This Grandma cannot remember when I started reading obituaries, but it seems that the obituary page is one that now catches my eye. Oh my! A long (we never say old) dear friend also cannot remember when she started reading the obituary page, but she said she always looks at the ages of the deceased. I do too. This past week, two different members of the music group Jefferson Starship died, both in their seventies. For our grandchildren who may read this, listen to their songs as the Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, which are fabulous. For your information, according to Wikipedia, the “Jefferson Starship is an American rock band formed in the early 1970s by several members of the former psychedelic rock group Jefferson Airplane.“ They died too young, if you ask us! We prefer deaths of those in their late eighties or nineties.
On February 6, 2016, reading the daily newspaper, the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, that we Boomers still receive in hard copy in the morning, I came upon the obituary of Edgar Mitchell, who was one of the astronauts who walked on the moon and died at 85 years old. I remember watching the first astronaut walk on the moon and the astronauts, when we were young adults, were important in our Boomer lives. They represented our generation, where the moon was just the beginning of what we could accomplish. So his obituary really attracted my attention.
What was interesting about Edgar Mitchell’s obituary were the several facets of his life, above and beyond his accomplishment of being the sixth person to walk on the moon on February 5, 19 71.
First, he went from astronautics and aeronautics and scientific studies at the Massachusetts Institute of technology, and studying scientific matter too after he left NASA, to devoting his life to metaphysical study, saying he believed in faith healing and out of body experiences. He began to pay attention to mysticism, and spiritual phenomena. I have heard as we age it seems we look toward the spiritual. He did this pretty early in life, in 1973, and when he had an opportunity to see beyond what we see. He grew and developed throughout his life, founding a not-for-profit organization dedicated to exploring the scientific foundation of psychic and spiritual phenomena, called Noetic, which according to his obituary in the New York Times published the same day, “it’s name is derived from the Greek word variously defined as intellect or inner wisdom.” The New York Times obituary quoted him as saying that he believed in UFOs and that this planet had been visited by other beings. How fascinating to come from someone so educated in his field! Yes, this grandma also reads the New York Times obituaries, another daily read.
Edgar Mitchell spoke and lectured throughout his life to groups of all kinds and all ages, and even donated a moon rock to a South Florida science museum. His legacy will live on in history.
Most important to this Grandma was what his family had to say about him. His daughter, who delivered a prepared statement for the media for her four siblings, said they considered themselves blessed, and that
“He was incredibly generous with his heart and his brain, making each of us a better person because we knew him and were shaped by him. The lessons of hard work, integrity, curiosity, as well as a deep understanding that all things are possible, is embedded in each of us.”
What a legacy! Not what he accomplished in his professional life, which will fade into some history book. What he accomplished in his family life will live on in the memories of his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Each of us can only wish that our families, when we pass, think of us in this most wonderful light.
We spend our lives striving for excellence in every facet of life, but in reality the only one that matters is how our family sees us and remembers us. A life well lived by Edgar Mitchell . . . .and in to his mid eighties, long enough to know a great grandchild.
Joy,
Mema
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