Obituaries of the Day

 Former Navy Secretary and U.S. senator from Virginia, John Warner, 94, died at his Virginia farm where he had lived for many years, some of them with his ex-wife Elizabeth Taylor.  As an aside, I believe he was one of the last two remaining ex-husbands of the late, legendary actress.  The other, of course, was a nobody named Larry Fortensky.

Anyway, John Warner was known as a bit of a maverick during his Senate tenure.

Snip:

Warner was born on February 18, 1927, in Washington, DC. He was 17 when he enlisted in the US Navy during World War II, and later served as a US Marine in the Korean War. After the war, he earned his law degree and served as a clerk in the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit before becoming an assistant US attorney in the late 1950s and then going into private practice.

He worked in the Department of the Navy for five years during the Vietnam War, during which he was secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974. When he served as chairman of the nation's bicentennial celebration in 1976, he met his future wife and Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor.

"I was invited to escort her, at the request of Her Majesty's staff, to the small dinner party given at the British Embassy," Warner recalled during an interview on CNN's "Newsroom" in 2011. "I say small, but President Ford was there, Vice President Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger. It was quite a party. And we met. And then a week or so later, she said she'd like to come down to see my farms and ride a horse, and that was the beginning."

However, like all of Liz's marriages, this one didn't last.  It didn't matter, for the pair remained friends until her death in 2011. That was one of the great virtues of Elizabeth Taylor. She valued friendships, and she always had your back. This was a great strength. As noted in the obit, Warner did marry again.

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Famed children's book author and illustrator Eric Carle, 91, author of such works as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, died on Monday at his home.  His books are classic picture books, and his art work is equally notable.

Snip:

Carle, who first illustrated the 1967 children's book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by his friend Bill Martin Jr., wanted The Very Hungry Caterpillar to serve as a literary cocoon for children getting ready for kindergarten. As little kids prepare to leave the warmth and safety of home for school, they're meant to identify with beautiful, soaring butterflies.

"I think it is a book of hope," Carle said in a commemorative video released by Penguin Random House in 2019. Then 89 and retired at his Florida home, he was wearing black suspenders and a blue shirt matching his lively eyes. "Children need hope. You, little insignificant caterpillar, can grow up into a beautiful butterfly and fly into the world with your talent. Will I ever be able to do that? Yes, you will. I think that is the appeal of that book.

"Well, I should know. I did the book, after all!"