A Club without Meetings, Dues, or Benefits

 

by Pa Rock

Senior Citizen Journalist

Several years ago I stumbled across a mention somewhere of a very diverse group of deceased individuals who all share one very unique thing in common:  each of them died on their birthday.  It's exclusive in the sense that prospective members must meet one mandatory requirement - that of dying on their birthday - but inclusive in the sense that anyone, regardless of their circumstances in life, automatically becomes a member if they happen to die on the right day.  Here are nine who made the cut:

Raphael, a noted Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance period, was born on April 6, 1483, and passed away exactly thirty-seven years later in 1502, making him a senior member of the club.

 

Noted Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare, another senior member, was baptized on April 26th, 1564, but was generally thought to have been born on April 23rd, 1564, precisely 52 years to the day before he shuffled off this mortal coil on April 23, 1616.  

Kamehameha V, the King of Hawaii, passed away on December 11, 1872, his 42nd birthday.

American outlaw and train robber Sam Bass died in Round Rock, Texas, on July 21, 1878, his twenty-seventh birthday, after having been wounded in a shootout with Texas Rangers the day before.

Movie actress and former trombonist in an all-girl band, Gertrude Astor, died on her 90th birthday, November 9, 1977.

Ingrid Bergman, the Swedish actress who starred in "Casablanca" and other notable American films, passed away on August 29, 1982, her 67th birthday.  Here's looking at you, kid.

Feminist and author Betty Friedan passed away on her 85th birthday, February 4, 2006.

American entertainer and talk show host, Mike Douglas, died on his 86th birthday, August 11, 2006.

And lastly, country music singer and songwriter Merle Haggard, a native Californian who was proud to be an Okie from Muskogee when he wasn't smoking with Willie, had made plenty of great music by the time he passed away on his 79th birthday, April 6, 2016.

If they are meeting somewhere, I hope Bill Shakespeare is keeping the minutes. What an interesting gathering that would be!

"Premonition" is the wrong word because it carries a connotation of fear, but I have had a "notion" or perhaps a "feeling" for several years that I would probably someday become a member of that very elite club, and each year when my birthday passes I have a sense that my contract has been extended for twelve additional months.   I mentioned that to a friend the other evening, and while she seemed to regard the matter as somewhat macabre, she did say that our sense about those things is often right.   I expect that she will probably call tomorrow to check on me.

And yes, today is my 76th.