Eulogy

The longer someone has lived, the longer we have to process the unavoidable grief that comes with dying. We’re able to say, in all honesty, “They lived a full life.”But how do you process the grief for someone who has gone too soon? Someone who had so much more to do, to see, and to give. It’s a challenge that’s being met this afternoon at the Tabernacle United Church in Philadelphia, PA. Eulogy is written and produced by Ted McCagg, with today’s eulogies delivered by Francis Jue, Candace Leung, Daisy Guevera, Paul Oakley Stovall, and Eric William Morris. Engineering and sound design by Bart Smith at Bart Plus. Music written by Rami Yacoub, Carl Falk, Savan Kotecha, Harry Styles, Kid Harpoon, Mitch Rowland & Tyler Johnson. Performed by Patricio Penin and Andrew.

Death is a complicated subject. Despite the simplicity ofthe act itself, how a person thinks about it, processes it, and ultimately faces it is uniquely personal. In short, it’s a lot of feelings, and many of them are being tackled this morning in the 3rd grade classroom of Ms. Sarah, at PS 107 in Brooklyn, NY.Eulogy is written and produced by Ted McCagg, with today’seulogy delivered by Erin Brese, Gracia Damsgard, Rigby Dehnart, Khalil Mak, Hannah Reed, Gus Paglia, McKenna Sawrey, Evie Rye, Virgil Brese, and Eve Paglia. Engineering and sound design by Bart Smith at Bart Plus. Special thanks as always to Jesse Burch. 

To the average person reading the Times obituaries, the life of Masie Nicholls was nothing extraordinary. She was a music teacher at Fitzjohn’s Primary School in Hampstead, London. She loved music and travel. She enjoyed foraging and watching Gogglebox. And she was survived by her husband of 40+ years, Martin. But to Martin, she was the most extraordinary, fascinating, and loving woman ever to set foot on God’s earth. She was his everything, his guiding light and safety net, and he is the only one who can give the world the truest picture of her life. The only question is: what is he to do with his life now that she’s gone?This episode of Eulogy stars Toby Wynn-Davies as Martin Nicholls. Engineered by Bart Smith at Bart+.

If you grew up in the 60’s, you remember Little Donnie Holland as the adorable “Butchie” in the Andy Griffith rip-off “The Telly Savalas Show.” Or maybe as “Billy” in the “Lost in Space” knock-off “Moon Family” with Charles Nelson Reilly. After losing out to Ron Howard for a role on “Happy Days,” Donald descended into a life of drugs and alcohol, popping up occasionally on Love Boat, Hollywood Squares, and The Gong Show before becoming a porn actor in the early 80’s. After almost dying, he found Scientology, got married and had kids, wrote a memoir, and was rediscovered in the late 90’s, which led to a decade as the favorite character actor for indie directors. But just as he reached his peak, winning Oscars for Best Actor, Director and Picture, he left to become an MMA fighter and befriended Vladmir Putin, making Russian versions of Rambo movies. Needless to say, there are plenty of tales.Eulogy is written and produced by Ted McCagg, with today’s eulogies delivered by Erik Lochtefeld, Kimberley Wetherell, Audrey Wooster, Maggie Thompson, David Goldfarb, David Agranov, Dominic Russo, and Jesse Burch. Engineering and sound design by Bart Smith at Bart Plus. Music performed by Elijah Torn and Artem Litovchenko.