Gary North writes, regarding the late Edmund Opitz:
He was in better physical shape than any man his age I have ever known. He was a bicycling enthusiast, a member of the League of American Wheelmen. After lunch, he used to ride his one-gear (high) bicycle down to the bottom of the ten-block hill on Main Street in Irvington, and ride back up. He said the challenge was to sit down the whole way. Anyone could do it standing up, he insisted. (I could barely walk up that hill at age 30; I never tried it twice in a row.)
When I was a FEE intern in 1998, and Rev. Opitz was in his mid-80’s, he not only walked up that hill, having taken the train in from New York, he also carried his luggage as he did it. As far as I can recall, everyone else, young and old, called for me to come pick them up in the car.
11:24 am on February 22, 2006
