Closing Argument

CARPE DIEM

By Donald F. Smith, Jr., Esquire

Back in late June, I was shocked to learn of the sudden, tragic death of David W. Crossett, suffered when a tree he was cutting down fell in an unanticipated direction, crushing him. His passing, at the age of 39, left behind a wife and four young children.

I had a flashback. To the year 2000, I believe, when we learned of the sudden death of another young attorney, Franklin W. Noll, II, suffered when his aorta burst while raking leaves, leaving behind a wife and a very young child.

At the time, Frank was just in his seventh year of practice and employed by CNA Insurance Company as in-house counsel. He was opposing counsel in one of my cases. More than 20 years later, my mind is fuzzy on the details of the matter, but I do remember Frank deposing my client while being pleasant, respectful, and yet covering the points that he needed to cover. When it concluded, we parted with a handshake. A true gentleman.

Several months following his death, the Bar Association had a courtroom ceremony remembering Frank. I recall his wife arriving at the courtroom quite distraught, crying almost uncontrollably. I was heartbroken.

As I am with David’s passing. Only in his 11th year of practicing law, his obituary noted David was already “a very accomplished attorney” who “loved serving and helping others.” James M. Smith, 2022 BCBA President and the one who recruited David to come to Berks after graduating from the Regent University School of Law, described him as “a highly intelligent attorney with a deep passion for the law.”

When I was the BCBA Executive Director, I took advantage of that intelligence and passion. First, in 2014, I asked him to write a review for the Barrister of the book, Scalia: A Court of One, a not so complimentary biography of the Justice by Bruce Allen Murphy. David was erudite in his analysis and writing.

Using a contact he had at the Supreme Court, Jim Smith had a copy of the Barrister article delivered to Justice Scalia, who then wrote a note to David: “Mr. Crossett, Thanks for so ably coming to my defense. Best regards, Antonia Scalia.” Rather cool!

Secondly, I asked David to debate me. In the fall of 2015 I was teaching a course titled “Separation of Church and State: How Solid is the Wall?” as part of the Alvernia Seniors College curriculum. In the initial class, I wanted to set the stage with a discussion of the United States Supreme Court’s then recently decided Obergefell v. Hodges, in which same-sex marriage was held to be constitutionally protected.

As one who believes we have a “living Constitution” when interpreting its language and applying it to today’s issues, I wanted the class to hear the opposing point of view of an “originalist” in order to achieve a balanced presentation for the class. So, I invited David to fill that role. And he did so with gusto. Justice Scalia, a passionate dissenter in Obergefell, would have been very proud.

With the early deaths of Frank and David, their families suffered a great loss, as did the profession.

We are reminded that we know not what the future holds. I think of Mickey Restrepo, stricken in the prime of his life by Lou Gehrig ’s disease, not long after publishing his first book. Relatively recently, we also lost to cancer Elizabeth Morelli, Alan Miller, Ken Goodman, Joel Merow and John DiGiamberardino, at ages when they should have had many more years of life remaining.

What is one takeaway from this series of untimely deaths? Carpe Diem. The phrase, translating to “seize the day,” was made famous from the movie “Dead Poets Society,” starring Robin Williams as John Keating, a new, energetic English teacher at an all-boys preparatory school in Vermont.

For his first class, he led the current students into a room with display cases filled with trophies and ancient pictures of past students on athletic teams. Keating tells them, “They’re not different from you, are they?...Their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable?… But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it?—Carpe—hear it?—Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day, boys, make your lives extraordinary.”

Later, Keating quotes from Walt Whitman:

The question, O me! so sad, recurring—

What good amid these, O me, O life? Answer.

That you are here—that life exists and identity,

That the powerful goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

The passing of these colleagues leaves a void, but memories of familial love and professional accomplishment remain. As for us, are we contributing a verse while living our lives? Powering on, are we making our lives extraordinary?

The Biblical letter of James warns (4:14), “Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

So, carpe diem.

Mr. Smith is Executive Director Emeritus of the Berks County Bar Association.

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