Where's Armand?

The Reminder

As another testament to my blessings, I am now in possession of Armand's sleek Nikon camera. Last year he was shooting over rooftops in Italy, having mastered his new digital SLR camera. I can only hope that my learning curve will be as slight as his.

I took a photo of the camera with my cell phone just to show you the Mondo-rigged, white wire lens cap holder. Armand grew into adulthood during the Depression and didn't spend a flippant dime on anything he could make himself.

It appears that he drilled the tiny holes himself because the cap to another lens has an aborted drill hole in what Armand must have decided was a bad spot. Losing a lens cap was not a good thing.

During college, Armand relied on the cash that his mother sent in her regular letters, his job at the library and any short term employment that came his way. This was money that he lived on and he kept solemn track of it:

January 17, 1933
Studied all spare moments. Worked in aft in forest. Got 10$ from treasurer and 94c of the 1.88 I should have received last week. Fixed it up about missing 94c with Mr. Flemy, who forgot to mark me present.

Every time I look at the camera, it's the hand-tied white wire that reminds me of Armand. Now that I've read numerous entries in his diary that bear his concerns about being able to afford food and warm clothing, that wire will always remain. If anyone asks, do I have an answer!

Remembered

On Saturday, Armand Singer was honored and acclaimed by his colleagues, friends and family in celebration of his life, well-lived. The event took place at Brook's Hall at West Virginia University.

This was my contribution:

I began writing the Where's Armand blog a little over a year ago. My intention was to simply illustrate that aging did not have to equate with the process of gradually slowing down before one was finally laid to rest. I wanted the world to know that a human being past the age of 90, was still capable of international travel, still able to drive thousands of miles at a time, and still able to command enough of a presence to get arrested, handcuffed and thrown in jail!

There are millions of people, the world over, who allow their physical bodies to dictate the strength and vitality of their spirit. That was not Armand Singer. I wanted to know how he did it. What inspired him to so much activity? I pried. I tried to get it out of him but he was always too busy. Maybe that's the key, I thought: commit to an active future and it will excite and draw you forward. Whenever I came up with a theory, Armand would refute it.

I thought Armand Singer died without telling me his secret to a long and productive life. But during these past few months, I've been often reminded of our many conversations, when I happen upon some of the notes that I hurriedly scribbled or when I write another post to add to the blog and I've begun to see that Armand did leave me his secret after all. Armand Singer was fully engaged with his life.

Just think about your connection to this remarkable man; look at the people around you, this building, this campus and this town. Armand was completely engaged with all of it. It's as if he inhaled everything that was near and dear to him and when he exhaled, he gave all of that energy and love back out to the world.

Tomas said to me, during the drive he and Armand took through the national parks last year, "Every time we make a stop, Armand gets out of the car and within the first 5 feet, he'll find and start talking to someone." Connecting with other human beings was Armand's passion. Whether he was contrasting Shakespeare and Cervantes or extolling the qualities of his favorite Dairy Queen milk shake, Armand was fully present and truly wanted to share what he knew.

Morgantown, this university, Armand's colleagues and friends, all gave him reason to live a long and excellent life. Armand loved to travel perhaps because he had such a strong sense of home. He wasn't searching, he just wanted to add to his life. He wanted more to inhale.

During our phone conversations I'd often sit in front of my computer and search through Google as Armand went from one subject to another. I'd often be amazed at what I discovered but Armand was hardly impressed and said to me as I sat on my little island, "You have to get out in this world and experience it. There's so much to learn, so much."

He was intensely proud of his daughter Ann and often wondered how she grew to be so generous. He said once, "I'm tighter than a fist, you know. So I don't know where she gets it from." As one of her many friends, I can attest to her generosity and one of the biggest and best things she's ever done for me, for all of us in fact, is that she shared her Daddy. Tight as a fist, he may have been, but we are all so much richer for having had him in our lives. Thank you, Annie.

Filtered.

Apparently, what Armand gave us to "put in our pipes to smoke", at times was filtered prior to delivery. Do you recall his Las Vegas conference back in January, where he was to read some of his limericks? What amazed us most at the time was that he was recovering from surgery and had sidestepped kidney failure. What he failed to mention was that his fancy footwork caused him to fall and break a rib or two.

Ann the Daughter found this out during Armand's last, and final, hospital stay in June. He might have been under the influence when he let it be known to Annie that he had flown to Las Vegas with a fractured rib. His Las Vegas audience, however, got the true story in real time. They also heard some of Armand Singer's choice, blush producing limericks.

