Any obituary in the Times...

...that combines writing and surfing is going to catch my attention, particularly with a picture of a guy at a typewriter on a beach in California in front of a Volkswagen bus.

John Severson, whom I had never heard of before, "a pioneer of modern surf culture who founded Surfer magazine in 1962 and created paintings, films and photographs depicting the surfing lifestyle, died on Friday at his home outside Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui. He was 83."

Sounds right up my alley, doesn't it?

And then I read that Mr. Severson's name was pronounced SEA-ver-son and I thought, a guy with that name writing about the sea? That's Name of the Day-worthy!

P. S. His obit also mentions that Mr. Severson was drafted in 1956 and joined an Army surfing team. What?