I am SORRY to inform you that ‘Max Folsom’ passed away on Tuesday, September 19, 2023.
Click images to ENLARGE.
I kind of had a BAD hunch. I had noticed a HUGE spike in the hits on my ‘DC-3’ posts. It got me worried. I called the airport & got the SAD NEWS.
I had met with him in April 2022. He had health issues. I DID NOT TAKE ANY PICTURES of him on that visit because he was on oxygen! I knew he wouldn’t want to be seen like that. I, however, wish I had taken at least one picture.
All I have are these pictures from 2021 — at the height of COVID! Didn’t enable me to get too close or get a selfie.
I WILL MISS MAX!
He was a CLASS ACT.
I, alas, only got to meet with him twice. That is my loss.
As an unashamed ‘Nelson Mandela‘ devotee I probably know a bit more, & have a more nuanced appreciation, about Frederik Willem de Klerk than most. That he is credited with freeing Nelson is over-blown. Nelson had the option of leaving prison ahead of de Klerk. In January 1985, de Klerk’s predecessor, P.W. Botha, offered Nelson a conditional release — the condition being that he renounce violence. But, historically it is true that Nelson opted to leave prison, & again become a free man, during de Klerk’s tenure as South Africa’s premier. But, de Klerk really didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. It had come to: “WHEN rather than if“. South Africa was floundering, financially under the apartheid boycotts. Nelson had to be freed, or S.A. would have gone into a economic tailspin.
I do not believe that he is as good & saintly as some claim he was. Neither do I think that he was mainly evil. There definitely was SOME GOOD in him. Some innate human decency. That Nelson ‘forgave’ him & chose to collaborate with him is a big plus for his legacy. He, alas, continued to make some ‘harsh’ remarks. Well, all of that is now ‘water under the bridge’. With his passing we again have another end of an era.
He will, quite rightly, always be considered quite an important historic figure of the 20th century.
But, there is still so much healing required in (poor) South Africa.
I, coincidently (& ironically) happened to be watching this movie, ‘The Forgiven‘, on Netflix, when I heard of de Klerk’s passing. Suffice to say de Klerk was mentioned a few times in the movie — not always in a flattering light. Decent movie.
