What to Write on My Tombstone
I will be donating my body to science, if they'll take it after I shuffle off this mortal coil. But despite an empty grave I may still want a tombstone anyway provided I can come up with a pithy phrase to cut into the stone.
I was thinking of something like:
"I still have a few blog articles left in me."
This came to me when I stumbled across an interesting collection of Epitaphs at a site called Last Words. Here are 13 interesting inscriptions:
Allen, Gracie and George Burns
Together Again
One of the most popular American comedy teams ever, George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen, first performed together in vaudeville in 1922 and continued their act on radio and television until 1958 when illness forced Gracie's retirement. Gracie died in 1964, but George continued to perform in movies and on television until his death at 100 in 1996.
Blanc, Mel
Mel Blanc's headstone at the "Hollywood Forever Cemetery" in Southern California.
Photo Credit: Wiki
Mel Blanc first achieved fame providing comical voices for radio programs to include The Jack Benny Program, Burns and Allen, and The Abbott and Costello Show. He found his true calling, though, as the voice of scores of cartoon characters during the golden years of American animation. Blanc characters include Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Woody Woodpecker, Tweety Bird, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, the Tasmanian Devil, Barney Rubble, Dino, Cosmo G. Spacely, Secret Squirrel, and many, many more. "That's all folks" is, of course Porky Pig's sign-off for Warner Brothers cartoons.
Brooke, Rupert
If I should die,
think only this of me:
That there's some corner
of a foreign field
That is for ever England.
Once proclaimed by Yeats to be the most handsome man in England, Brooke was a promising poet and had a volume of poetry ready for publication when war broke out in 1915. Brooke had volunteered for service and was on board ship bound for Gallipoli when on Easter Sunday in 1915--the same day that his volume of poetry was published--he died of blood poisoning and was buried on the Island of Skyros in the Aegean Sea.
Copernicus, Nicolaus
STA SOL NE MOEARE
(Stand, Sun, move not)
Dickinson, Emily
Called Back
Although today Dickinson is one of the best known American poets of the nineteenth century, she lived an isolated and secluded life and was practically unknown during her lifetime. Only a few of her 1800 poems were published while she lived, all anonymously.
Fairbanks, Douglas Sr.
Good Night Sweet Prince
and a flight of angels sing to rest
Fairbanks's epitaph, Horatio fairwell at Hamlet's death, is taken from Shakespeare. The same quotation is also used at the grave of Tyrone Power and John Barrymore.
Fitzgerald, Francis Scott Key "F. Scott"
So we beat on, boats, against
the current, borne back
ceaselessly into the past.
The last line in Fitzgerald's classic novel; a perfect epitaph him, for the novel, and for Gatsby. We will be who we are, and we are who we were. The past is inescapable.
Franklin, Benjamin
The Body of
B. Franklin, Printer
Like the Cover of an old Book
Its Contents turn out
And Stript of its Lettering & Guilding
Lies here. Food for Worms
For, it will as he believed
appear once more
In a new and more elegant Edition
corrected and improved
By the Author
When Ben Franklin was only 22 years old, he penned this epitaph. Sixty-four years later, he died peacefully in his sleep. His funeral in Philadelphia attracted over 20,000, which was at the time the largest gathering of mourners ever assembled in America. When Franklin's will was read, he left instructions not to use the epitaph, but to place a single line on his tombstone: "Benjamin and Deborah Franklin: 1790."
Gleason, Herbert John "Jackie"
And Away We Go
Jackie Gleason garnered his first television role as the title character in the series "The Life of Riley" in 1949, when other committments prevented William Bendix from appearing in the show's first year. In 1950, he began to host the "Cavalcade of Stars" for the small Dumont Television Network and created the format--dance numbers, monologues, and comedic sketches, like Ralph Kramden and The Honeymooners) that he would continue to use in his variety shows until they left the air 1970. At the conclusion of Gleason's begining monologue, his theme music would start and he would shuffle off the stage as he shouted, "And Aw-a-a-y We Go!"
Maris, Roger Eugene
61/61 Against All Odds
Roger Maris was trade to the New York Yankees in 1959, and the following year he led the league in slugging, rbi's, extra base hits, and total bases. He also won a Gold Glove and was named the American League's Most Valuable Player. Still, the New York fans and press couldn't stand him, and his midwestern attitude. The following year he and Mickey Mantle both attacked Babe Ruth's long standing record of 60 home runs in a season. The press and fans openly rooted against Maris and for Mantle. When Mantle went down with a leg injury, the New York fans and sportswriters continued to hope that Maris would not eclipse the Bambino's total. Throughout the ordeal, Roger maintained his cool and silence, which seemed to further infuriate his detractors. He broke the record on the last day of the season before only a few thousand fans in Yankee Stadium.
Poe, Edgar Allan
Fly
Quoth the Raven,
"Nevermore."
Poe was, of course, one of the preeminent American Romantic writers. Best known for his poetry and macabre short stories, he is also credited with inventing detective and crime fiction.
Starr, Myra Maybelle Shirley "Belle"
Shed not for her the bitter tear
Nor give the heart to vain regret
Tis but the casket that lies here
The gem that filled it sparkles yet
According to legend,the Bandit Queen Belle Starr had been a spy, a Confederate General, the brains behind many outlaw gang, and the consort of nearly every western badman including all of the Younger Brothers. In 1889, she was killed by a shotgun blast while horseback riding. Although there were multiple suspects including both of her children, the killer was never identified
Wilson, Samuel "Uncle Sam"
In Loving Memory
of
UNCLE SAM
On 15 September 1961, Samuel Wilson, an early 19th century meatpacker, was officially recognized by Congress as the namesake of Uncle Sam, "Resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives that the Congress salutes Uncle Sam Wilson of Troy, New York, as the progenitor of America's National symbol of Uncle Sam." Sam Wilson provided meat to U.S. soldiers stationed in upper New York during the War of 1812 in barrels stamped with the U.S. The soldiers, in turn, began to jokingly refer to the shipments as gifts from their Uncle Sam.
This has been a Thursday 13 post [# 67] and is updated on some Thursdays.
