She died in 2003, 22 years ago today, at the age of 96. A good age. One that many close members of my own family have made it to, and beyond. I guess I have another almost two-and-a-half decades to live through, if I intend to keep the side up.
Which–absent adverse entanglements–I am determined to.
She was born into New England liberal and progressive wealth on May 12, 1907, only a few weeks before my own Uncle Arthur. He died in 2009 at the age of 102, and I’m proud to have known him in the intervening years.
I have no doubt that Kate was–as in the character of so many women she portrayed on stage and screen over the decades–quite a gal. Articulate. Literate. Determined. Unstoppable. Transformative.
And yet, real.
Real, even in her performances, one of my favorite of which is this one (it’s worth listening to the entire two minutes and eighteen seconds, but if you’re determined to do so, ignore the first nine and skip to Quote #1 at 1:50):
Yep. If more of us could do so, the world might be a better place.
God Bless. Rest in Peace.
