William F. Buckley Jr. died today. He was 82 years old. Buckley was a strong influence regarding my political beliefs ever since I was in high school. Ever erudite, and very quick witted, Buckley was a true renaissance man and gentleman. He was a great influence on my son’s decision to attend Yale ever since I took my son to see him when he was only 10 years old. My son asked me how somebody could be as smart as Buckley was, and my answer was simply, “Yale.” My lovely wife and I made it a point to see his lectures whenever he was within 250 miles of our house. Over the past 30 years, we probably saw him a dozen times, and always came away from the lectures a little better. I once won a subscription to his magazine, National Review, when he had a contest to define obscure words. The word that I defined to win the contest was “tricoteuse.”
He will be missed.
Jeff
My buddy sent me a bunch of WFB quotations this morning. I told him I was amazed about not having to look up any of the words. He replied, “Truth be told, there were some like that and I left them out of the email!”
Buckley is the author of one of my favorite books, “Racing Through Paradise: A Pacific Passage” about his sailing adventures. I try to read it every summer.
Comment by We Are...Penn State email list — February 28, 2008 @ 9:33 pm
My favorite Buckley quote was his reaction to the question, “What would you do if one of your children was a liberal.” His clipped answer was, “I’d pray for him.”
Buckley was one of the quickest wits around and I will miss him.
Thanks for stopping by my small bit of cyberspace.
Jeff
Comment by masteroftheuniverse — February 29, 2008 @ 1:26 am