Memento mori means "remember that you must die" in the language of Latin. It serves to remind us of our own mortality, of our mistakes and failures, of the inevitable transformation of life into death. For me, it holds a deep personal meaning that I can barely articulate, being bound up with my own bodily experiences and health, the passing of family and friends, and living in American culture.

Memento mori engendered an opposite imperative -- memento vivere -- the Latin for "remember that you must live." Less common and of more recent vintage (according to the Oxford English Dictionary), memento vivere seems to imply that a preoccupation with death is perhaps unwise and unhealthy.

The links contain my personal tributes to departed family, friends, and colleagues.

Family

Alpha Mathis Sipes (1902-1988)

L. Herbert Capshew(1925-1993)

William D. McGinnis(1899-1994)

Friends & Colleagues

Richard S. Westfall (1924-1996)

Jack D. Pressman (1957-1997)

Pressman Obituary (1957-1997)

Irving J. Saltzman (1923-2000)

Roger C. Buck (1922-2002)

Randy E. Norris (1953-2002)

Leah W. Garlotte (1957-2004)