Mourning a True Dinosaur

Truth be told, I'm stretching the Dinosaur image; I'm not really that old. But on perusing the newspaper this morning I came across this obituary of a true Dinosaur:

June Klinghoffer, 87, a physician and educator who inspired thousands of students during the half-century she taught at the former Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, died Saturday of cardiovascular disease at home in Merion.

As it happens, Dr. Klinghoffer was in charge of coordinating third year clinical rotations when I was in medical school; a distinction that poses little risk to my anonymity, as it applies to multiple thousands of students. She was a pistol; our first contact with the clinical world who made the intimidating seem manageable. My favorite line of hers from orientation to the third year of medical school was this:

Junior year is like going through a car wash, with the windows open.

Somehow it doesn't matter that I didn't keep in touch, or that I can't even honestly say I had much of a personal relationship with her even in school. Just the idea that she's gone gives me pause. I shall miss her.