Light a Fire

SUMMARY: Colin Powell (b. April 5, 1937) American soldier, statesman
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Colin Powell is best known as the first African American appointed as the United States Secretary of State under President George W. Bush. He earned his rank of General in the United States Army. He has also held the titles of National Security Advisor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Colin Powell is a political man with much of his life lived out serving his country.

Colin Powell was born in to Jamaican immigrants in 1937. He grew up in the South Bronx and had a public education. He earned his bachelor’s degree in geology from the City College of New York. While at the City College of New York he participated in ROTC and received a commission as an Army second lieutenant upon his 1958 graduation. He attended George Washington University where he earned a Master of Business Administration degree in 1971.

Mr. Powell was a professional soldier for 35 years. He was the National Security Advisor for then President Reagan from 1987-1989. He earned the ranking of 4-star General under President George H.W. Bush where he served as Commander in Chief. His last military assignment was as the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989-1993. This is the highest military position in the Department of Defense. As the Joint Chiefs of Staff he oversaw 28 crises including the Victory in Operation Desert Storm during the Persian Gulf War. At the age of 52 he was the youngest officer ever to serve in that position.

While in Vietnam in the year 1963 Colin was injured by a punji-stick booby trap. He was awarded the Purple Heart and later that year the Bronze Star. Although injured during his first tour of Vietnam he went on to serve a second tour from 1968-1969. He again was injured but this time in a helicopter crash. He was awarded the Soldiers Medal for rescuing his comrades from the helicopter fire despite his own injuries. In his military career Colin was awarded 11 military decorations including the Legion of Merit.
He retired from the military and wrote his best selling biography entitled My American Journey which was published in 1995. He was also a public speaker across the United States and overseas. He became a popular figure with both American political parties. He campaigned for the Republican candidates after declaring himself a Republican. He declined being a possible opponent to Bill Clinton in the Presidential election of 1996. In 1997 Powell founded America’s Promise, a group aimed at helping children from all socio-economic areas. He is often seen wearing their logo of a red wagon pin on his lapel in support of the group.

In the year 2000, Powell campaigned for the Texas Governor George W. Bush. He was appointed as the key foreign policy advisor for the campaign. With the success of the Bush nomination for President Colin Powell was appointed to the job he is best known for. Colin Powell became the first African American to be appointed as the United States Secretary of State under the newly elected President George W. Bush.

While he was Secretary of State Colin Powell was seen as moderate. He was well liked by Americans and traveled the least of his predecessors. His job became critical after September 11, 2001. He was in charge of securing good relationships with foreign countries to aid in the War on Terrorism. The most criticism he has been given during his career was during the War on Terrorism and the invasion of Iraq.

Colin Powell achieved many things in his life. He is still active on the public speaking circuit and gives advice to other politicians. During his time he has seen a few wars. He has worked with some of the best politicians in America including Nixon, Reagan, Carter, and both Bush’s. He is a determined and a bright man who has made a difference in America and foreign affairs.

SUMMARY: Charlotte Bronte (April 21, 1816 – March 31, 1855) British novelist, poet
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Charlotte Bronte is perhaps most famous for her book Jane Eyre. She was the author of a few other books along with a collection of poems written with her sisters. Charlotte grew up in the 1800’s and it could be said that she had a difficult if not tragic life. Her father was rumored to be a violent man, her brother was an alcoholic and drug addict, her mother died when she was young followed by her sisters and an aunt later in life.

Charlotte was the third child born to Patrick Bronte and Maria Branwell. She was born in 1816 and was followed by a brother Patrick in 1817, a sister Emily 1818, and a sister Anne in 1820. Her two older sisters Maria born in 1814 and Elizabeth born in 1815 both died of tuberculosis in 1825. Charlotte’s mother had passed away in 1821 from Cancer. Her mother’s sister Elizabeth, Aunt Branwell moved into the family home and helped with the Bronte siblings.

Charlotte was first sent to Clergy Daughter’s School at Cowan Bridge with her sisters. Charlotte states that the school’s poor conditions permanently affected her health and physical development and led to the death of her two older sisters from tuberculosis. Charlotte and her younger three sisters were taken back to their family home Haworth Parsonage after the death of her two sisters.

