Death Comes Unexpectedly...

This is the title of a sermon in the wonderful,feel- good story Pollyanna,the film version of which I have seen several times over a period of many years.It was Karl Maldan, not Haley Mills,who was the real star of the 1960 big -screen version of Pollyanna.The famous Streets Of San Francisco actor played a punchy preacher,whose fiery sermons were about as popular as toothache!Actor,Karl Maldan,was a Serbian -American,who was born in March,1912,just weeks before the most iconic ship in history,R.M.S.Titanic hit an iceberg before slowly sinking beneath the freezing,turbulent waters of the North Atlantic Ocean...

The fact is, that death almost always comes unexpectedly- even for those whose demise is expected.My mother,Joan,died suddenly and unexpectedly whilst sitting on the loo;my father,Harry's death was unexpected,as was my twin sister,who was still -born almost 65 years ago.The death of Joan's much-loved father,Arthur was totally unexpected - he was killed in a tragic road accident on 20th July,1936...The same could be said for some of the most famous individuals who have ever lived;Princess Diana,JFK,Martin Luther King,Mahatma Gandhi,Mario Lanza,James Dean,the list could go on and on.