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Published Sunday, January 22, 2012 in Opinion

Passing of 'Family Circus' creator is felt by many

I try to read widely in order to stay up on current events and informed on what is going on in the world.

But somehow, I missed reading or hearing about the death in November of Bill Keane, 89, who created and drew the popular Family Circus comic strip for more than 50 years.

Inasmuch as we live in a time when once-called "funny papers" are not often funny, but sometimes surly, and suggestive, the wholesome Family Circus is a breath of fresh air.

With the cartoon syndicated in more than 1,500 newspapers, apparently countless persons agree.

There is nothing controversial about this comic strip. It is centered on Mommy, Daddy and their four small children and filled with Keane's wonderful sense of humor.

A remarkable artist, Keane was self-taught and drew cartoons for Stars and Stripes newspaper during World War II. While stationed in Australia, he met his wife Thelma, a native Australian who inspired for her husband the character Mommy and was the mother of their five children.

I was moved by Keane's words in telling of his work.

"I don't just try to be funny," Keane said in an interview more than 20 years ago. "My cartoons are not a belly laugh. I go for nostalgia, the lump in the throat, the tear in the eye and the tug at the heart."

Innumerable readers and faithful followers of the strip would join in saying, "All these years, we have been blessed because you did exactly what you aimed to do!"

And, by the way, it is the only comic strip I have ever heard described and quoted in a Sunday school class.

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