And then I wrote...

by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"

... that the average life span of a male born in the United States is about 76 years of age, so by the time an individual has beaten that number by a handful of years, as I have, he has outlived a number of people, relatives, associates, friends, acquaintances, etc.

Wasn’t it Yogi Berra who observed that “a lot of people my age are dead.”

That’s especially true, I think, when one grows up and ages pretty much always in the same town in which he was born.

I have not made a habit of eulogizing folks I knew who died. Some were worth some nice words, I know. Others didn’t make much of an impression, good or bad. Still others ... well, as that fairy tale mother cautioned, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.

I debated (appropriate slip in word usage?) devoting a column to the late Brother Leo Ryan, and finally decided to say something.

I have told folks who knew him that 1 think he was the smartest student to ever graduate from St. Patrick’s School. Challenged, I ask them to suggest somebody else, but there are few takers. I first became aware of Leo when he was probably a junior or senior in high school. That would have put me in fourth or fifth grade. Those familiar with St. Pat’s know that the grade school classes were on the south side and high school on the north, with the gym in between. From the second floor, we could see across to the other side. After the debate (see?) success he and his partner Dorothy Sheridan had at state, I recognized him. Ironically, Dorothy (Terhune) died just a few weeks before Leo did!

I recognized Leo’s name when he wrote for the Catholic Order of Foresters magazine while in Milwaukee, then pretty much lost track of him until the middle 1960’s, shortly after I became news editor of this newspaper. That’s when we got word that as a member of the Peace Corps, he had been made an honorary chief of the ruling tribe in Nigeria where he served.

In subsequent years, he submitted articles to the paper about his frequent world travels. I called him the Energizer Bunny. And he also sent us articles he researched about the abandoned post offices in Allamakee County, often with historical tidbits I had not read about in any formal history. I hope they were archived and the county museum and Waukon library can get a copies.

I think I know of his value to his order, the Clerics of St. Viator, but will not list them, because he would not confirm nor deny my suspicions.

He and I often had two-hour lunches when he was back in Waukon for holidays. I came away with new knowledge of world economics, and instead of buying lunch, thought I had in effect made a tuition payment!

After his trip to the Seychelles, I suggested a new tongue twister about the tourist trade there: She sells seashells by the seashore in the Seychelles. I got only a smile.

He used to drop me notes about things he read in my columns. Last one was dated May 12, just over a month before his death, and was about debate and St. Pat’s.

I know I will miss our contacts.