Yesterday , Mrs. Deborah Rowley died at the age of 102. Died in Queens NY. Her life like many lives were full of the tragic and wonderful events that a person living so long would go through. I will leave most of that for her obituary and her families memories. What I wish to remember at this moment is an historical event.
We are in this age of social media , telecommunication satellites , 24 yr news cycle and of course the internet we have become used to the instant awareness and viewing of events as they happen. Of course this was not all ways In the late 1920's American Aviator Charles Lindburgh flew the first non stop trans Atlantic flight. This was for that era a huge event. It made him for a time a major hero/ celebrity in the world. I will leave who is unaware of this man to discover his biography and his effect on America for the good and ill. What this means for this blog entry is simply this......
Deborah Rowley may very well be the last person on the face of this earth to have witnessed this event as it was happening. Then a young child in Ireland , the plane and pilot flew right over her parents small farm. Her father picked her up and put her on his shoulders yelling " there he is , there he is." She knew he came from America and watched in a young wonder as this small plane passed over their farm and disappeared over the horizon. Soon he would land in France. The word slowly spread , in many places fire sirens were sounded and church bells were rung to let people know it was a success. This was done in my hometown of Castleton NY. With radio still in it's infancy most would read about it in their newspaper. For my generation , we watched our first landing on the moon as it happened. Not so of previous generations. So with Mrs. Rowley's passing and her advanced age of her witness we may in a real way make a case that the final sentence of the last chapter of this event in history has now been written.
We are in this age of social media , telecommunication satellites , 24 yr news cycle and of course the internet we have become used to the instant awareness and viewing of events as they happen. Of course this was not all ways In the late 1920's American Aviator Charles Lindburgh flew the first non stop trans Atlantic flight. This was for that era a huge event. It made him for a time a major hero/ celebrity in the world. I will leave who is unaware of this man to discover his biography and his effect on America for the good and ill. What this means for this blog entry is simply this......
Deborah Rowley may very well be the last person on the face of this earth to have witnessed this event as it was happening. Then a young child in Ireland , the plane and pilot flew right over her parents small farm. Her father picked her up and put her on his shoulders yelling " there he is , there he is." She knew he came from America and watched in a young wonder as this small plane passed over their farm and disappeared over the horizon. Soon he would land in France. The word slowly spread , in many places fire sirens were sounded and church bells were rung to let people know it was a success. This was done in my hometown of Castleton NY. With radio still in it's infancy most would read about it in their newspaper. For my generation , we watched our first landing on the moon as it happened. Not so of previous generations. So with Mrs. Rowley's passing and her advanced age of her witness we may in a real way make a case that the final sentence of the last chapter of this event in history has now been written.