Charlotte continued her education at Roe Head School, where she also became a teacher for a time. She was also a governess to families in Yorkshire. In 1842 Charlotte traveled to Brussels with her sisters to attend Pensionnat Heger. Here they were taught by Constantin Heger and his wife Claire. The sisters studied literature and hoped to open their own school someday. Death struck Charlotte again when later in October of that same year her Aunt Branwell passed away. The Bronte sisters traveled back to Haworth with only Charlotte returning back to Brussels in early 1843. It is rumored that Charlotte was deeply in love with Constantin even though he was married and that this period of her life inspired her novels Villete and The Professor. She left the Pensionnat for good in 1844 returning once again to her family home Haworth. She opened her own school with her sisters but this was unsuccessful.

Charlotte looked at her literary career as a way towards financial independence and to help support her sisters. Her first published work however was a collection of poetry that she wrote with her sisters and was published under pseudonyms. Only two copies were sold but the sisters still pursued writing. In 1847 the literary works of Charlotte, Emily and Ann were published under their pseudonyms. The books are now the contemporary classics of Jane Eyre (Charlotte), Wuthering Heights (Emily) and Agnes Grey (Ann). In 1848, a year after seeing their books published the sisters revealed that they were the true writers of the books.

Death struck the family once again in 1848 taking their brother Patrick who had become an alcoholic and addicted to opium. Emily died shortly after this followed a year later by Ann. These deaths left Charlotte alone with her father. Charlotte began moving in literary circles but never left her aging father alone for too long. During this time she met William Thackeray and Elizabeth Gaskell who would later write her biography.

She married Arthur Bell Nicholls in 1854, the curator of her family estate of Haworth. She admired Nicholls but many say she did not love him and that even her father had at first forbidden her to marry him. She became pregnant shortly after the wedding but her health declined quickly. Charlotte died while pregnant in 1855 at the age of 38. Her biography was published in 1857.

Her short life produced the works of Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villete and The Professor which was published after her death. She accomplished so much for her era where a woman was thought to only be good in the home. Her stories along with that of her sister’s are thought of as the standard of English literature.

SUMMARY: Cesar Chavez (March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) American farm worker, labor leader
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Hailed as one of the greatest American civil rights leaders is Cesar Estrada Chavez. He was a Mexican American farmer born in 1927 in Yuma, Arizona and passed away in 1993. He fought for the rights of the migrant farm workers; these are workers that move from place to place in order to find work. He is best known for his efforts to gain better working conditions for the thousands of workers who worked on farms for low wages and sometimes in bad conditions. He is considered a hero among farm laborers and his birthday has become a holiday in four states.

Cesar Chavez began his career at the age of ten when his family became migrant workers. His father had lost their land during the great depression. Cesar’s family and thousands of others traveled throughout the southwest working in fields and vineyards. He quit school at the end of the eighth grade in order to help his family financially. He was married to Helen Fabela in 1948 after serving three years in the U.S. Navy.

In 1952 at the age of twenty five Cesar began working for the Community Service Organization or the CSO. This was a Latino civil rights group. He traveled throughout California making speeches for the support of workers rights, fighting against racial and economic discrimination against the Chicano residents. He also began more CSO chapters across California and Arizona. In 1958 he became the USO’s national director.

Cesar’s dream was to create an organization to help farm workers whose suffering he had also experienced. He was unable to convince the CSO to commit to working farmers organization. Then in 1962 he resigned his job with the CSO and moved to Delano, California with his wife and eight young children. He then co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) with Dolores Huerta, this was changed to the United Farm Workers (UFW) in 1966.

Cesar Chavez, like many other civil rights leaders including Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ghandi, believed in non-violent actions. He used these tactics in1965 when his NFWA group joined with the AFL-CIO to strike against the major Delano area grape growers. During this strike Cesar fasted for 25 days to help bring attention to the plight of the workers. This was a successful 5 year strike-boycott that led to the first major labor victory for U.S. farm workers.

This event led to more like them in the U.S. throughout the years including Texas and Wisconsin. In the early 1980’s farmers who worked under contracts with the UFW as it was now called enjoyed higher pay, family health coverage, pension benefits and other contract protections. In 1984 he led a boycott against the use of toxic pesticides on grapes. This is where he fasted for 36 days in protest for the workers and their children that were working with this pesticide.

