I don’t have to explain who Gloria Steinem is to the readers of this blog. I’m thankful for that.
The people who are famous when you’re young are forever embedded in our minds. They take on authority and vividness and an odd sort of timelessness. No one questions “everyone knows who (name of celebrity) is” until you’re older, and looking back, and realizing multiple generations behind you are clueless about the people who were significant to your early life. I overheard a teacher say recently she had mentioned John Wayne during class, and none of the students knew who he was.
The dynamic and photogenic Gloria Steinem came to my attention in the early 1970s. She was the face of the women’s movement. That was a time when people who supported the cause were called “women’s libbers” and not feminists. One time when I was a young boy my grandmother told me the story of people coming to her door lobbying for women to have the right to vote. She was a young teen herself. Grandma told me that of course she supported it. Why can’t a woman have a mind of her own? This would have been a year or two before ratification of the 19th amendment in 1920.
But the focus of this post is less about Gloria Steinem and more about the famous people we revered during our formative years and our shock as they age and pass away. I’m glad Carol Burnett is still alive — she’s 91 years old. Her show would run for 11 seasons and my heart was broken when it went off the air in 1978. I had been a mega fan since its first season.
But there are so many others who are already gone: Lucille Ball has been dead for 36 years. Mary Tyler Moore died seven years ago, aged 80. Johnny Carson died nearly 20 years ago. I’m sure you can come up with the names of stars and artists who seemed timeless (and ageless) who are really old now, or have been gone for many years.
My trusty iPhone occasionally asks if I want to view a “Through the Years” photo episode it has put together. I click it and there I am in my 40s, looking, well, young. So young! As I look at that face in the mirror now, it’s clear the years have caught up to me. I’m obsessed with trying to fully comprehend it and the passing of time. Over and over, it boggles me.
I’m retiring next year after 22 years of being an English professor. (I spent 20 years in the corporate world, primarily real estate and banking, before a late-in-life shift to academia.) Now that I’ve made the decision it has become real in ways it hadn’t when I was merely considering it. I’m looking forward to this next stage of life and figuring out how to make the best use of my time. I have many interests so I’m not concerned about filling my days. But I feel uneasy about how quickly time flies.
The list of the famous who are still on the planet is long: Warren Beatty is 87 years old. So is Roberta Flack. Sophia Loren is 89. Lily Tomlin is 84. Barbara Eden and Dan Rather are 92. Bob Newhart is 94.
(I was going to add that Willie Nelson is 91, but even when I was a teenager he seemed ancient.)
I’m not sure why Steinem’s age has hit me so hard. Maybe because I hadn’t thought of her in a long time, and so she had become embedded in my consciousness at her earlier age. But that’s the way life goes: one minute you’re admiring the luminous intelligence of Gloria Steinem on the news with Walter Cronkite, and then boom! … you’re marveling that she’s 90 years old.
Bart Rawlinson 
Yes it is always great to hold those who we admire in great respect and be amazed at the advancing of years! I remember OH so many years ago, you saying that one day you were going to meet Carol Burnett and I had every reason to believe you would. That would be a great story to hear about! (so did you ever meet?) It has been amazing to check through the years on who is STILL living for me. I would be amazed at who was in the upper 90s or even 100 or more! I spend so much time on Ancestry and I am always amazed to see how MANY people I grew up knowing in little Kaufman who were born in the 1800s, mostly 1880s and forward of course. I find it amazing how connected we all are. I traced a woman from Kaufman we knew, Lena Decker, and I was amazed to find her maiden name was Rawlinson. She was even from south Texas originally! Also I find recently that I have become friends–really an acquaintance actually–with someone in Austin you grew up with, a Dennis Ambrose. I have no idea if you had much contact with him or if you stayed in touch, but he owned a business in Austin the past twenty years or more upholstery shop. He sold it and has made a move to Bryan, TX. I found that he has lived there before. Interesting! Feel free to answer my inquiries here because I really would love a response. Skipping right on to my life, I found myself writing a letter to Doyle’s mother this spring, and it took me a while, because in a few days, June 30, it will have been THIRTY years ago that I lost Doyle. I never found anyone again, and over all these years, I have EVEN returned to my grief of that loss to in some way be close to him again. I would have never anticipated such a thing, but that is what loss sometimes does, believe it or not. Feel free to type me a few lines or if you feel led, my current email is simple, davidland1957@icloud.com. Love you Bart!
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HI Bart, I read your blog in Serbia. I have the same thoughts as you write about. I think it is a big part of aging, remembering luminaries of your past and marveling at their advanced age. By the way, I feel the same about Willie Nelson. He had been ancient forever! Hugs, Graham
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A nostalgic pleasure reading this! Thank you. My list would be different, but these days sometimes I feel like we are losing ALL “the greats,” and I feel real grief. I wonder who I can look up to, who will lead us. Sometimes, too, I think it means WE are supposed to be leading, and it scares me.
Happy for your retirement, Bart! Does this mean you’re retiring after Spring 2025? Sounds like an auspicious year for this! 😉
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Hi Riba,
Yes, my retirement will be June 1, 2025. I’m looking forward to it! Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment. I hope things are going smoothly for you in Palm Springs.
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Congratulations, Bart! I will be thinking of you and wishing you all good things. I am still going back and forth to L.A., but I have planned a few short trips to northern CA for the next few months! 🙂
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Great as always to get a post. I hope your neck issues have resolved and you are back to playing piano with both hands. Would love to see you. Take a walk perhaps? Glad to see your are one year from your Jubilación.
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