The New York Times:
George Bell — a simple name, two syllables, the minimum. There were no obvious answers as to who he was or what shape his life had taken. What worries weighed on him. Whom he loved and who loved him.
Like most New Yorkers, he lived in the corners, under the pale light of obscurity.
In discovering a death, you find a life story and perhaps meaning. Could anything in the map of George Bell’s existence have explained his lonely end? Possibly not. But it was true that George Bell died carrying some secrets.
A well written and painfully sad story that will make you ask of yourself, “Will I be remembered when I’m gone?” Some of us won’t like the answer to that question.
Looking into history books, good and decent people are rarely remembered. And the sheer assumption that somebody who valued his privacy would appreciate the article, is clearly misguided. Guy’s dead. Leave him alone.
At this point, I’m okay with having designed a few useful books, and with a few people remembering that I occasionally made them laugh at silly stuff.
What a great story. This is the stuff that “This American Life” used to build wonderful shows around. Looking at processes most of us never see, examining how people who’ve never met can cross paths with each other.
Enjoyed NYT’s “The Lonely Death of George Bell?” Read about the rest of New York’s unclaimed in my newest article “The Island ofUnclaimed: Hart Island:” a one mile stretch of land that houses over one million bodies.
http://theink.nyc/the-island-of-unclaimed-bodies/
Another very good piece.