Regards, Ivan
In memoriam
Posted on 06/10/2004 3:44:29 PM PDT by MadIvan
A YORKSHIREMAN whose first wife died, like President Reagan, of Alzheimer’s has been selected by Nancy Reagan to engrave the headstone of her husband.
Nathen Blackwell, 82, who was born in Hull and learnt his trade working for a stone company in Grimsby, moved to California via Canada in 1958. He struggled at first, but his work is now commissioned by Californian celebrities including the actor Michael Douglas, who recently asked him to engrave an 18th-century bathtub for his Spanish castle.
He began working for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley four years ago, carving a presidential oath into granite next to a graffiti-covered section of the Berlin Wall and designing a wall inside the rotunda. Then, in 2002, he met Mrs Reagan when she was signing books about her husband at the library and asked to meet him.
They had a lot in common. Mr Blackwell’s first wife, Jill, had died in 1997 after an eight-year struggle against Alzheimer’s. Ronald Reagan was by that time in the latter stages of the degenerative disease.
“I know what Nancy’s been through,” said Mr Blackwell, who still speaks with a mild Yorkshire accent. “I looked after Jill for five years, which was against everybody’s advice, then she fell and broke her leg and they took her into hospital. She was in there for a year and a half, then moved into a nursing home and finally passed away with pneumonia, like most of them do eventually.”
He said of Mrs Reagan: “She’s a very gracious lady.She’s going through a terrible time right now and I hope she can get through it.”
He and Mrs Reagan will meet soon to discuss the final design for the headstone, which is stored in the library’s basement. “I don’t know how big it is — probably three to four foot long. It will be a head piece with his name on it and whatever they want on there,” he said.
He is also expected to carve a quotation of the former president’s onto the wall of the memorial: “I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there is purpose and worth to each and every life.”
Mr Blackwell, who has remarried, guarantees his work for 10,000 years and still uses the hammers and chisels that he forged from tungsten in Grimsby more than 60 years ago. He picks at the stone from a special leather chair, using scaffolding to reach high areas.
The director of the Reagan library calls him an “an old world craftsman” and a “true artist”.
Asked if he voted for Mr Reagan, Mr Blackwell told The Times: “Of course. I had a lot of admiration for him. I think he was one of the best presidents.”
Regards, Ivan
In memoriam
Ping!
Thanks for the post Mad.
What a lovely tribyte.
Wonderful picture and a great article. Thanks again!
Make that tribute. Oops.
Very nice. Thank you!
If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
If it wears out in 9,900 years, he'll give a refund?
I think I saw that thing under my bed last night.
! RUN !
Great article. Good to see you back.
The "LUCK OF THE IRISH" - ping.
Thanks for the chuckle.
Reagan is admired by millions and it eats the hearts out of liberals. I love it.
A sweet story.
Sure. In constant dollars.
This is so touching...Picking the design on our parents' headstones was a family affair, they are beautiful, and we are forever grateful to the masons who made our ideas real...Heaven guide his hands.
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