Dame Vera Lynn (2017-2020) has died at 103 years old, but longevity in a challenging world is only one of her accomplishments. She was still topping the charts in her nineties and past 100 with her exquisite voice.
Beloved in the United Kingdom for her lovely renditions of "We'll Meet Again," "The White Cliffs of Dover," and "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square," among others, she performed on radio and for the troops during World War II. Such was her popularity that in 2009 she was named the Briton who best exemplified the twentieth century.
That's quite a label. The sentiment, the patriotism, the pluck, and heartbreaking sweetness of the songs she sang and her impeccable renditions of them perhaps expressed humanity's indomitability in a dark time. May her voice and those lovely songs echo in our cultural memory for a long time to come.