Cesar Chavez was also opposed to immigration and fought against it during his years in the UFW. He believed that the Bracero Program that existed from 1942-1964 undermined the U.S. workers and exploited the migrant workers. This program was between the U.S. and Mexico allowing for guest workers to help American farmers. These guest workers were paid less and were also allowed to work in place of the striking workers. This law was overturned thanks to Cesar Chavez.

The legacy of Cesar Chavez is extensive. Many farmer laborers see him as a hero. His work helped them to have higher pay and to improve their work safety. His birthday is a state holiday in California, and Texas. It is an optional holiday in Texas and Colorado. He has many parks, streets and some libraries named after him. He even has his own postage stamp. His son and grandson tour the country talking of his legacy. Without Cesar Chavez the migrant workers and America would have missed out.

SUMMARY: Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) American author, transcendental philosopher
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Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was born in 1803 and died in 1882, was an original and eloquent American philosopher and poet, mostly famously known for his essays, which found admirers all across the world and proved that the new democracy wasn’t composed entirely of hayseeds (a common prejudice at the time).

Emerson’s father, a beloved New England minister, provided his son with a first-rate education, and Emerson followed in his father’s footsteps, being assigned as preacher to a Boston Unitarian church shortly after leaving Harvard University in 1829. Emerson and preaching were made for each other, and the man’s eloquence, profundity, and grave but good-humored New England manner won him immediate admirers and acclaim. Emerson influenced a host of American thinkers and writers, from Henry David Thoreau of Walden fame to William James, the seminal Harvard psychologist and philosopher and brother of novelist Henry James.

Emerson preached what some saw as a thoroughly Yankee doctrine: practical, optimistic, with no room for the devil but plenty of sage counsel on how do a lot with a little and find joy in the smallest things. He was no simple grinning easy answer man, however, such as you see in hotels across America today, pitching get rich quick schemes that basically come down to—“Smile; smile a lot. Smile and think about all that money.” And the guy with the huge white teeth and microphone is smiling because he’s thinking of all that money you forked over, and now you get some fruit juice and a cracker and eighty-seven CDs that you’re never going to listen to.

No; Emerson marched to the beat of a different drummer; a real drummer, with real drums, rather than a chimpanzee hammering an old pie tin with a wooden spoon. His timeless essay “Self-Reliance,” which can be purchased for a few dollars at your local bookstore, is one of the those works that deeply inspire—many have credited this essay alone with igniting a flame beneath their sagging couches, a flame that burned so brightly and so hot that they leaped up for new horizons and didn’t look back. Emerson teaches that every man and woman has it within them to live their dreams, as even the feeblest movement forward brings a reward, which gives one the courage to make the next movement, and the next, and the next.

Another of Emerson’s famous works, a collection of seven lectures entitled Representative Men and hailed by British poet and critic Matthew Arnold as “The most important work done in prose,” studies the lives of Plato the philosopher, Swedenborg the mystic, Montaigne the skeptic, Shakespeare the poet, Napoleon the man of action, and Goethe the writer. Emerson not only describes the lives and accomplishments of these titanic personalities, he explains them in terms of archetypes. Shakespeare, for example, is the archetype, or supreme version, of all poets, and Emerson expounds on the qualities in Shakespeare that made him so. Plato, as the archetype of philosophers, stands for everyone who has asked him or herself what it means to love or be virtuous and pondered the question with an intensity and devotedness commensurate with the subject. The book’s opening essay, “The Uses of Great Men,” is an in-depth exploration of why we need, and why we don’t need, heroes in our lives; how great personalities of the past can inspire us to greatness, or hinder us in our progress, depending on how we interact with them.

Emerson’s positive philosophy, transcendentalism, which found many adherents in its time, isn’t influential as a formal movement today—and no wonder, given the horrors of the twentieth century—but Emerson’s lectures, sermons, and essays are timeless, and require no background in philosophy or theology to be picked up and simply enjoyed. You do have to be able to read, though. When you pick up your copy of Emerson, be sure that it isn’t printed in a foreign language or brail, unless you’re familiar with those languages and made the choice on purpose. Emerson was American as they come, but don’t be fooled into buying a Russian translation based on that fact, because Russian is a difficult language to read, you can’t just “sound” it out.

