Steve Jobs' last words from Mona Simpson's eulogy
(CBS) - Nearly a month after the death of Steve Jobs, many of us are still reflecting on his life and legacy.
The Sunday New York Times published the eulogy delivered on Oct. 16 by Steve Jobs' sister, Mona Simpson, at his memorial service at the Memorial Church of Stanford University.
"I want to tell you a few things I learned from Steve, during three distinct periods, over the 27 years I knew him. They're not periods of years, but of states of being. His full life. His illness. His dying," said Simpson in her eulogy.
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Some of the things she learned from him was the conscious effort that Jobs put into everything he did in life. She would write that he was "never embarrassed to work hard." Simpson wrote of how Jobs was never ashamed of failure. And how her brother "cultivated whimsy."
"He tried. He always, always tried, and always with love at the core of that effort," said Simpson. She shared the story of how of Jobs learned to walk again, following his liver transplant.
The stories that Mona Simpson shared of her brother are a sweet tribute and give us an intimate glimpse into a softer side of Jobs.
Describing what she learned from his passing, Simpson said, "death didn't happen to Steve, he achieved it."
While he's rapidly becoming a legend on par with the likes of John Lennon or Benjamin Franklin, Simpson's eulogy reminds us that Jobs was only a man. It was the effort Jobs put into life that enabled him to reach great heights.
Steve Jobs' final words were, "OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW."
Simpson is a professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles and writer of the novel "Anywhere But Here."
