The Bell Curve

my Uncle Joe is an amazing writer.  he was a professor at UCI and has written for several publications, but is probably most known and loved for his weekly column in Orange County’s Daily Pilot, called “The Bell Curve.”  i’ve read a handful of these articles, and they have ranged from political matters to stories about his dog =)  but all good things must come to an end, as they say.  Uncle Joe is going to be 90 in July and has decided to finally retire from writing his column.

when i received the email from my aunt this morning that this was happening, it brought back all kinds of memories.  i remember going over to their home when i was younger, and he would always be out in his office, a beautiful room, detached from the house.  sometimes he was working, but most days when we came over he was watching the Angel game =)  we would sit in there and chat.  i was always nosy and looking through all of the newspapers on the coffee table, as well as all of the books he had on his bookshelves.

but one of my favorite memories of my Uncle Joe was our Christmas celebration in 2005.  that year, i had just started my non-profit organization, Reel Angels.  Reel Angels brought movies while they were still in theaters to children’s hospitals across the country.  when my uncle had heard about my organization, he was reminded of an article he had written for the Saturday Evening Post some 50 years earlier about a man named Joe Swedie.  Joe Swedie would visit children’s hospitals and show the kids films, very much like what i was doing.  my uncle became very close to this man, and thought of him often, even years after he passed away.  my gift from my Uncle Joe that year was a copy of this Saturday Evening Post article, as well as an article my uncle wrote about me and what i was doing.  he talked about how Joe Swedie had been reincarnated right in his own family.  along with my aunt & uncle, the rest of my dad’s family had pulled together money and presented me with a very generous donation that year.  it was one of my favorite moments.  and, like i said, one of my favorite memories of my amazing uncle.

Daily Pilot did a wonderful article today on the retirement of my uncle.  and as i read the article, i just loved my uncle’s quote that they ended on.  he said, “I didn’t need a job to feel I was safe.  I didn’t need a place to land. The whole world is a place to land.”  i just thought it was so powerful, so i wanted to share it =)

and now you’ve met another one of my family members whom i love dearly…

xoxo

jess

click here to read the Daily Pilot article: Daily Pilot