RIP Sen. Claiborne Pell

If the name sounds familiar, that's because he probably helped most of us go to college.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090102/ap_on_re_us/obit_pell_8

 

He got just over the line into 2009. Attaboy. RIP.

 

That's a long time to live with Parkinson's Disease, though much of that depends on the severity of the individual's issues.

 

RIP to the man who helped more people and got less credit than practically anyone else.
And who, coincidentally and accidentally, opened an entirely new field in which college assistant coaches could cheat their brains out.

 

I'm proud to have been a constituent of his and to have voted for him.
He was one of the cheapest men who ever lived (wonder if he'll be buried in his dad's hand-me-downs, too?), but he treated his constituents with the respect too many of his successors treat talk radio hosts and red camera lights.
He had Parkinson's beyond most folks. He spent his last few years confined to a wheelchair and couldn't speak, but as of last summer was still getting around on the political circuit and could still understand what was going on (unlike most people, he didn't fall asleep after a half-hour of close talking from Joe Biden).