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The poet's only bliss
Is a cold certitude—
Laurel, archaic, rude.
Died. Duke Kahanamoku, 77, Hawaii's fabled swimmer, surfer and all-round citizen; of a heart attack; in Waikiki Beach. His name might as well have been King: tall (6 ft. 3 in.), mahogany-skinned and magnificently muscled, a descendant of Polynesian royalty, Kahanamoku burst upon the athletic world in 1911 when he swam 100 yds. in 55.4 sec., breaking the record by an astonishing 4 sec. His novel flutter kick outmoded the standard scissors kick overnight, and in the next 13 years he collected a slew of world records and three Olympic gold medals. That, plus his single-handed rescue of eight people from a capsized launch off the California coast in 1925, boosted a new career in Hollywood, but he returned home in 1929 and served 36 years as sheriff of Honolulu. Age never daunted him. To the last, he was a symbol of the islands, surfing, swimming, and appearing as the 50th state's official greeter.
Died. Ralph T. Reed, 77, president of American Express Co. from 1944 to 1960; after a short illness; in Manhattan. As the senior godfather of American tourism, Reed applied all the ingenuity of U.S. business to luring people abroad and making their trips a pleasure. To the 105-year-old company's already long list of services (traveler's checks, package tours, free mail handling), he added credit cards, rent-a-car operations, travel guides, offered every kind of trip from a visit to African Pygmy villages to a whirlwind eleven-nation tour in 22 days. Before his retirement, Reed saw his company grow from 50 offices around the world to nearly 400, handling billions of dollars in tourist business each year.