Lost in the media's fascination with the death of Michael Jackson was the death of a far less colorful icon of my generation – Farrah Fawcett. She died on June 25, 2009, the same day as Jackson died. Farrah died after a brave public battle with cancer.

 Although many people will remember Farrah for her beauty and as one of the “Angels” in the 1970s television show, Charlie’s Angels, for me I’ll remember her for the dignity she showed the world in her final days of life.

Born on February 2, 1947, in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1973 Farrah married another celebrity of my generation, Lee Majors, the star of the 1970s television show, the Six-Million Dollar Man. That marriage ended in 1982.  

Although many people of my generation will always remember Farrah as one of the beautiful “Angels”, she went on to show her acting talents in far bigger roles including, “The Burning Bed”. In this role she played an abused woman, a role that spotlighted domestic violence.

Farrah was diagnosed with cancer in 2006. In the face of death, in 2007 she began documenting her journey, a journey as a person with cancer. Her recordings evolved into a two hour documentary called Farrah’s Story. It aired on television on May 15, 2009 attracting millions of viewers. The documentary showed a woman battling cancer with dignity and bravery while accepting the reality of her mortality.

In the days leading up to the showing of the documentary the talking heads on television debated whether such a documentary was healthy for people to watch. Would such a documentary numb us to the concept of death? Sorry, but the media has done a pretty good job at doing that long ago by providing us with an unrealistic, unnatural view of death and dying.

Death is something most of us don’t like to think about. Many of us like to pretend it only happens to other people. For many people death is about fear, but Farrah showed the world that one can die with dignity while having a profound, positive effect on the people around us.

Thank you Farrah!