The Soumaya is a relatively new museum, opened in 2011. It was founded by Carlos Slim, a Mexican businessman and philanthropist who was at one time ranked by Forbes as the richest man on Earth. He named the museum after his wife, Soumaya Domit, who passed away in 1999.
The Soumaya houses more than 66,000 pieces of art ranging from Mesoamerican artifacts to contemporary paintings. It includes the largest collection of Rodin sculptures outside of France. The Soumaya is run as a non-profit and there is no admission charge at the museum.
Auguste Rodin
Gates of HellThe Rodin room
Salvador Dali
Venus with CrutchesDaliâs ArmsBathroom SililoquesWoman with Head of RosesAlice in Wonderland
Sculpture
Hebe, Orazio Andrioni, 1880Cupid, Anonimo Frances, 1750Aurora, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, 1860Thebes Seated on an Armchair, Giacomo Manzu, 1987
Classic portraiture
Madonna and Child with Two Angels, Niccolo di Ser Sozzo Tegliacci, 1350Saint Peter Penitent, Jose de Ribera, 1630Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, Francisco de Zurbaran, 1638Maria Ignacio Morena Barrios, Jose de Alcibar, 1792Flora, Giuseppe Acimboldo, 1590-1600
Impressionists
Statue of Henry IV and Flowering Trees, Camille Pissarro, 1901Oostzijdse Mill, Piet Mondrian, 1903-1907Cottage with a Peasant Coming Back Home,Vincent VanGogh, 1885After the Storm, Maurice de Vlaminck, 1925Mexican Maternity, Marc Chagall, 1942Girls at the Factory, Georges Rouault, 1949Autumnal Meditation, Georgio de Chirico, 1913
Mexican artists
Zapata, David Alfaro SiqueirosThe Spinner, Raul AnguianoThe Fainting Woman, David Alfaro Siqueiros
The National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City is the largest anthropology museum in the world and the most visited museum in Mexico. Last year it hosted some 3.7 million visitors. Admission is pretty modest (about $5 U.S.) and it is free for Mexicans on Sunday.
The Mexica
The Mexica were a Nahuatl-speaking people who are believed to have migrated into the Valley of Mexico around 1200. There they built an empire that dominated the region in the 15th and early 16th centuries. Their capital was Tenochtitlan which is where present day Mexico City stands. They were later named Aztecs by historians.
The Stone of the SunXochipilli, “Lord of Flowers,” was considered the god of the royal nobility and patron saint of flowers.The ancient city of Cholula, part of what would be called the Aztec Empire, was famous for its pottery.These warrior sculptures, known as “Atlantes,” which were found near the main ball court in front of the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan.A ball game called Pelota was popular among the Mexica and other peoples of Mesoamerica.
Teotihaucan
Teotihaucan was at one time the largest city in Mesoamerica. It is about 25 miles from Mexico City. It is here that the Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon were built. Archeologists believe it was a multi-ethnic city attracting migrants from throughout the region. Teotihaucan has been dated back to 100 BC, predating the Mexica, and it lasted until the 7th or 8th century. Today it is primarily known for its significance as an archeological site.
The Pyramid of the Serpent was a political and religious center for Teotihaucanos. It was built between 150 and 200 AD. âThe Drinkers,â a mural in nearby Cholula, was created in about 200 ADThis is a reproduction of a mural depicting Tlalic, the god of rain.
The Indigenous Peoples of Mexico
Caguama fishing, Adolfo Mexiac, carved from wood with black ink The Magical World of the Maya, Lenora CarringtonThe Cruz Blanca Carnival, JosĂŠ MĂĄximo Rivas
These photos chronicle a hot air balloon ride to the pyramids of Teotihaucan in Mexico. Teotihaucan was at one time believed to be the largest city in the Pre-Colombian Americas. It is about 25 miles northeast of Mexico City.
The two pyramids, the larger Pyramid of the Sun and the smaller Pyramid of the Moon were built by Teotihaucanos in about 200 AD. The names came later, courtesy of the Aztecs. Both had religious significance though exactly what is a matter of conjecture. It is suspected that human and animal sacrifices were done atop these pyramids. The Pyramid of the Sun is the third largest pyramid in the world.
In 1922, shortly after the Mexican Revolution, the Secretariat of Public Education Jose Vasconcelos commissioned Diego Rivera for a mural project at the public education building. The building, located in Mexico Cityâs historic downtown district, is a large rectangle with two courtyards in the middle. Rivera’s frescoes are painted on the inside walls of the building facing the courtyards.
