Posted by js on March 10, 2004 at 23:20:15:
In Reply to: Re: Donald Blakeslee (1940-2004) posted by Mike Sanders on March 10, 2004 at 16:21:56:
I would hope that he had a great concert series the week before he was diagnosed. I only knew this man from the great sound that comes out of my speakers from my old Phillips CO l.p.'s (these days with a few pops and crackles), but anyone who did something for four decades surely loved doing it...hopefully nearly as much as the anticipation of retirement.
Whether I live another day, year, decade, or several decades, I hope that I will be "doing stuff" right up until my demise. My Dad died at age 68 (young, as far as I'm concerned), but right before he was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor he had just made a huge car trip around the U.S. and (with his hands) built some big rock walls and rock steps all over his (obviously steep) property. Though he did get about five or so years of "retirement", I really feel like he got just as big a kick out of working at Sears. If retirement hadn't been in the cards, he would have alternatively had a ball coming up with newer and better ways to make the Sears catalog distribution center/warehouses in in Memphis more and more profitable.
When people that I know are suddenly gone, it reminds me to enjoy today...and to not plan so much.