Pacific Goodnight Chris...May You Fly High and Free

Maybe not the place to post this, but this board can be fairly healing at times...

Today we lost someone who was a Superhero in every sense of the word. Chris Reeve succumed to a heart attack as a side-effect of his disability. To those of us who had been previlaged to meet and know him at the height of the Superman Craze, and to have the chances to watch him perform both onscreen and in theater, he was a master of his craft and just a great person. To those of us who eventually wound up in the field of Special Ed, and working with disabilities, he became even more of a hero later in life.

The news today was especially hard, because Chris had tackled life and its challanges head on. He wasn't supposed to die, he was supposed to walk and we all were waiting for that day. If anyone was going to do it, it would be Chris. David Prowse (who trained Chris for the film) would talk to me about how hard Chris worked during the training for Superman. Chris would laugh about it later. And in the body-building community those intense workouts were known as the "Chris Reeve Puke-your-guts-out Workout," cause that is what would literally happen. He would work himself until he got sick, then immediately go back and workout some more.You still hear that term at times. It is still the ultimate complement to us Old Timers at the end of a good hard workout.

Chris, those of us that work with Special Kids, stopped and shed more than a few tears at work for you today. We also laughed about how stubborn you could be and how you were able to "say it like it is" where we couldn't. Thanks. And on the personal side, thank you for sharing your talent, and your time. Memories I will always treasure. Especially that time during "Summer and Smoke" when you broke "the Forth Wall" and joked with Josie and I in our front row seats during the performance. It made it even all the more special that you not only recognized us, but acknowledged us.

May you be free now. Free to walk again, free to run, free to ride and free to sail...and most importantly fly. Chanel, take care of him for us. Show him what he needs to know, and put him back in line if he needs it.

Honor his memory and work however you can, donations to the Christopher Reeve Paralyis Foundation, or as I saw many people doing today, just wearing a Superman T-Shirt.

Chris, May The Force Be With You and Fly High.

You'll always be loved,

Kim

 

He will be missed. Remembered not only for his movie roles, but for how he spent the last 9 years of his life trying to help those like him.