[Swprograms] [How they spread Alistair Cooke's ashes in Central Park]

[Daniel Say <say@xxxxxx>]

----- Forwarded message from Daniel Say <say@xxxxxx> -----
Subject: Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Shortcuts
X-URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1205482,00.html
  Shortcuts
   People | Observations | Curiosities
   Thursday April 29, 2004 [38]The Guardian
    [ second item ]
   Order of service
   
   Cooke's last dispatch
   
   "I should like my friends to stay home or join a neighbour, enjoy a
   drink and think pleasant thoughts of me," Alistair Cooke said in his
   will, filed in a New York court less than a fortnight before he died
   last month at 95. He asked that no funeral service be held, but
   instead wanted his ashes scattered, with a minimum of fuss, in Central
   Park. This presented a problem for Susie, his daughter and the
   executor of his will, and his widow, Jane: New York doesn't permit its
   parks to be used for the disposal of human remains. In a new epilogue
   to his biography of Cooke, Nick Clarke describes how the family
   fulfilled the legendary journalist's final wishes.
   
   Some lateral thinking was required. First, Susie researched suitable
   spots on her daily run around the reservoir in the park, just across
   the road from the Cookes' apartment. Jane helped her identify a patch
   of grass that she could see from her window: they gave it the nickname
   of the grassy knoll.
   
   But the family was also concerned that a group of 10 people parading
   through the park, dressed in black and holding an urn, might be rather
   conspicuous. On the chosen day, therefore, a dozen mugs with lids were
   collected from the neighbourhood Starbucks. Back at the apartment, the
   mourners stood around the kitchen table while Susie dispensed a small
   pile of ashes into each container. Once the lids had been replaced,
   the party set off, confident of the invisibility of the ubiquitous
   Starbucks symbol on any American street.
   
   Nobody seemed to notice as they approached the grassy knoll. Jane had
   remained in the apartment, watching from her window, and at the
   appropriate moment Susie waved a red pashmina to attract her
   attention, checking by mobile phone to make sure she was ready. With
   an expert on hand to assess wind direction - one of Cooke's
   grandchildren, Zeb, had done astronaut training at the Johnson Space
   Centre in Texas - the family group, with the indispensable Patti
   [Cooke's secretary] in attendance, formed a circle and the ceremony
   began.
   
   Susie recited the 23rd Psalm, Johnny [his son] sang a traditional
   bluegrass ballad, and the company joined in a prayer of thanks for
   Cooke's life. They scattered the ashes on the grass among the spring
   flowers, next to a tree whose gnarled bark, somebody remarked, looked
   like Cooke's arthritis-ridden hands. Like a classic Letter from
   America, the last loose ends had been tied up. The story was over.
   Nick Clarke
   

----- End forwarded message -----
_______________________________________________
Swprograms mailing list
Swprograms@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://dallas.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/swprograms

To unsubscribe:  Send an E-mail to  swprograms-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe, or visit the URL shown above.