Summer is the season of middle age.
It is maturity -- the height of life halfway between vibrantspring and desolate winter.
And it is the season of funerals for the dead too young.
I attended my first funeral in June, when a close friend'sfather was killed in a car accident.
I awoke a month later to learn that my uncle had been found deadin his study. He was 54.
As summer changed into fall, I began to move on. But death isback on my mind these days.
Gov. Frank O'Bannon died of complications due to a strokeSaturday morning. He was 73. Singer Johnny Cash died of diabetesFriday. Comedian John Ritter -- only 54 -- died suddenly Thursdaynight. Another musician, Warren Zevon, 56, died Sept. 7 of a raretype of lung cancer.
Where can we take consolation in a week of so much death?
I know my uncle is still with me in the impression he had on mylife. His presence helped form the way I look at the world, mymorality and spirituality -- even my sense of humor.
Similarly, I know my friend's father had a profound effect, notjust on the woman she has become, but also on all the other liveshe touched.
O'Bannon, Cash, Ritter and Zevon surely had a similar influenceon their families and loved ones, but they also left a differentsort of legacy.
The governor, of course, became one of the forces that moldedour state's identity. His highest priority -- education -- is nowour highest priority, too. As long as there is an Indiana, he willbe a part of what makes the state what it is.
Cash, Ritter and Zevon will live on through the art thatsurvives them and the messages contained therein.
Cash might have been the best-recognized voice in country music,having recorded over 1,500 songs. His was the voice of truth, andthe songs it sang gave dignity to the struggles of everydaylife.
Ritter is best known for his role on the hit comedy "Three'sCompany." Very few gifts are as valuable as laughter, and he gavethat in spades. But he also had a serious side; Ritter was classclown AND student-body president. He idolized both Jerry Lewis andBobby Kennedy, according to an interview he gave the AssociatedPress in 1992.
Zevon lived with the knowledge of his impending death for ayear. A man who could find a song in anything, he wrote an albumabout the experience and lived long enough to see it succeed.
Like Cash, he sang songs about addiction and alcoholism. No onecan escape death and adversity. He gave those experiencesmeaning.
All these men have left American life, but they will remain apart of American culture. To say, "They are still with us as longas we remember them," would be as false as it isclich�d.
They're still with us, whether we consciously remember them ornot. Their art and beliefs changed the way millions of people thinkand live.
Still, it couldn't hurt to keep them in our thoughts andprayers.
The last song on Zevon's last album implores us: "Keep me inyour heart for awhile."
It's really the least we can do.
Write to Stephen at stevehj@mac.com
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