Long Life, Positive Life - They Will Be Missed

What do you wish to leave behind? That's what LifePrints is all about. When you are gone how will people sum up your life? Will they say you worked hard for what you believed in? Or will they shrug their shoulders if someone asks about your true passion? Will they remember you for being kind or for being a curmudgeon? Your sense of humor or your biting sarcasm? You still have time to decide what your legacy will be.

This past year we lost some great individuals who made lasting contributions to our world. People who when you hear their name you know immediately what they cared about and how they manifested that in their lives.

Liz Clairborne launched her own line of clothing in 1976 after toiling undiscovered for years in the backrooms of other designers. She clothed a new breed of executive - the upwardly mobile woman, at that time, often the first female executives in their companies. By 1986 her company was the first Fortune 500 company to be owned by a woman.

Marcel Marceau was the world's most famous mime. Born in 1923, he survived the Nazi occupation and helped children death escape as part of the French Underground. His father was murdered in Auschwitz. In 1959, he established his own school in Paris, and later the Marceau Foundation to promote the art of pantomime in the United States. He received an Emmy for this work on television and was considered a National Treasure in Japan. His career in "the art of silence" lasted over sixty years.

Walter Schirra Jr. was the only US astronaut to fly in all three of NASA's first programs: Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. He was the Command Pilot on Apollo VII during the first manned flight test of the three directional spacecraft. He retired from NASA in 1969 and later co-authored "The Real Space Cowboys" with Ed Buckbee, a former NASA public affairs officer and the first executive director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. The book highlighted the Mercury astronauts and their contribution to the U.S. space program.

Ira Levin wrote seven novels in his lifetime. Most of which were New York Times Best Sellers and major motion pictures. "Rosemary's Baby", "The Boys from Brazil" and "The Stepford Wives" tapped into the deep personal fears of a generation (and probably all generations to come).

Madeleine L'Engle was in her 40's when her novel "A Wrinkle In Time" rocked the worlds of young readers. The book was rejected by 26 publishers before someone finally saw the light. It later received a Newbery Medal and hasn't stopped selling since 1963.

Ruth Bell Graham, wife of famous Baptist minister Billy Graham, was anything but a demure preacher's wife. She was his most outspoken adviser, telling him not to run for president or pursue a TV career as a televangelist. She loved to move behind the scenes, away from the spotlight, and helped him craft and research sermons and even books. A gifted poet and writer herself, Ruth authored or coauthored 14 books.

And lastly and sadly, singer and songwriter Dan Fogelberg. His songs will forever live in my heart. Christmas means hearing "Same Ole Lang Syne" on the radio and I can't tell you how many time I've shed tears to his famous song "Longer". Dan died last month from prostate cancer at the age of 51. Please visit his website for an emotional message from him (it's near the bottom of the page under Now for the Sermon) urging all men to have prostate exams. This is as important as an annual breast exam is to women.

These incredible people will be missed but I can still read the Levin and L'Engle's books, watch Marceau on DVD, buy Lizwear, and listen to Dan's sweet voice. Use their amazing LifePrints as inspiration to follow your bliss, live your passion, and leave your mark.

Ruth Bell Graham - Woman of Conviction but not Convention

Ruth Bell Graham died last month at the age of 87. She was the steady, guiding force in and the love of Billy Graham's life. It's not easy being married to one of the most influential men in the Christian faith but from the moment they met she knew it was her calling.

Ruth was born in China while her parents were Presbyterian medical missionaries. She wanted to be a missionary and follow in their footsteps but all that changed when she met a young, charismatic, Baptist with the nickname "preacher". When she married Billy she knew she'd be expected to remain in the background and silently support her evangelical husband. And that was alright because she never wanted the spotlight.

But Ruth was not the run of the mill preacher's wife. She helped her husband compose sermons, listening while he ran over the text for ways to more concisely present the message. She wrote poetry and was an accomplished artist. She was the author of 14 books and raised 5 children mostly on her own while Billy traveled the world spreading the gospel.

Even though Billy was a Baptist, she never renounced her Presbyterian faith and remained active in her home church in Montreat, North Carolina. She is reported to have once rode on a motorcycle during one of the Billy Graham Crusades. On another occasion she ripped a large sign from a protestor's hand at an anti-war rally and was nearly arrested.

They were married in August 1943. From the beginning, the marriage was what Billy Graham has called “happily incompatible,” full of tenderness and friction. Ruth’s role, as she saw it, was both to support and to challenge her ambitious, charismatic husband—and she did so unflinchingly.

When their son Franklin was wearing his hair fashionably long in the 1970s, Ruth reminded the boy’s aghast father that hair was not a moral issue. When over lunch at the White House in 1964, Lyndon Johnson wanted Billy to help him choose a running mate, Ruth kicked her husband sharply under the table. “You should limit yourself to moral and spiritual advice,” she said, “not political advice.” These acts may seem small but for the wife of a powerful Christain figure they were steadfast and true. She understood that as a preacher's wife she was expected to sacrafice but that did not mean she was subserviant to anyone but God. It seems that her husband also understood this often misinterperated biblical doctorine because he valued and sought her counsel as his most trusted friend and confidant for 64 years.

Of his marriage to this remarkable woman Graham said, “I am so grateful to the Lord that He gave me Ruth." And in a statement issued after her death, “Especially for these last few years ... We've rekindled the romance of our youth, and my love for her continued to grow deeper every day. I will miss her terribly, and look forward even more to the day I can join her in Heaven."

May all women strive to be as convicted, steadfast, and unconventional in the pursuit of their beliefs as Ruth Bell Graham.