It took him six years to complete well over 100 panels. The work is a foundation piece of the Mexican mural movement. The building itself has been converted to the Museo Vivo del Muralism and opened as such in 2024. The museum is free. It contains Riveraâs original works and some additional murals by Mexican artists.
PeasantsLeaving the MineEntrance to the MineSugar MillThe WeaversThe MarketThe UnionsThe Burning of JudasDay of the DeadThe FoundryLiberation of the PawnMusicGuaranteesThe OrgyWall Street BanquetThe ProtestDeath of the CapitalistIn the Arsenal. Thatâs Frida Kahlo in the center handing out guns. At the far right is Tina Modotti, Italian photographer, feminist and political activist.Self Portrait
Works by other artists in the museum.
The bearers, Jean Charlot
Mexican stoicism, the hubbub in the middle of chaos, Fernando AndriacciAbundance, Cesar Menchaca GarciaSketch of the mural of the humanoidâs march on Earth and toward the cosmos, David Alfaro SiqueirosRites, Raul Anguiano
Leon Trotsky was one of the leaders of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. Along with Vladimir Lenin, he was instrumental in the founding and early governance of the Soviet Union. After Leninâs death, he had a falling out with his successor Joseph Stalin. This would lead to his being expelled from the Politburo and in 1929 was deported. He spent a few years in exile at different European countries before moving to Mexico in 1937 where he was welcomed by Mexican President LĂĄzaro CĂĄrdenas.
Upon his arrival in Mexico, Trotsky and his wife Natalia Sedona moved into La Casa Azul with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Apparently Trotsky got on better with Frida than he did with Diego, as the two are purported to have had an affair.
In this photo, Trotsky is in the middle, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo are at the far left.
In 1939, Trotsky and Sedona moved to different house in the same Coyoacan section of Mexico City. That house is now the Trotsky Museum.
Thatâs what you call a working class stove.
While in exile at his new home, Trotsky planted a cactus garden and built a chicken coup.
He also continued to write critically of Stalin and the Stalinist brand of Marxism. After a couple failed assassination attempts, he was murdered by an agent of Stalinâs secret police in 1941. He was buried on the grounds of the house in Coyoacan.
La Casa Azul was the home of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera from 1929 to 1954. Located in the CoyoacĂĄn neighborhood of Mexico City, it is now the Museo Frida Kahlo. It houses a good collection of Kahloâs paintings, many of her personal belongings and objects of art and a beautiful garden that well captures the artsy vibe of the home.
Mi familia (incomplete)Portrait of my father, Don Guillermo KahloSelf PortraitFrida and the cesarea (Caesarian operation)Still LifeMoises o nucleo solar (Moises or solar core)Portrait of Ariya MurrayLong Live LifeMarxism will give health to the sick. This is the painting that was on Kahloâs easel when she died.
Lackawanna Plaza was a small shopping mall in Montclair, N.J., built in an old historic train station that dates back to 1913. Roughly 10 years ago, the anchor tenant, a Pathmark supermarket, closed down and whatever stores were left in the mall followed shortly thereafter. It went completely dark.
Recently the old mall has reopened as Lackawanna Station, an event space and art hub, along with a couple galleries, a bar, stage, record store and some pop-up retail. But what has visually transformed the ghost mall is the murals that surround the space, including on what used to be the walls of the old Pathmark.
Jeks and JerkfaceD*FaceJeks OneJeksJerkfaceBKFoxxMichael ReederYok & SheryoMarguerite Kaufer
Ike Turner could stake a claim as the father of rock and roll. In 1951 he came out with a song called âRocket 88â that some say is the first rock and roll record.
But thatâs not what heâs known for. Instead heâs remembered for the Ike and Tina Turner Revue and, heâs remembered as the abuser of his musical partner and wife Tina.
The Ike and Tina Turner Review ended abruptly in 1976 when Tina pulled out and filed for divorce. The details of Ikeâs abuse would come out in the 1987 autobiography âI, Tinaâ and the 1993 movie âWhatâs Love Got to Do with It.â
Ike once offered this rather lame explanation (Frank Spotnitz, UPI, Aug. 23, 1985):
“Everybody has fights.
“Some of them say I beat her, I was brutal to her. I think you can look at her and see about how brutal I’ve been. Anyway, everybody loves her today, definitely think if I was brutal to her – I’m saying if I was – and she’s the one everybody loves today, well then they should be proud I was brutal because she’s what they like to hear.”
