The image of course, is not Craig but Sean Penn - it always seemed as though Craig Tappan bore a resemblance to Sean Penn playing Andrew Daulton Lee in The Falcon and the Snowman, or maybe to Lee himself. But Craig never stole satellite secrets or made movies or did anything stellar besides race motorcycles and enjoy getting high.Craig was one of a cloister of friends who graduated high school in 1975 and met bizarre ends - such as being blown to bits by the Taliban, being murdered with scissors while in a wheelchair, committing suicide in an ex's driveway. In Craig's case, he was carrying a motorcycle loose in the back of a van, returning to Indiana after a race in Florida. He missed a stop at an intersection, ran into a sign, and the motorcycle flew into the driver's cab, killing him instantly. These days, even a cinema-style death doesn't get you much recognition. But it gets you a space in an old friend's blog, who realizes he misses the goofy Mr. T. saying "Wirbel Pa-Chirbel!" in exasperated fashion.
6 comments:
What a crazy list of untimely deaths. It seems like you could write a novel about that. Truth is stranger than fiction!
Life is fragile, for all of us. I often wonder why more of us don't meet the end more often, given our vulnerabilities physically, and so much speed in our lives. But for the most part these things don't happen all that often. So for these friends from your group to experience these violent deaths, it's unusual in a cluster, yet when I really think about it, I'm almost more astonished the rest of us have survived this long.
Am I weird?
Not at all. When you figure that the classes of 1973-74-75 had about 400 members each, and somewhere between 10 and 20 are gone at age 50, that's an attrition rate of 5 percent or less. And we get in little metal cans and zoom around at 75 mph every day, ingesting food with trace chemicals that have really never been tested for safety. Compare this century to any other, particularly the thousand years prior to 1950 or so, our overall survival rates are astonishing!
When new ailments like MRSA and AIDS crop up, it's a reminder to us that we will never be immortal (no matter what Ray Kurzweil says - I think cell apoptosis will take over beyond age 120 no matter how good our technology gets). And when average life spans drop precipitously like they did in Russia post-Soviet Union, it's a reminder that we can see a big crash and burn if we don't take care of our societal fundamentals. But in general, we're turning into a pretty hardy species. Let's see how cultures like the Japanese culture fare when the elderly start dominating in the numbers game.
When I received Loring's email about Craig it saddened me. Even though I am from the class of 77 I knew who Craig was--even if he hadnt dated one of my friends! Craig was just one of those people everyone knew. I didnt know him that well, but I dont recall many times seeing him without a smile on his face. When you hear about things like Craig it makes you realize that life is damn too short and you never know when this moment might be your last. It reminds me to enjoy the now I am in. My thoughts and prayers go to those he sadly left behind
.. and joining Craig, just this month, is fellow GLHS 1975 alumnus Annette Cook (cancer?); my good friend Craig Carrington's brother, who committed suicide; and Nebraska friend Tery Daley's wife Amy Leavitt, who fell down some stairs in Lincoln and died of complications. Everything seems to be turning into the Jim Carroll song, "All the People Who Died." And I feel like I'm walking through a minefield.
OH MY...What a beautiful site..Thank you for the comments...
We miss him so, so, so much! Our brother our friend..RIP BRO....FIRED UP MAN (as he would say)..
This is from Craig's sister..Missy
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