Paul Anderson was my hero since I was 14.

I mentioned him before. He held to world squat record from 1964 until it was tied recently at 1200#. As far as I know, he still hold the records for the most weight ever lifted by a human, 6270 lbs.

These are the same pictures I have in my book. Here is a quick summary of the story that I read at age 14. I'm pretty sure I still have the book around here somewhere.

He died one year after my Dad.

It looks, from this viewpoint, like the double blow was too much for me - though the first was plenty. I try to fight the thought that 1934-1993 is the lifespan I can expect, but I have to fight the fact that my other hero's lifespan was 1932-1994.

It reminds me that three of my uncles--Dad's brothers--were born later and died earlier.... And Uncle Donald...my friend...was born in 1960 and died in 1980.

I've already mentioned that my first mentor, Phil Lindelof, whom I came to know in 1972, when he was my Sunday School teacher, drowned in 1974, while my parents were taking a trip together on "the boat."

Phil was the Minnesota/Wisconsin armwrestling champion.

My friends were better armwrestlers than me, but I could out brench-press all of them. I discovered that after I discover Paul Anderson's book.

It was important to me that Paul Anderson shared my religious beliefs.

I know that those beliefs took a blow with my father's death. (Remember, he asked me to help him commit suicide, which meant, in his condition, that I should actively kill him--God did it for me two weeks later, for which I feel no gratitude.)

I wonder if Paul Anderson's death within a year wasn't a further serious blow.