Dan-ecdotes: Readers' Memories of Dan Olmsted
NOTE: Thank you to all of you who have expressed sorry and shock - and offered to help in so many ways. Please send your Dan-ecdotes to me a [email protected] with DAN in the subject line.
This first note stopped me in my tracks - it's from one of Dan's high school teachers. And it brings to mind the haunting Irish song, Danny Boy. I want to reassure our readers that we're here for the long haul - it won't be business as usual with our leader, our editor, but we'll do our best. KIM
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He was always "Danny" to me because I knew him as a student in my composition class at Danville High School. A bright student with a twinkle in his eye and a crooked grin. Back then, before he adopted national causes, he could already use the English language to convince with an impromptu pun or an illustrative anecdote. RIP, Danny Boy.
Martha Kay
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Dan Olmsted was intelligent, compassionate and witty. On one occasion at the Autism One conference, I sat next to him at their Saturday night dinner. I was wearing a patch over my left eye because I had recently lost sight in it following surgery. He proceeded to take his napkin and stuff it under his glasses over his left eye so I would not be the only one in the room with a covered eye.
RIP Dan Olmsted.
Maurine Meleck
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"Dan Olmsted, a well-respected and highly acclaimed journalist, crusader, fearless hero, and unrelenting advocate for the Autism community has died. I've spun the news over in my head a few times since I heard it last night.
It's funny the things you understand growing up - especially growing up as my sister and I have. We've met some of the most brilliant and influential people to exist on this Earth but they aren't who they are to us (if that makes sense). That's a testament to my parents more than anything. Everyone is equal around the Bono Dining Room table (it's a separate world of love, humor, diplomacy and philosophical musing all it's own). Dan wasn't a founder of USA Today, Yale graduate, Senior Editor for United Press International, well-reputed author, or breaker of stories that changed the course of history. I mean he was... but not to me, really. Because he was Dan... someone my parents cared for deeply as a friend and colleague. And that was enough for me.
When I heard he was taken from us all too soon, I remembered a weekend spent at our house over a decade ago. My sister, Dillan Bono-Lunn, and I descended upon the Bono Homestead with an army of international students in tow. We ate (Dad cooked several of his signature, World-Famous meals), drank, and laughed for one perfect weekend. This photo is from the first dinner of the weekend - it sits in a frame in our Family Room to this day. Some time after that, Dan told my mom that it was one of the best times he ever had in his life.
So, I will gladly honor his memory, carrying the torch as a seeker of truth and champion of justice. But I will hold him forever in my heart as someone who wanted to help children (those he knew and those he didn't), who loved his husband, who adored my parents, and who was all too happy to witness a group of kids from all over the World...just be kids... And join in on some of the fun too.
Rest in peace, Dan. It's really fucking unfair. xxx "
Ashley Bono
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I just had one short e mail chat with Dan during the 2015 Masters Golf Tournament discussing the new champion Jordan Speith of Dallas and his sister who seems to be on the Autism spectrum.
Dan wrote back a short note and “did not always like to use the shift key” to capitalize letters....
A very sad way to start the New Year but I think some big things are about to happen.
It all started with Dan’s work with UPI and the “Autism mystery in the Amish community."
Blessings to you and yours and all the families,
Curtis, Theresa, Rebecca and Stephen J.
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