He was dying to get it off his chest

Spanish playwright Lope de Vega died on this day in 1635. He wrote some 2,000 plays. His supposed last words were:

"All right, then, I'll say it, Dante makes me sick."

I think, therefore I'm dead

A couple of famous philosophers died on this day.

Scottish philosopher David Hume (pictured here) died on this day in 1776.

"The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster," Hume wrote, and also:

“It is not contrary to reason to prefer the destruction of the whole world to the scratching of my finger.”



And German philosoher Friedrich Nietzsche died August 25, 1900.

"In heaven all the interesting people are missing," Nietzsche wrote.

Interesting, and all right

August 21, 1762: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English aristocrat and writer, died. Her last words:

"It has all been most interesting."




August 23, 1926: Actor and heartthrob Rudolph Valentino died. His last words:

"Don't worry chief, it will be all right."

Deaths updated

August 12, 2007: TV host and quiz-show pioneer Merv Griffin’s headstone reads “I Will Not Be Right Back After This Message.”

August 13, 1946: Author H. G. Wells (The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds) died. His last words:

"Go away. I'm all right."

August 14, 1956: Playwright Bertold Brecht died. He wrote:

“Don't be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life.”

August 15, 1935: Humorist Will Rogers died. He said:

"This thing of being a hero, about the main thing to it is to know when to die." 

To eradicate mankind, yes

Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge died on July 25, 1834.

"A man may devote himself to death and destruction to save a nation;" Coleridge wrote, "but no nation will devote itself to death and destruction to save mankind."

Only the worms care

July 23, 1880: American mystery writer Raymond Chandler was born. In The Big Sleep, he wrote:

"Where did it matter where you lay once you were dead? In a dirty sump or in a marble tower on top of a high hill? You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered with things like that. Oil and water were the same as wind and air to you."

Chandler also wrote:

"Woe, woe, woe... in a little while we shall all be dead. Therefore let us behave as though we were dead already."

And so on

Poet Carl Sandburg died on July 22, 1967. He wrote:

"A man may be born, but in order to be born he must first die, and in order to die he must first awake."

Writing is next to Godliness

The Italian poet and scholar Francesco Petrarch died on this day in 1374. He wrote:

"I desire that death find me ready and writing, or if it please Christ, praying and in tears."

Also on this day, in 1897, the American writer Jean Ingelow died. Never heard of her? Neither have I, but she wrote something apropos to this day. (Man first landed on the moon on July 20, 1969.)

"You Moon! Have you done something wrong in heaven,
That God has hidden your face?"

Obituary of Anna Brown Shea

Anna Brown Shea, passed away June 11, 2011, one day after her 75th birthday. Survived by daughter, Joan (Paul) Erland, of Pegram, and grandchildren, Scott and Emily Erland. Preceded in death by husband, William “Bo” Brown. Anna was born June 10, 1936 in Lawrenceburg, TN, the daughter of T. V. and Bessie White, who also preceded her in death. She grew up in Lawrence County, and later lived in Nashville, Cleveland, Ohio, Sarasota, Florida, and finally in Pegram and Ashland City. Anna was known for her straight talk and her finely-tuned sense of humor. She loved conversation and a social smoke or two, and marveling at and recounting the accomplishments of her grandkids. She was fiercely loyal to those she loved. She made many fast friends during her short sojourn at the Christian Care Center in Ashland City, whose staff the family would like to warmly thank for their kindness, generosity and good humor. Anna loved to laugh, and her family will always be grateful that she found a final home in which to exercise her convivial spirit and open her kind heart. In accordance with her wishes, she will be cremated. The family will conduct a private ceremony in Lawrenceburg at a later date. If so inclined, please make a donation to the Pegram Elementary School Library in Anna’s memory.

We'll be the judge of that

Esther Morris, the first woman judge in the U. S., died on this day in 1902, in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

"A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view." -- Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906).