The Daily Goodbye

Good morning. It's bright and sunny here; hope you are, too.

Wat Tyler Cluverius IV carried quite a name through life; his first two names went back to an English rebel an ancestor admired and his surname came from a top Dutch cartographer of the early 1600s. He made his own name as a diplomat -- a "superdiplomat," Time magazine once said -- by working out peace pacts at Camp David and in Oslo. He died in Cleveland this week.

Sunday afternoons, those lazy and relaxing periods when it's perfectly acceptable to simply hang out with family or friends, had a champion in Charles R. Burke. As an attorney, he tried cases in Pittsburgh changed the law forbidding hotels from serving alcohol on Sundays, and another that allowed bowling on Sunday.

Now comes word of the death of indigenous singer Ruby Hunter, one of Australia's most revered performers. In her deep, gravelly voice, she told stories in song about indigenous matters and women's issues. She wore flamboyant costumes and headdresses, often with feathers, which she made herself.