Beam Scotty Up!

Yes, one of my science fiction heros died today! James Doohan played Montgomery Scott on Gene Roddenberry's TV series "Star Trek". Scotty was the burly chief engineer on the USS Star Ship Enterprise.

As I was growing up, I was enthralled as the characters traveled to strange new worlds. Captain James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Scotty used amazing technology that was fiction in the 60's but now is common place. James Doohan was made famous with Captain Kirk's famous command "Beam me up, Scotty". The series concluded it's final year in 1969.

James Doohan died this morning at age 85 of pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease. Doohan's ashes will be sent into space according to his wishes. Like Gene Roddenberry before him, his ashes will be transported to space by a company called Space Services Inc. The Houston-based company teams with commercial launch organizations in offering memorial services. For a fee, they will transport the ashes of your loved ones into orbit, to the lunar surface, or even into deep space.

Space is not for me. When I pass, I can not think of anything more beautiful than my final resting place being under a flagged red spruce on Dolly Sods -surrounded by blueberries, trailing ground pine, and boulders of Pottsville conglomerate.