Another member of the Ike and Tina Revue would later come out with charges of abuse by Ike. âAmerican soul singer P.P. Arnold has penned a memoir called âSoul Survivor,â in which she alleges that, during the time she was a member of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, Ike Turner âtrapped her in a room and raped her.â The allegation was published in an interview she did with the Telegraph in the U.K. ahead of the bookâs release there.â (Thania Garcia, Variety, July 5, 2022)
It wouldnât be long before Ike Turnerâs musical resume would be dwarfed by his rap sheet.
In a obit with the headline âVisionary Turned Villainâ written by Chicago Tribune music critic Greg Jot (Dec. 13, 2007), he noted:
âHe was arrested 11 times in the â70s and â80s for various offenses, mostly drug-related. In 1990, he was convicted of possessing and transporting cocaine, and the next year, as he and Tina were being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he was sitting in a prison cell, completing an 18-month sentence.â
In 1974 he âwas arrested with the other three defendants at a recording studio March 26, on a warrant accusing them of using studio telephones equipped with ‘blue boxes.â Authorities said a blue box is a multifrequency device that permits telephone calls to be placed to any dialing point without being recorded by the phone company’s automatic equipment. (Miami Herald, Aug. 8, 1974) Those charges were dropped.
The Albuquerque Tribune had this story on July 14, 1981:
âRock star Ike Turner, facing trial this month on charges he shot his newspaper delivery man, has been arrested by narcotics officers who reportedly found a small quantity of cocaine in his briefcase. Turner is due in Torrance Superior Court July 27 for trial on charges he shot Andrew Francis in the ankle. Turner pleaded innocent June 18 to a felony count of assault with a deadly weapon. The entertainer, half of the former team of Ike and Tina Turner, allegedly fired two shots at Francis earlier this year in front of the musician’s home. The incident reportedly was triggered when Francis hit Turner’s dog with a newspaper.â The paperboy, who was an adult male, eventually won an $11 million judgment against Turner.
Six years later (Aug. 31, 1987), Newsday had this:
âIn December the rhythm and blues musician said he completed a drug recovery and said he kicked a 16-year cocaine habit and vowed to âstay sober for the rest of my lifeâ as he attempted to revive his career. Yesterday it was disclosed that he is being held in lieu of $2,500 bail in Los Angeles on charges of possessing cocaine after police stopped his car as part of a routine traffic check. Police said that Turner, 55, and another man were arrested late Wednesday night in West Hollywood, and that Turner had a quarter of an ounce of cocaine in his possession.â That incident resulted in a one-year jail sentence.
After their breakup, Tina Turner went on to become âthe queen of rock and roll.â She was playing stadiums and arenas. Ikeâs comeback was a lot different.
Twelve years later Richard Scheinn of Knight-Ridder Newspapers (Nov. 6, 1988) wrote about Turnerâs attempt to get his career back on track playing clubs in California.
âClubs in San Rafael and Cotati had cancelled Turner’s gigs for lack of advance sales. Then, to salvage dates in Soquel and San Francisco, Turner accepted a pay cut for the band from about $2,500 to $1,500 a night.â
Scheinn caught one of the shows at a club called O.T. Priceâs.
âThe dance floor is full, but it soon becomes apparent that the music is missing a certain edge, a certain groove and commitment – Turner had spoken earlier about the challenge of teaching his new band to âsound and feel real.â Most of the audience remains in its seats, not looking terribly thrilled, as the band rolls through Sly Stone’s âI Want to Take You Higher,â followed by a country tune, a slick pop-soul tune and the inevitable âProud Mary,â once an anthem for Ike and Tina. Turner looks a little sheepish, fades into the background, then smiles and gives a thumbs-up sign to the audience as he runs off the stage at the end of the set.â
In 2001, 23 years after his last record, Turner released a new album âHere and Now.â
His complicated legacy is demonstrated by this story.
â(St. Louis) Mayor Francis Slay denied a request to honor Turner by making Sept. 2 âIke Turner Dayâ in St. Louis, the same day Turner was scheduled to play at the Big Muddy Blues Festival. Some had complained to the mayor that honoring a man who has admitted hitting his ex-wife would send the wrong message.â (Cheryl Wittenauer, AP, Dec. 13, 2007)
Turner died in 2007 at his home in suburban San Diego. He was 76.