I happened to find a blog post by a young woman named Niki, who was witness to Armand at his bawdy best. Read her version of what Armand relayed to me as a civil and dispassionate presentation:

"There once was an old man named Armand..."

Photo: Wikipedia.org

Casting

I really think Johnny Depp could pull it off, portraying Armand Singer at various times of his life either in a movie or a play. You may remember a photo of Armand at about twenty years of age next to a bespectacled, bearded Depp. Well here's another photo of a young Armand and the actor he would have chosen for the lead in his movie.

Armand was a specialist on the legend of Don Juan and no doubt when the movie, Don Juan DeMarco opened in 1995, Armand headed the Morgantown movie ticket queue. Johnny Depp's performance in that movie must have impressed Armand. "It is only in my world that you can breathe", was Depp's line that brought the legend to life.

The script would be quite different in a movie about Armand Singer. "Catch your breath, you're in my world now", would be an appropriate line for the day I spent In BusyLand with Armand

A Call For Ideas.

I'm looking for help from all of you loyal Where's Armand? readers and fans. Now that we are no longer able to vicariously travel the world with Armand and I can no longer call him on a Saturday afternoon for a guaranteed bit of amusing history, Where's Armand? is coming to an intersection.

I began writing about Armand to inspire those who use an aging body as an excuse to give up their passport and productivity, to get up and GO:

Look at this 92 year old man who travels all the way to Chile just to marvel at the beautiful mountain peaks.

Find yourself a hobby that excites you enough to pack up and meet with other enthusiasts and win an award while you're at it.

Of course I knew that our time with Armand was limited, and I often thought about ways to segue into another phase of Where's Armand? I envisioned that Armand would have a say, a lot to say. But on a weekly basis, there was simply too much going on in Armand's present and not much time to speak of the future, much less a future without him.

Where's Armand? will continue to post photos and anecdotes of Armand Singer's incredible life, as they become available to me. What I need are suggestions and ideas on how to (1) find and promote people who carry the Armand spirit and (2) inspire people of all ages to expect active and productive lives well beyond their 70's, 80's and 90's.

E-mail me at [email protected] or call me at 808-331-1310. If I don't answer, please leave me a message...I must go out and renew my passport!

Illustration: CoolScienceProjects.com

On The Cover

There's a book at the studio with nearly a year's worth of Where's Armand? blog entries. It was printed as a Father's Day gift for Armand, from his daughter Ann and son-in-law, Tomas.

Just a year ago, Armand and Tomas were on a driving tour of national parks which prompted a post entitled "Roaming Free", which is just what Armand continues to do.

You may also remember that Armand went to Malta last year to attend a Conference of ISSEI. Fittingly, I received this beautiful message yesterday from Ezra Talmor:

Armand Singer - In Memoriam

I feel privileged to have personally known Armand. We first met at the conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas (ISSEI) held at the University of Graz, Austria in 1994. It was the first ISSEI conference in which Armand participated, but not the last, for he became a passionate ISSEI member and headed workshops in all the biannual conferences held thereafter.

My late wife Dr. Sascha Talmor, ISSEI co-founder and co-founding editor of the multidisciplinary journal The European Legacy, cultivated personal ties with our members and contributors, and immediately recognized in Armand a kindred spirit. That sense of affinity and of sharing the same moral scale assumed a stronger relevance given the divergent biographies of Armand and ourselves. We didn't talk personal because there was no need to. In fact, all we knew was that Armand had one daughter whom he dearly loved, and of course we also knew Armand's late wife, Mary, because they came together to ISSEI conferences.

Only very few participants stay till last day of the conference, when the closing session is held. Armand always did. Unfailingly, he would liven up the closing lecture with observations that bore the mark of his individualism and belief in the freedom of exploration.

An Armand anecdote will, I hope, convey the humanistic fervor which to us was his striking quality.

At an ISSEI forum held in 2005, we were on our way to have lunch. My daughter Avital, who knew Armand from all the previous conferences, was walking with Armand. At one point she referred to Armand being Jewish, to which he replied that he wasn't, adding that he hadn't made a point of telling us because he thought we were happy to think he was.

That was the Armand we knew. A person of very strong moral principles and sense of 'the other.'

It was Armand and no one else who captured in words the spirit on which ISSEI and The European Legacy are built, better than any of our conference participants or journal contributors - better than even Sascha or I did.

Armand deserves to be commemorated by West Virginia University for generations to come because he kept alive the flame of learning as an investigation of ideas for the sake of making human beings more human.

