There are lots of folks eulogizing Andy Rooney yesterday and today. He died at the age of 92 on Friday, only one month after his last commentary on “60 Minutes” before he retired. The funeral services will be private. We can only hope there will be a public memorial service later for the legions of people who admired the man.
Almost a year ago, on the November 28, 2010 program, Rooney did a commentary about living to be 100 years old. He said that there are currently 70,000 Americans over the age of 100. He noted that many said having a sense of humor and laughing help you live longer.
Rooney said, “I’m pretty old already (he was 91 at the time) and I don’t feel as if I’m about to die tomorrow, either. If I’m not here next week, you’ll know I was wrong.”
His commentary the previous week was about not starting his Christmas shopping yet. I was inspired to send him a copy of A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die as an early Christmas gift. Whether he or his children took advantage of the advice, I don’t know. I sure hope so.
Perhaps we can have an Andy Rooney comment-a-thon in his honor. What is it about the cotton in pill bottles and all the junk we have floating around in our lives? His ability to say what was on all of our minds in such an engaging and curmudgeonly fashion will be missed.