One unfortunate part of his legacy has apparently lived on: âIke Turner Jr., son of the late legendary singer Tina Turner and former husband and musical partner Ike Turner, was arrested Saturday, May 6, and has been charged with crack cocaine possession and tampering with evidence.â (Danielle Bacher, People, June 21, 2023)
Eva Narcissus Boyd of Bellhaven, N.C., was 15 years old in 1958 when she left her home and headed to Brooklyn. She supported herself with housekeeping and babysitting gigs. Among her employers were the songwriting team of Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Boyd could sing and King/Goffin could write hit songs. There are a few different versions of how this happened but by 1961 Boyd had become Little Eva and her rendition of the King/Goffin composition âThe Loco-Motionâ was a number one hit record that sold over a million copies.
Little Eva with Carole King and Gerry Goffin
Little Eva had some other hit singles, including âKeep Your Hands Off My Babyâ and âLetâs Turkey Trot,â but none of the stature of âThe Loco-Motion.â For about 10 years she was a popular attraction on the Motown circuit. She would later tell Chuck Darrow of the Asbury Park Press:
“âI had a ball, I had a great time.â
âBesides, she reckoned she was financially secure thanks to the expected royalties from âThe Loco-Motion.â In the late 1970s, she learned the truth. âI found out I didn’t have any income,â she recalled. âI thought I’d have money to live on the rest of my life, but I didn’t. I really don’t know how it happened.
âA lot of artists just didn’t get them (royalties). I got some, but not what I should have gotten. The record company was holding them. You just have to get a lawyer to go get them (royalties).â
âThe realization âdisgustedâ her so much that she abandoned show business. But the move was not beneficial. âI was living in poverty – welfare, food stamps. The only singing I did was in church.â Adding insult to injury were several performers who were passed off by unscrupulous promoters as Little Eva.â (Asbury Park Press, Aug. 30, 1992)
âBy 1971, when Boyd finally abandoned the tarnished glitter of New York to return to Eastern North Carolina, her bank account was as hollow as her crushed spirit. The following 17 years found her moving from job to job, on and off welfare, struggling to support her five children and maintain the dignity that once came so easily.
âMusic had long lost its charms. âI could’ve gone back and kept on doing gigs, I suppose, but I didn’t care. I just didn’t want to.â
âIn 1977, Boyd moved into a mobile home in Kinston to live with family members. She scored a house of her own but more money problems forced her to move to a government housing project. Her husband of more than 20 years died in 1982, and she found herself plagued by depression.â (Brian McCollum, Charlotte Observer, Sept. 16, 1994)
In 1987, an AP reporter caught up with her working at Hanzieâs Restaurant in Kinston.
“âI don’t locomote no more,â said Eva Boyd as she wiped the counter at Hanzies Grill, a soul food restaurant here. It’s been 25 years and 50 pounds since Ms. Boyd was known as Little Eva, the girl singer of the ’60s who hit the top of the charts with one song, âThe Loco-Motion.â
âShe performed with James Brown, Sam Cooke, Diana Ross and the Supremes and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, to list a few.
âAlthough the fees from her performances sometimes were as high as $3,000, she said she got very little of it.
“âThat’s the way it is in the business,â she says. âYou get in it and you get what you get and they get what they get and that’s the way it is. I was young and naive and I really didn’t know the business end.ââ (AP, Aug. 16, 1987)
Susan Ladd of the Greensboro (N.C.) News and Record, interviewed her that same year (Aug. 18, 1987). She found âA plain-spoken woman with a lively sense of humor and more than her share of common sense, Eva Boyd, 43, now sings to glorify the Lord.â
But Eva Boyd was to become Little Eva once again. Her comeback is described in the Charlotte Observer story by Brian McCollum (Sept. 16, 1994).
âBoyd stayed low-profile until 1991, when she was finally talked into performing again. Her return gig took place at New Jersey’s Meadowlands, at a rock ‘n roll reunion show in front of 22,000 fans. The date was June 29, 1991- Eva Boyd’s birthday.
ââWhen I walked onstage, I told everybody, ‘Good evening,’ and then I said, ‘I thank God for my talent and I thank you for … having me back out here again,’ she said.
ââI still didn’t want to do it. But then I saw the reception, and I realized it was right.â Boyd felt tears.
“âIt was a loving reception. I hadn’t been sure the people would still love me. Emotionally, I got healed that night.ââ
Stan Woodard of the Muskegon Chronicle (May 20, 1996) reviewed one of her shows.
