Of long marriages, Charles Schultz, Peanuts and forgotten MLK quotes

You may have heard about the really sweet story from Ohio this past week.  An elderly couple, married for 65 years died within 11 hours of each other.  Harold Knapke was 91 and his wife, Ruth was 89.  They raised six children and they saw their closeness in passing as ‘a final act of love’.   Whenever I hear stories like that I’m reminded of Charles Schultz, Peanuts and a not so famous quote from MLK.

I grew up reading Peanuts.  We had all of the original glass Christmas ornaments, glasses from McDonalds and more Peanuts books than a 7 year old boy could read.  When I was 5 we went to see Snoopy at a local mall where he was doing a book signing.  He pawed the book, but I’m pretty sure that it scared me as I wasn’t too keen of costumed characters in person.

As I got older I embraced other comic strips, first Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side.  Even as I liked, and got more books than a 13 year old boy could read from them, I still enjoyed Peanuts.  Every year when Halloween and Christmas came around I’d watch the specials on television.  If I didn’t watch them, I at least said that I did to endear me to any girls that had a soft spot for Peanuts, because at their core, they all do.

When Calvin and Hobbes ended at the end of 1995 it was planned.  Bill Watterson said that he had done all that he achieved all that he could in the comic medium and was retiring the characters.

In late 1999 Charles Schultz’s health took a turn for the worse and he decided to retire from Peanuts in 2000.  On February 12, 2000 Charles Schultz died at his home due to complications from colon cancer.  On Sunday, February 12, 2000 the final Peanuts comic strip, that he drew, appeared in the paper.

At the time I found that timing ironic to say the least.  Looking back on it I also see it as incredibly sweet.  Schultz produced the comic strip two weeks in advance and often joked that it would outlive him.  He created this incredible gift, a comic about an insecure little boy, his outgoing dog, a little red headed girl and made it into so much more.  Schultz did something that he was made to do and shared it with the world.

MLK has a quote that I think about often too.  “Whatever your life’s work is, do it well.  A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead and the unborn could do it no better”, he said in a speech.

The Knapkes did marriage that way.  I’m sure it wasn’t easy through 65 years, but it’s obvious that they were made for each other.  Ditto Charles Schultz, his comic strip that outlived him by one day is still being reprinted-and has new adventures each month in comic book form.

Whenever I think about what the heck I’m doing or if I’m doing it well enough I think about Peanuts and that MLK quote.  Enjoy it, do the best that you can whatever it is and we’ll all be fine.

The last peanuts comic drawn by Charles Schultz appeared one day after he died.  A couple married for 65 years dies 11 hours apart.  Do what you do well, regardless of what it is.