Guess who died?

When Ernie Kovacs died in 1962, he was noted as the most avant-garde comedian of his day... a guy way ahead of his time. One of his bits on his television show was "Mr. Answer Man." When asked, "If the earth is round, how come no one falls off?"

"My good man," he responded, "people are falling off all the time."

Dick Tufeld died this week at age 85. If you are old enough, you know him as the voice of Robbie, the robot in an old TV series, Lost in Space. "Danger! Danger Will Robinson," was his classic line. He had a great announcer voice and was in so many of the TV shows and movies of that era that you would know him if you were alive then.

As Ernie Kovacs might say, people die all the time. Closest of those to my heart is my mom. She died last week. She was best known as a wonderful lady filled with wit, charm and kindness. In a nursing home suffering dementia her last years, she was still a character.

Just last fall, she was sitting half asleep in her wheel chair between my wife and me during one of our visits. For no apparent reason, she opened her eyes, looked at us and asked, "You know that old saying, into your arms I fly and there, I shall gladly die?"

After a brief pause for timing, she concluded. "That's a bunch of crap."

Pretty darned good for someone 98 years old. But then she was pretty good herself. Thanks mom. Love you.