(no subject)
Curt Miller died today. He succumbed to pancreatic cancer sometime during the day, following a nine-month struggle against the disease. The news hit just as many of us were preparing to head home for the day.
Curt is the first colleague whose passing I've ever experienced and had to mourn. He was a hard worker, an inspiration and a mentor of sorts, though he may not have known it. We came from similar backgrounds -- both growing up outside Chicago, albeit 30 years apart. He loved to laugh, played polka music for us on Fridays and had a mind which never stopped working. He was devout in his faith and I'm sure I've never wanted so much for there to be a heaven for someone to go to.
I visited him twice in the time between his final day at work and his death. My goal was to show I cared for him and his health (both mental and physical), and I hope I accomplished that (though I have to admit I feel I could have done more).
To say Curt meant a lot to all of us in the newsroom is an understatement. When Joe Wambach read Curt's obituary on the 6 o'clock news tonight he didn't cry until the end, whereupon we all began to realize the day we knew for months was coming had finally -- and regrettably -- arrived.
Shortly after Curt was diagnosed with an inoperable cancer in January, he sent me a book published in 1906. It's a book written by a man who tried to teach his reader about all the errors which can be made with the English language. Sort of a stylebook for people who Curt and I dubbed "grammar snobs". He told me I could only keep the book if I laughed at the definition of the word "flap-doodle". That definition reads:
"an inelegant term for 'pretentious silly talk characterized by an affectation of superior knowledge.' Twaddle is a preferable synonym."
We laughed from time to time that just when we thought we had exactly the right way of doing something grammatically which everyone else did wrong, we, too, would be proved incorrect. I did laugh at the definition, and got to keep the book. He also noted the book's difference in the definitions of "bravery" and "courage", which reads:
"Courage is rather a virtue of the mind, whereas bravery is temperamental. Your courage may ooze out, as it were, at the palms of your hands, but bravery which is instinctive, remains."
Curt showed courage in all facets of his life. He told difficult stories and asked hard questions. He dared to write for the person who loved to listen. He declared himself at ease with his mortality and prepared to move on from the human world. He taught us all how to live and, in the end, how to die with dignity and with courage. I'll miss him dearly.
Curt is the first colleague whose passing I've ever experienced and had to mourn. He was a hard worker, an inspiration and a mentor of sorts, though he may not have known it. We came from similar backgrounds -- both growing up outside Chicago, albeit 30 years apart. He loved to laugh, played polka music for us on Fridays and had a mind which never stopped working. He was devout in his faith and I'm sure I've never wanted so much for there to be a heaven for someone to go to.
I visited him twice in the time between his final day at work and his death. My goal was to show I cared for him and his health (both mental and physical), and I hope I accomplished that (though I have to admit I feel I could have done more).
To say Curt meant a lot to all of us in the newsroom is an understatement. When Joe Wambach read Curt's obituary on the 6 o'clock news tonight he didn't cry until the end, whereupon we all began to realize the day we knew for months was coming had finally -- and regrettably -- arrived.
Shortly after Curt was diagnosed with an inoperable cancer in January, he sent me a book published in 1906. It's a book written by a man who tried to teach his reader about all the errors which can be made with the English language. Sort of a stylebook for people who Curt and I dubbed "grammar snobs". He told me I could only keep the book if I laughed at the definition of the word "flap-doodle". That definition reads:
"an inelegant term for 'pretentious silly talk characterized by an affectation of superior knowledge.' Twaddle is a preferable synonym."
We laughed from time to time that just when we thought we had exactly the right way of doing something grammatically which everyone else did wrong, we, too, would be proved incorrect. I did laugh at the definition, and got to keep the book. He also noted the book's difference in the definitions of "bravery" and "courage", which reads:
"Courage is rather a virtue of the mind, whereas bravery is temperamental. Your courage may ooze out, as it were, at the palms of your hands, but bravery which is instinctive, remains."
Curt showed courage in all facets of his life. He told difficult stories and asked hard questions. He dared to write for the person who loved to listen. He declared himself at ease with his mortality and prepared to move on from the human world. He taught us all how to live and, in the end, how to die with dignity and with courage. I'll miss him dearly.