I've had a penchant to understand the world by 'going to the source' that most often turns out to be a person. While name dropping is considered gauche, here it is all about the people we met.

It turns out my encounters were mostly scientists, story tellers and musicians. You can ask for details if interested but here goes the short list which is miniscule compared to the people Mike Wallace or Leslie Stahl met.

Marvin Minsky, Rod Serling, J Allan Hynek, Leonard Bernstein, The Gurdgieff family, Van Cliburn, Judith Anderson...then there were the silent memorials be it Lincoln, Hyde Park or Corn Hill.

What made the great people truly great in my eyes was that they were devoid of pretentiousness and ego.