SUMMARY: Eleanor Roosevelt (October 11, 1884 – November 7, 1962) American First Lady, diplomat, activist
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Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born in New York City on October 11, 1884 to wealthy parents Elliott Roosevelt and Anna Hall. Her father was the younger brother of the 26th President of the United States of America Theodore Roosevelt. She was born into a family of New York high society called the “Swells” and was the eldest of three children. When Eleanor was only eight years old, her mother contracted diphtheria and died in 1892 at age 29. After the passing of her mom, Eleanor, her two brothers Elliott Jr. and Gracie Hall went to live with their maternal grandmother Hall in Tivoli, New York. Shortly after, her father Elliot also passed away on August 14, 1894 from a seizure due to various suicide attempts and intensive alcohol intake. As a child, Eleanor was very shy and never felt good about her looks. She received private education until age 15. She was then sent to Allenswood, a distinguished school for girls in England. Eleanor learned to speak French fluently and gained self-confidence through the help and guidance of the headmistress Marie Souvestre.

At age 18, Eleanor Roosevelt returned to the United States, in New York where she resided with family and finished her formal education. Soon after her return from England she met one of her distant cousins Franklin D. Roosevelt who was then 20 years old and was attending Harvard University. On New Year’s Day of 1903, Franklin and Eleanor began their courtship. In November of 1903, they were engaged without the family knowledge and official approval until the following year in December 1, 1904. Eleanor and Franklin were married on March 17, 1905 on St. Patrick’s Day at her great-aunt’s home in New York City. The newlyweds settled in New York City in one of Franklin family estates. Together, they had six children but only five survived infancy.

While raising her five children, Eleanor joined the League of Women Voters, the National Consumer’s league and the Women’s Trade Union League. She was famous for her humanitarian work and for her example as a woman in public life. In 1921, her husband contracted polio leaving him paralyzed. She then started to represent her husband during his terms as governor of New York and later the 32nd President of the United States in 1933. She continually played an important role in her husband’s successful political campaigns. While being first lady, she frequently traveled nationwide and gave many uplifting lectures and held many press conferences. She started writing columns and articles for various newspapers and magazines. She worked for the Red Cross during the war. After the passing of her husband Franklin in April 12, 1945, Eleanor carried on staying active in politics. She became a great supporter for the needs of minorities, disadvantaged and of the poor. She was the chairperson of United Nations Commission on Human Rights. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy designated her head of the Commission of the Status of Women.

She also wrote books about her life including “This is my story” in 1937, “This I remember” in 1949 and “On my Own” in 1958 and her last book called “Tomorrow is Now” published after she died.

Eleanor died on November 6th, 1962 leaving a great legacy and making an impact on so many people’s lives.

SUMMARY: Bob Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) American actor and comedian
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Bob Hope rose from his birth in England to become one of the most recognized talents in the world. His career spans decades and many types of entertainment. He is truly a gifted performer.

On May 29, 1903 Bob Hope was born as Leslie Townes Hope in Eltham, England. He was the fifth son of seven to a stonemason and an aspiring concert singer. In 1907 the family moved to Cleveland, Ohio from England, becoming a joke in later years that at the age of four he realized he wouldn’t be king and the family moved to America. In 1920 he and his brothers became U.S. citizens, he then became known as Bob Hope. He was married to Dolores Reade in 1934 and they had four children and four grandchildren together and they remained married for his life time.

He began his career at the age of twelve entering many different dancing and amateur talent contests. He even won a prize for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin. He tried boxing under the name Packy East but this was unsuccessful. He then became involved in Vaudeville performing as a Siamese twin with George Byrne, other performers included the Hilton Sisters and George Burns. He spent five years on the Vaudeville circuit and then traveled to New York to continue his career.

He became involved in Broadway acting alongside many other notable celebrities. His first major recognition came in 1933 when he performed as a wise-cracking Huckleberry Haines in the performance of Roberta. He then appeared in Say When, and Ziegfeld Follies where he shared the stage with Fanny Brice. Ziegfeld Follies was such a success that he then was awarded the opportunity to perform in Red, Hot and Blue with Jimmy Durante and Ethel Merman. Critics began to notice his comedic timing. His performance in Red, Hot and Blue led to his first major feature film for Paramount pictures called The big Broadcast of 1938.

