RIP x2

Two recent deaths worth noting.

First, the May 3 International Herald Tribune made note of the passing of Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager. You very likely never heard of him - I certainly didn't know the name - but you likely have heard of his claim to fame: He was a member of the group of German officers that attempted to assassinate Adolph Hitler in July 1944. He was believed to have been its last surviving member.

Von Boeselager, disturbed by the Nazi campaign of extermination against the Jews and by German atrocities that he witnessed as a lieutenant on the Eastern Front, joined an anti-Hitler conspiracy in 1942 and later took part in the plot being organized by Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg....

Von Boeselager obtained explosives, which von Stauffenberg carried in a briefcase into a meeting with Hitler and some of his top staff. But after he left the room, someone else moved the briefcase with the result that the blast had less impact than intended. It demolished the room and killed three officers - but Hitler received only minor injuries. Some 200 conspirators were captured and killed but no one revealed von Boeselager's role so "he did not need to use the cyanide capsule he kept on hand."

He was 90.

The other case was that of Mildred Loving. I expect you did hear about her death, since she was one-half of the Virginia couple who made history when in 1967 the Supreme Court ruled bans on interracial marriages were unconstitutional. But what you may not have known, which I learned at Off the Kuff thanks to a link from Kevin Hayden at The American Street, was this, from a statement she issued on June 12, 2007, the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision:

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the "wrong kind of person" for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people's religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people's civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.

Well said. Well said, indeed.