The March of the Timeteers

Not everyone who reads this remembers her.  But those of us in our fifties and up know her very well. Annette Funicello, the most famous of the Mouseketeers, passed away yesterday at the age of 70.  She struggled most of her adult life with multiple sclerosis, and was a leader in raising money and knowledge in fighting neurological diseases.

It is hard to watch the passage of time, as the icons of your youth disappear.  We think of them as large figures that will never fade from human consciousness, but in only very rare cases do they stick more than a generation.  The Mickey Mouse Club was a unique and creative use of television, making children around the globe feel like they were past of the biggest, happiest club on earth.  And the young preteen girl that made our hearts swoon, whom the boys would admire and the girls would want to emulate, was Annette Funicello.

Now if you ask someone in their twenties and early thirties about the Mouseketeers they will come up with a slew of different names - Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and around here, Nikki DeLoach.  The Mickey Mouse Club was revived in the nineties, and this is what they remember   Chances are, the club will be revived again, and a future generation will have a completely different set of names.

For the more politically oriented, yesterday saw the passing of  Margaret Thatcher, Britain's Iron Lady, popular Prime Minister of the Reagan era and influence.  Not one of my favorites, but still a stripping away of things past.

As we grow older, we see those who once we saw as young pups start to age and grow old around us.  It must be interesting for retired teachers to be approached by former students who now have gray hair.  Or to see those whose diapers you changed in the business of changing diapers of another.

Hang on to your icons   Be respectful of the icons of those generations before you.  Learn about Demi Lovato, but also find out  about Annette Funicello and Marilyn Monroe and Greta Garbo and Mary Pickford, and on and on as far back as we can.

Not all of us can live anew for each generation.  Not all of us can be Betty White.

Annette, I and many others remember you well.  We remember not just the Mouseketeers, but the woman who struggled bravely against a terrible neurological disease, and cared enough to concentrate her efforts on helping others.

So long for now!