Like many other performers at this time Bob performed on radio shows. He first starred with Bing Crosby during the Capitol Family Hour. Other radio shows and performances include the Woodbury Soap show and in 1938 he had his own radio show sponsored by Pepsodent. Bob did his last radio performance in 1956.

Bob became one of Paramount pictures biggest stars of the time. He made more then 50 feature films including his roles in My Favorite Brunette and Road movies and the Road movies. He starred with many famous women in the movies including his costar in the Road pictures Dorothy Lamour, Lucille Ball and Jane Russell were also co-stars. Bob Hope never nominated for an Oscar for any of his performances but has been given four honorary awards by the Academy of motion picture arts and Sciences.

His singing Career however earned him two academy award winning songs. Thanks for the memories with Shirley Ross which was in the movie The Big Broadcast of 1938 and from the movie The Paleface the song Buttons and Bows. He is also credited with the songs Two sleepy people, Silver Bells, Put it there Pal, Teamwork, and We’re off on the road to Morroco.

Bob Hope is well known for his USO performances the first of which was performed on May 6, 1941. He traveled and entertained the troops during World War II and both the Korean and Vietnam wars and later the Persian Gulf War. He almost always showed his gratitude to the troops by performing in fatigues. He has headlined over sixty USO tours and was awarded the Sylvanus Thayer Award for his service. He also began his Christmas Television specials in 1948.

Bob Hope was a big sports fan. He owned part of both the Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Rams. He tried his hand at boxing and pool, but he loved to golf. He joked that he only told jokes to pay for his green fees. He is widely accredited with helping golf gain such popularity. He was able to golf with many presidents from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush. His greatest gift to golf would be considered his development of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic which has raised over 40 million dollars for various charities.

In his 100 years on this earth Bob Hope delighted millions with his charm, grace and comedy. He could sing and dance. He was a true performer. He has won many awards and been honored with many titles including a Knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. He has had four stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, medals, memorials and tributes all in his name. He gave to a country he was not born into but his legacy in America will live on forever.

SUMMARY: Benjamin Franklin (January 17 1706 – April 17, 1790) American tatesman, author, printer, satirist
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Benjamin Franklin was one of the founding fathers and leaders of our country. Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston. His life and contributions are considered to be along the lines of the most beneficial to our country. Imagine what life would be like today if he were not born on that cold day in 1706.

Benjamin Franklin was a noted polymath. He was educated and skilled in writing, printing, political theory and much more. He is what many found to be a perfect example of a representative and communicator for our country the United States of America.

As was his colleagues he was a scientist of sorts. He functions with many others to bring a higher level of enlightenment to physics. He became a very wealthy and well-known person in the social circles of government as time went by.

Benjamin Franklin was the founder of the very first Fire Department and Public library. The community was always a very high priority for President Franklin. This is probably the reason he fit so well into the leadership of taking care of our Country.

Franklin’s fathers name was Josiah Franklin. His mother was Abiah Folger. Benjamin Franklin had many half siblings. There was overall a very full family. This life contributed to Franklin’s education, thoughts and growth. He went from his home with his family when he was 17 years old, to Philadelphia to start a new life.

After this he worked as a printer for some time. Then a few years later Benjamin Franklin was convinced by the Pennsylvania Governor Sir William Keith to go to London. They wanted to get the equipment needed to start a Newspaper in Philadelphia.

Benjamin Franklin moved from this to writing his own writings. He had begun to publish the Poor Richard’s Almanac. These writings were a huge part of his growing popularity.

After this there were many other great inventions and writings. Some of these are the lightning rod and the glass harmonica. He also invented the bifocal glasses and the flexible urinary catheter. These were major benefits to even the medical devices we use today.

When we think of Benjamin Franklin we think of a guiding figure that took us from the dark into the light. There is so much to be learned when we look at what he did for the over all growth of this nation.

In 1763 Franklin came to the western frontier. It was the cold time of the bitter war known as the Pontiac’s Rebellion. He planned amazing attacks that made sure to create the history we know.

