Obituaries

August 2022: Vin Scully, David McCullough, Olivia Newton-John

Three happily married legends recently died. They were masters of broadcasting, history and song. In showcasing their voluminous works of art, each were vital, romantic, cheerful, enduring and strong. There are lessons in their works and lives—genuine lessons for life—and this article skims the surface. The legacy these three leave is rare, astonishing and of a caliber of work that’s quickly slipping away.

They come from Pittsburgh, the Bronx and Australia—places with reputations for toughness, labor and industry. The three were old or older when they died. They’d each chosen challenging lives. They were largely adored—later in their lives—often for a superficial reason. That sex and skin color dominates today’s obituaries—if not on Autonomia—as anyone who’s read about the late Nichelle Nichols, Colin Powell, Mary Tyler Moore and Madeleine Albright knows, is unfortunate. It’s rare to read praise of persons of ability for having ability—especially recognition of the freethinker, particu…