Osler's Razor

Several years ago, shortly after I started this blog, I wrote a little piece about one of my colleagues at Baylor, Kristin Schroeder Simpson (as she was then known).  She was smart and fun and quick-witted, and students loved her class.

Yesterday, I got an anonymous comment to that post from 2006, saying just "RIP."  I didn't know what that was about, and almost dismissed it as spam.  Instead, though, I did a quick search and found that Kristin had, in fact, died at the age of 38.  Her body was found about a month after she went missing in Nebraska. A news report revealed that foul play was not suspected.

Her death is sad on many levels, many of which I do not know or understand.  Sigh.

I considered taking down that post from seven years ago about Kristin, but decided not to.  Even though that piece was written in jest, it held truths.  I described her (through hyperbole) as a person of many and surprising talents (which was true), someone who was capable of surprising you (also true), and that she influenced people in a wide variety of places and ways (truest of all).