Recently Dead

Dianne Odell, 61, who had been confined to an iron lung since she contracted polio at the age of three, died early today when her family was unable to get an emergency generator started after a power failure in Memphis, Tennessee. Despite spending her entire life in the seven-foot-long, 750-pound breathing machine like some kind of premature burial, Odell got a high-school diploma, took college courses, received an honorary doctorate, wrote a children's book, and was kissed on the forehead by Al Gore. She had been one of the oldest living patients in an iron lung. You really don't see them much anymore. (Source; more photos; t/y James)

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