This whole thing started years ago when Iworked at the San Diego Maritime Museum. I was development and communications director there for 12 years. The subject of death and dying is not a pleasant one. And of course, everyone likes to put it off until they absolutely have to deal with it. But one day an older gentleman and friend, Bob Wright, came into my office with a fresh approach to life's final act. He handed me an envelope and said, "I'd like you to read this, but promise me you won't laugh." I opened it to find his obituary. I started to laugh. But by the time he finished explaining his rationale, I was closer to tears than laughter. Bob explained to me that he had been with the organization for 50 years. Over that time these historic old ships had become his life, his passion. He had no children, and gave everything he had to the museum and the ships.

Joseph Ditler, creative director. Photo by Jack Aubrey

Bob's point sank home. I had been a journalist since 1977. In the course of my work I had written hundreds of obituaries. At the museum I had seen many an older gentleman fade from existence, slowly and quietly, with no documentation of their exciting and productive lives recorded anywhere.

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