Saying goodbye to grandpa.
As an adult, I have always been proud of Uwe, for what he overcame,
and for his awesome range of talents. As a child, he was grandpa.
Small, thick glasses, thicker accent, and a bewildering habit of changing languages when he and nana wanted the children or the grandchildren not to understand them!
He was always interesting and interested. I remember going to stay with him and nana in Colorado for our honeymoon, and finding out he was studying shipping records from the 18th century for the information they contained about El Nino, and La Ninia. I also remember John (my husband) driving him to the local restaurant with a constant liturgy of ‘too fast too fast!’ as we cruised at a gentle 10 miles an hour!
In Brussels I remember him boiling his contact lenses in a small saucepan with great concentration.
He brought me flowers on the day I was born – the first person ever to bring me flowers. And when I was a depressed teenager, he came to see me, bringing a carefully typed quote ‘worry about hunger and shelter, all else is vapours’.
When I rang to wish him a happy 90th birthday a couple of years ago, I asked him how he felt being ninety. He said it was too old, he’d had enough now. I am sure he’s not looking down on us, he was relentlessly scientific and pragmatic, but I am even more sure the world is a poorer place without him in it, while we are richer for
having known him.
love from cressi (and john and lyra and kyle)
Uwe's early life of privilege was soon followed by persecution, misunderstanding, great danger, new opportunities and finally an outstanding academic career which brought him international respect and acclaim. His life mirrored in the most dramatic and personal way much of the last century in its horror and the final resolution of its conflicts. It was fitting that he made his life in Australia, a land which has given so many people opportunities to put behind them a difficult or tragic past. With Anita, whose family suffered many of the same horrors, he built a new life with a new Australian family he could be very proud of. He was a remarkable man and had an extraordinary life. It was a great privilege to have known him.
ReplyDeletemalcolm downing