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Unlikely Parallels in a Year of Momentous Deaths Unlikely Parallels in a Year of Momentous Deaths
(3 days later)
When Buckingham Palace announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Sept. 8, the news, notwithstanding the worldwide outpouring of grief it set off, did not come as a complete surprise, not to anyone who had been following the reports of her end-of-days decline. She was 96, after all.When Buckingham Palace announced the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Sept. 8, the news, notwithstanding the worldwide outpouring of grief it set off, did not come as a complete surprise, not to anyone who had been following the reports of her end-of-days decline. She was 96, after all.
The same might be said of the death of Mikhail Gorbachev. He was 91 and had largely been out of circulation since his power slipped away after the heady Soviet years of glasnost and perestroika. It was, as we’re apt to say with a certain fatalism about those of advanced age, his time.The same might be said of the death of Mikhail Gorbachev. He was 91 and had largely been out of circulation since his power slipped away after the heady Soviet years of glasnost and perestroika. It was, as we’re apt to say with a certain fatalism about those of advanced age, his time.
You could say it was Bill Russell’s, too. It had been 53 years since he hung up his Boston Celtics uniform for the last time, having dominated, even transformed, basketball, first in college and then in the pro ranks. And though he had remained vital throughout the succeeding decades, he was, in the end, 88.You could say it was Bill Russell’s, too. It had been 53 years since he hung up his Boston Celtics uniform for the last time, having dominated, even transformed, basketball, first in college and then in the pro ranks. And though he had remained vital throughout the succeeding decades, he was, in the end, 88.
Benedict XVI, the scholarly pope emeritus who stunned the world by resigning a full 10 years ago, citing his physical decline even then, was 95 when his hour came on the last day of the year. Barbara Walters, the broadcast journalist who blazed a celebrated path for women in network news, was 93 when she died the day before.Benedict XVI, the scholarly pope emeritus who stunned the world by resigning a full 10 years ago, citing his physical decline even then, was 95 when his hour came on the last day of the year. Barbara Walters, the broadcast journalist who blazed a celebrated path for women in network news, was 93 when she died the day before.
Those deaths, like many others reported in the obituary pages this year, could not be said to have been wholly unexpected. Benedict’s successor, in fact, Pope Francis, warned the world on Wednesday that the ailing former pontiff’s time was very short. But a curiously ample number of deaths did occur in 2022 carrying an element of the unforeseen, in terms of their timing and circumstances. Call them products of sad but odd coincidence, befalling people who had shared some sort of bond in life and who had then left the world in unlikely tandem.
There were, for example, the deaths of Lucy Simon and Joanna Simon, musical sisters of the singer-songwriter Carly Simon. They died a day apart in October, each from cancer, and their deaths, at least in The Times, were reported side by side.