As Rod Serling headed to his end, the six-time Emmy-award-winning writer’s earlier fears of death faded. “What I do have is the terrible awareness of how little time there is to accomplish so many of the things that you want to accomplish,” he said. The doctors did their best to keep him alive, but it wasn’t enough. The 50-year-old left a wife, Carol, and two daughters, Anne and Jodi, behind. They had his body cremated and on a summer day in July, they and about 200 others celebrated Serling’s life at Sage Chapel on the Cornell University campus. Per the Associated Press, a Unitarian pastor at the ceremony talked about Serling’s “wisdom, tempered with fallibility, and feisty courage, laced with wit.”
Serling didn’t think his work would be remembered much less admired. “I’ve pretty much spewed out all I have to say, none of which has been particularly monumental, nothing that will stand the test of time,” he said not long before his death. He hoped that when people heard his name, they would at least recall that he had been a writer. They remember much, much more than that of the brilliant creative force whose work still resonates today.
