Immortality achieved?

November 21st, 2008 13:15 UTC ·

The human experienced is characterized by nothing so much as the quest for immortality. The reality that one day we will most surely be gone, but even worse possibly unremembered, seems to drive us to erect statues and ornate mausolea, have large families and family photo albums / home movie archives, become great philanthropists, and construct elaborate religions in which we live forever. And, just as the Internet lowers the barrier of entry to so many pursuits (publishing, retailing, etc.), it has now lowered the price of immortality.

Case in point: the Beard family of Huntington Beach, California.

While mother, father, and son are now deceased, leaving no descendents, they’re a hit on the Internet. Lorraine purchased the family’s vacation Kodachromes from the 1950s and 1960s and has uploaded them to Flickr:

This is the Beard family, Elton, the only son of the couple, born April 26, 1928, Mother Lorraine (born May, 1910) and Dad Basil (born November, 1904), also called Rudy. Dad owned a shop in Huntington Beach, California called HB Electric. Each year around Christmastime, the family took a train tour of New York, Indiana, the Rockies, etc. I bought over 1500 slides that chronicled all years between 1953 and 1968. I tried valiantly to find out more about this family, having seen so many of their slides, but found out very little. Elton evidently took over the shop in 1965. Dad Basil passed on November 14, 1965.

The whole family was in a bowling leagues in Southern California. Lorraine was part of the WIBC, the Women’s International Bowling Congress. Lorraine was also a member of the Grey Lady Service (founded in 1918) which was a forerunner of the Red Cross of today (they were very popular post WWI). The Beard family also had a dog, Tiny. Later on they got a dog called Cherie.

I really wonder if anyone would know of this family today… Elton apparently married only once in 1970 which lasted a year. Elton died on his birthday April 26, 1999. He had no children. Lorraine passed on in March, 2007. It’s so weird how a collection of old slides will generate many unanswered questions.

But it’s not only the images and movies that we ourselves upload to Flickr and YouTube. We blog our thoughts, and somewhere a backup tape exists even even if you delete. Our LinkedIn and Facebook profiles exist after we pass on unless someone closes them for us. Somewhere a data-mining company has a record of every traceable purchase you make, your phone call records are archived, your calls to Customer Service recorded and filed away . . .

Future generations can know far more about the Beard family, or anyone living today, than we will ever know about the Saxon kings of England, or even Queen Victoria or George Washington. Immortality is now available to everyone.