âFans of all ages welcomed Fabian, Little Eva and the Drifters to the Walker Arena Sunday for a history lesson in rock ‘n’ roll.
âLittle Eva is energy, and she poured her heart out to covers of ‘Dancin’ In The Street,’ âThe Twist,â and Gary U.S. Bonds’ hit, âNew Orleans.â
ââŚthe audience of 3,600 went absolutely off the wall standing, clapping, and stomping their feet all the way through her best-selling effort.â
Little Eva would continue to perform until October 2001. She had been diagnosed with cervical cancer and at that point no longer had the strength to do it.
Eva Boyd passed away on April 10, 2003. She was 59. She was buried in an all-black cemetery in her hometown of Bellhaven that dated back to the 1800âs.
âA new stone marker on the grave of pop singer Little Eva, of âLoco-Motionâ fame, was unveiled in her hometown of Belhaven Saturday.
âA local monument maker, Quincy Edgerton, volunteered to build a marker for Eva Narcissus Boyd Harris after seeing a story on WRAL-TV about how her cemetery had fallen into disrepair. Only a rusting tin marker identified the site of her grave in Black Bottom Cemetery.
âA ceremony on Saturday unveiled the stone monument that Edgerton and his crews installed at Little Eva’s resting place.
âA locomotive, etched in the stone, roars above the carved name of âLittle Evaâ Bishop Eva N. Harris, June 29, 1943âApril 10, 2003.â
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(Note: Newspaper articles that do not include links were accessed on Newspapers.com.)
We donât always remember the guy who was second. But Buzz Aldrinâs number 2 was pretty monumental. He was the second person to walk on the moon. As the lunar module pilot on the Apollo 11 mission, Aldrin followed Neil Armstrong onto the moonâs surface.
Being number 2 didnât stop Aldrin from returning a hero. He has been awarded many citations and accolades, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, and three Air Medals. Space Systems Command Public Affairs
But there is another side to the landing story. âBuzz Aldrin, human being, is the man who fell to Earth with a thud. Six years after he co-starred with his Apollo 11 crewmates in the climax of the Industrial Revolution, âDr. Rendezvousâ was a failed used car salesman with a nervous breakdown just over his shoulder and a battle with the bottle looming over the horizon.â (Jim Ash, Florida Today, July 20, 1989)
âAldrin coped withâŚthe stress of the world tour, and his subsequent notoriety through drinking and descended into alcoholism, depression, infidelity, and divorce from his first wife, Joan. Aldrin wrote about these struggles in two autobiographical books, Return to Earth and Magnificent Desolation, stating, âAt first the alcohol soothed the depression, making it at least somewhat bearable. But the situation progressed into depressive-alcoholic binges in which I would withdraw like a hermit into my apartment.â Other marriages and divorces followed. Aldrin made a slow climb back to sobriety and mental health.â
Once sober, Aldrin continued to be an untiring supporter and advocate of space exploration.
ââŚhe has, since the mid-1980s, served tirelessly on the Board of Governors of National Space Society, a large pro-space organisation. But always, his core ambition has been to push the development of human spaceflight beyond Earth orbit.
âBuzz founded the Human SpaceFlight Institure to seek more collaborative approaches to leaving our planet, and is seeking to create a global alliance of spacefaring nations to facilitate international cooperation in space exploration and development.â (Rod Pyle, Sky at Night Magazine, Dec. 13, 2024)
(photo by Gage Skidmore)
He told People magazine (July 20, 2024): âObviously, I think that getting back to the moon is important. But dreams, exploration and discovery, followed by more dreams, exploration and discovery, are at the heart of being human. For our species, for our nation and for the future of humankind, we need to keep daring, engineering and dreaming about reaching further out into the universe. We need to keep exploring.â
What he has in mind specifically is Mars. In an Op-Ed piece published on CNet, Aldrin wrote: ââHuman nature â and potentially the ultimate survival of our species â demands humanity’s continued outward reach into the universe.â
âHe’s not talking about âclever robotsâ or rovers, either. Aldrin said that as much as he appreciates NASA’s work on unmanned missions, it’s time Mars is explored âby living, breathing, walking, talking, caring and daring men and women.ââ
His commitment to space exploration is the reason Aldrin gave for supporting Trump in last yearâs election. He told Mike Wall of space.com (Oct. 30, 2024): ââŚunder the first Trump Administration, I was impressed to see how human space exploration was elevated, made a policy of high importance again,” Aldrin added. “Under President Trump’s first term, America saw a revitalized interest in space. His administration reignited national efforts to get back to the moon, and push on to Mars â programs that continue today.”