By the time that Franklin became a part of the Declaration of Independence, he had proven himself to his peers and the community and states. The Pennsylvania Assembly unanimously chose Franklin as their delegate.

From that time the growth became more and more the life of a member of the history we know as famous. He created the greater life we all live and enjoy. There is a great deal more to learn and live through the further readings available for Benjamin Franklin. Take some time to enjoy and learn more about one of the greatest founding fathers the United States has ever had.

SUMMARY: Beverly Sills (May 25, 1929 – July 2, 2007) American opera singer
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Known as America’s queen of Opera by her fans, Beverly Sills was an outstanding opera singer. Her career spans four decades including head of many music organizations and charitable organizations. She was the best known American female opera singer in the 1960’s and 1970’s.

Beverly Sills was born in May of 1929 and passed away on July 2, 2007. She was born Belle Miriam Silverman in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish immigrants from Romania. Beverly grew up in Brooklyn and was called Bubbles by her friends. She spoke five different languages including Yiddish, Russian, Romanian, French and English. She attended Brooklyn schools including the Manhattan’s professional children’s school.

At the young age of three Beverly began her singing career. She sang “The wedding of Jack and Jill” in a Miss beautiful baby contest that she won. When she was four years old she started to perform professionally on a radio program called Rainbow House where she performed as Bubbles Silverman. When she was seven she was taking vocal lessons and appeared in a short film titled Uncle Sol Solves It under her stage name of Beverly Sills. At the age of ten she won on Major Bowes’ Amateur Hour she later became a regular on another of his radio shows called Capitol Family Hour, a weekly variety hour.

In 1945 she began performing on the professional stage with the Gilbert and Sullivan touring company. This is where she gives credit to her comic timing which she became famous for. She so enjoyed playing the title character of Patience that she learned she had a talent for slapstick comedy. The touring company played to twelve US and Canadian cities and performed seven different Gilbert and Sullivan operas. Ms. Sills then performed for several more years in light operas.

Her operatic stage debut was made in 1945 as the Spanish gypsy Frasquita in Carmen staged by the Philadelphia Civic Opera. The year 1955 had her appearing in the New York City Opera in Die Fledermaus as Rosalind earning her critical praise. She performed at the landmark Lewishon Stadium before a crowd of 13,000 people with the noted opera conductor Alfredo Antonini with an aria from I puritani. She then went on to perform the title role in the New York premier of The Ballad of Baby Doe in 1958 expanding her reputation in the opera world.

Miss Sills was married in 1956 to Peter Greenough and moved to Cleveland with him. They had two children a daugher born in 1959 and a son born in 1961. Her daughter Meredith or Muffy was deaf and her son Peter or Bucky was mentally disabled and so she restricted her performances to care for her children. In 1960 the family moved to Massachusettes where she began perfoming many roles for opera director Sarah Caldwell.

Her most notable singing years began in 1966 with her performance as Cleopatra in the opera seria Giulio Cesare which helped her become and international opera star. She had many other notable perfomances with the New York City Opera. In 1969 she won acclaim for her high note rendition of Zerbinetta’s aria, “Grossmächtige Prinzessin” while perfoming with the Boston Symphony. Home video tapes of this performance were widely circulated until 2006 when the tapes were made public. The same year she also made the cover of Newsweek magazine with her success as Pamira The Siege of Corinth.
She was labeled “America’s Queen of the Opera” by time magazine in 1971 a fitting title because she so rarely performed overseas. In 1975 she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera receiving an eighteen minute ovation for her performance.

She made her first television appearance in “Virginia Graham’s Girl Talk” and became a frequent talk show guest and sometimes host in the years to come. She is largely credited with making opera popular because of her many TV show appearances. She had her own show at one time titled “ Lifestyles with Beverly Sills”. Sills was seen as down to earth and very approachable leading to a modern look at opera divas.

In years to come she sat on the boards of many opera houses and was also chairman of the Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Opera House. She dedicated herself to many causes of the arts and Charities. She made her official retirement in 1980 with a final perfomance. During her four decade career she won both a Grammy and an Emmy along with many other awards and honorary doctorates. With her passing the opera world truly lost something great.