Nancy Reagan and George Martin, R.I.P.

The past few weeks, in a way, have been especially depressing for me...there seems to be too many people dying, both among those in my personal life and those who are famous.  The personal losses are naturally more severe, but the more public deaths have hit hard as well.  However, it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise that two celebrities who were in their nineties finally passed on: former First Lady Nancy Reagan and renown record producer George Martin...

I have always felt a great degree of respect and admiration for Nancy Reagan, actually much more than for her famous husband "Ronny"...this makes me a bit different from most people who thought more highly of him.  She brought a sense of class to the White House that it needed as the center for the role that the President serves as Head of State.  Her "Just Say No" slogan against drug abuse and the accompanying campaign while she was First Lady and afterwards is a lasting, positive legacy.  I also admire Nancy for rebuking renegade former Reagan staffer Oliver North when he tried to associate himself with her husband during his 1994 Virginia Senate campaign against incumbent Chuck Robb.  And her devotion throughout her marriage to Ronald...especially during the final years after he had become afflicted with Alzheimer's, was beautiful to behold.  Finally, Nancy was a strong, assertive woman who graciously handled what I perceived to be sexist criticism against her character.  When a man displays these traits he is hailed as a great leader, but a woman?  Let's just hope that these gender-based double standards can finally be a thing of the past, although I see much of the same nonsense now being directed at Hillary Clinton...

George Martin was doubtless a musical genius...especially in the recording studio...who is best known for recognizing the potential of the Beatles in their early years and bringing them to a high standard of performance on their records, producing many of the greatest albums ever made.  Although the band wrote most of their songs (although their early covers of other artists were great), they depended on Martin to make things work in the studio.  Two examples: when Penny Lane was being recorded, Paul McCartney, after hearing a French horn play, decided that this orchestral instrument would be a pretty addition to the song...and asked Martin to arrange and include it on the track.  No problem for the "Fifth Beatle".  And when John Lennon, upon hearing two differently paced tracks of the song Strawberry Fields Forever, decided that he wanted BOTH of them for the final recording, he simply gave them to Martin and told him to fix the problem with the differing tempos...which the producer did by adjusting their speeds.  In these and many other instances, George Martin was content to stay in the background and let the Beatles themselves take the "creative genius" credit.  I think that was what makes him special to me: not only his talent and hard work, but also his humility and good will toward those who were so fortunate to be associated with him...