Aldrin has demonstrated his own appetite for exploration:
âIn 1998 he traveled to the North Pole and, in 2016, Aldrin visited Antarctica, charting his journey on his Twitter account. He developed altitude sickness at 9,000 feet shortly after arriving, however, and he was rushed to a hospital in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he remained for a week suffering from fluid on his lungs, according to Phys.org. Responding well to antibiotics, he recovered and said he didn’t have any regrets. He was the oldest person to travel to the South Pole, after all.â (David Crookes, livescience.com, Dec. 6, 2021)
Aldrinâs later years have not been without some chaos. Apparently there are some conspiracy theorists out there who have suggested that the whole moonwalk thing never happened. Aldrin ran into one of them.
âOn September 9, 2002, astronaut Buzz Aldrinâthe second human to set foot on the moonâis walking outside a Beverly Hills hotel when a conspiracy theorist starts harassing him and accusing Aldrin of lying about the Apollo 11 moon landing. Incensed, Aldrin punches his heckler in the face.
âYouâre the one who said you walked on the moon when you didnât,â Bart Sibrel told Aldrin as he walked by his filming crew outside the Luxe Hotel. âCalling a kettle black âŚâ
ââWill you get away from me?â an irate Aldrin warned the man in the incident caught on video.
âSibrel responded, âYouâre a coward and a liar and a ⌠â
âAldrin, then 72, socked Sibrel in the jaw, right when he finished the sentence with âthief.ââ (history.com, Aug. 23, 2023)
A couple years earlier, Aldrin had some legal issues with his family. In 2017 the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that âBuzz Aldrinâs son is trying to stop his father from transferring assets in the latest dispute between the Apollo 11 moonwalker and two of his children over whether he is capable of managing his affairs. Andrew Aldrinâs lawyer sent a letter to an associate in Morgan Stanleyâs private wealth management division with instructions not to transfer any assets from two financial accounts in the trust, which names the younger Aldrin as trustee. Buzz Aldrin, 89, has tried to terminate the trust and wants the assets distributed to him. Morgan Stanley asked a Florida court last week to decide if it should follow the instructions of Buzz Aldrin or his son.â
Aldrin then sued his children.
âApollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin has launched a legal battle against his children and family foundation, accusing them of abusing his trust and finances nearly 50 years after his historical moon landing.
âThe 88-year-old Aldrin’s children, in turn, say they fear he is a victim of manipulation by parties seeking to take advantage of his money and reputation.
âIn a civil suit filed this month in Brevard County Circuit Court, Aldrin, a Satellite Beach resident, claims his son, daughter and a former manager have misused credit cards, refused to disclose financial information and mismanaged social media accounts and other media obligations.
âAldrin further says they have slandered him, telling others that he has dementia and Alzheimerâs disease, and have refused to let him marry and undermined romantic relationships.â
It all came to nothing as reported in the Guardian (March 13, 2019)
âA lawyer for Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin said on Wednesday that a legal fight over whether Aldrin is competent to manage his affairs is over.
âAttorney Keith Durkin said Wednesday that two of Aldrinâs adult children have withdrawn their petition seeking guardianship of Aldrinâs affairs, and the former astronaut, the second person to walk on the moon, has dropped his civil lawsuit against his children and former manager.â
Mike Schneider of the AP (March 13, 2019) got statements from both parties:
ââThis was the most charitable way to manage a difficult situation, as this year, which marks 50 years since we first stepped foot on the moon, is too important to my family, the nation and me,â said Buzz Aldrin.
ââWe truly appreciate the support we have received from so many and ask, again, for your understanding and respect as we continue to work through this as a family, in a private manner,â the Aldrin children said.
In 2013, Aldrin celebrated his 93rd birthday by getting married for the fourth time to Anca Faur. He told Today he has ânever been happier in my life than now with my time with Anca.â (Francesca Gar, Today, July 20, 2024) Faur is a 66-year-old chemical engineer from Romania who met Aldrin at a work event.
(photo by Gage Skidmore)
Rod Pyle of Sky at Night Magazine, whose story I cited earlier, met up with Aldrin last December. Hereâs what he found: âBuzz Aldrin has not slowed much. He still stands ramrod-straight, speaks with energy and passion, and continues to generate new ideas constantly.â
off the leash 