Ezra Talmor

Book Cover: Blurb.com

11th ISSEI CONFERENCE, Helsinki 2008 http://issei2008.haifa.ac.il/

Celebrating His Life!

That's what we'll be doing in Morgantown this October. The Thirty- First Annual Colloquium on Literature and Film that occupied most of Armand's time up until his passing, will be held then and it seemed a fitting time and place for a celebration of his life.

Here's an invitation to all of you from his daughter Ann.

Aloha,

A celebration of life well-lived has been planned to honor my father, Armand Singer, at 3:00pm on Saturday, October 6, 2007, at Brooks Hall, WVU Main Campus, Morgantown, WV. Tomas and I hope that you'll be able to join us as we remember, reflect on, and reminisce about my dad's multifaceted life. There are stories to be told and memories to be shared, and we hope to see you there.

If you are able to attend, and need lodging, a block of rooms has been arranged at the Waterfront Place Hotel ($94.00/night). The hotel is convenient to town and restaurants, and just down the street from where Daddy lived the past three years. Information for booking is at the bottom of this letter.

We would love to see you, and celebrate together.

Love and aloha,
Annie

FOR HOTEL BOOKING: https://reservations.ihotelier.com/crs/g_reservation.cfm ?groupID=52788&hotelID=13077

Photo:Phil's Stock World

Write to Tell

A year of Armand Tales just isn't enough. If you have a photograph to share or a story to tell about Armand/Mondo/Babu, please send it to me at [email protected].

If you are as meticulous as the man in the photo, or not computer-savvy, mail it to me:

• Barbara Uechi
• 77-6425 Kuakini Hwy., C2, PMB#121
• Kailua-Kona, HI 96740

Please do not send originals or anything that I'll need to send back. I am not mail-savvy.

Armand's interests and experiences were global and timeless so all subjects are encouraged. However, some of his limericks are not suitable for this family-prime-time blog. Mahalo!

Photo:North Idaho College Writing Center

It don't mean a thing, if you ain't got the swing!

Written for CONNECTIVE ISSUES, a Kona Yoga newsletter published every Monday morning.

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.
~Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss)

Our dear friend, Armand Singer, has made his departure, leaving his body on Thursday, July 12. It was an arduous week for family and friends, yet one that was filled with love and generosity.

Tuesday was my birthday and amid the celebratory e-mails and phone calls, I learned that Armand had decided that his body had taken enough of a beating. He wanted all medical procedures to cease. The day then turned into a fine tuned picture of my life. Birth contrasted with death, and a bright future, layered over one that was dimming. I felt as though Armand was trying to tell me something by choosing the start of my new year, to declare his last. I wrote about it the next day in The Best Yet.

I lit the same candle that led me through Krista's birthing process, it was a birthing of another kind, after all. For the next two days I listened to some loud-big band-jazz as Armand listened to the same on his iPod. I imagined him dancing.

I wrote my first Where's Armand article in June of last year and in describing Armand said:

An Abraham-Hicks assessment on longevity recently said, "...intending for long life assures that you must be leading the parade; people don't start diminishing their life until they stop leading and start falling back into the ranks of the parade, trying to do what others are leading them to do."

Armand leads the parade. He sets the beat and goes for miles on end. He's had many opportunities to stop and take on a pedestrian role, but appears to pause for only a few minutes while he picks out a new beat and route.

As a new week unveils, I feel as though Armand has once again picked up the beat and drawn a new route. Memorials are being planned and stories are being told. Those of us who stood on the sidelines and watched him traipse through life, are sensing the beat. If we can fall into the rhythm, pick-up the pace and move forward with half the passion and vigor of Armand Singer, our lives, and the lives of those around us, would be so much richer. Imagine multitudes of people, leading their own parades yet holding high, banners that read "Where's Armand?"

He's somewhere way ahead waiting for us to pick up the beat. Snapping his fingers as he sings, "It don't mean a thing, if you ain't got the swing..."

In his memory, play this song: It Don't Mean a Thing, a film clip of Duke Ellington and his Orchestra in 1943 (02:44). This is the kind of music that turned Armand on! He'd stop talking and start dancing.

He's Landed Safely

 

Armand Singer officially passed this life at 2:15am EST today, July 12. As soon as I learn of any memorial services, I will post them here.

In the meantime, I'm going to blow out the candles and turn up the music. Armand went out listening to his favorite jazz tunes on an iPod..."with it" until the end.

Aloha my friend!