career, Ready had been assigned to protect then-National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger. The obit closes with this story:

"Kent Jefferies, a younger Secret Service agent and friend of Mr. Ready’s, related one episode in a eulogy at his memorial service.  'I know you are brave and are good with a weapon,' Kissinger once told Mr. Ready. 'What would you do if we were attacked by terrorists trying to kidnap me?' 

'I have my instructions, sir,' Mr. Ready replied, knowing that the secretary would not mind his ribbing. 'You are not to be taken alive.'"

2 Comments
Larz Neilson
3/30/2014 01:13:52 am

When I worked co-op in Vermont 40 yrs ago, a neighbor was tne "necrology editor" at the Post. A really good writer. Never had a chance to get to know him very well.
Obits in our paper are now paid announcements, written by someone at the funeral home, and God forbid that the newspaper change a word. Everyone dies surrounded by their loving family. He married the "love of his life" (always in quotes). I think the undertakers have a contest for the most uses of the word "beloved."
Too bad I wasn't around to write Custer's obit. "He died surrounded by loving native Americans."

Reply
B. Jay
3/30/2014 01:21:50 am

"surrounded by loving native Americans"...love it!

Reply



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    B. Jay Cooper

    B. Jay is a former deputy White House press secretary to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He also headed the communications offices at the Republican National Committee, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Yale University. He is a former reporter and is the retired deputy managing director of APCO Worldwide's Washington, D.C., office.
    He is the father of three daughters and grandfather of five boys and one girl. He lives in Marion, Mass.

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