Of Obituaries, Flyovers, and a Cremation

Cremation of a Balinese Prince

Kathy and I like to read obituaries.  Is that morbid or what?  Not really, as they remind us that every day we aren't in one is a good day!  Sadly,we start to see more people we know in them.

But the older we get the more we learn from them.  We learn about fascinating people who have done amazing things, yet they lived, loved, laughed, cried, aged, and cherished causes and family relationships as much we do.  They are fleeting mentors, who remind us that our time on this planet is short and that we stand on very broad shoulders of those that preceded us.

One of those people was the person whose funeral procession we attended last week and blogged about in our December 10 post.   He's the one going up in flames in the top and bottom photos.  Since that time, we have learned more about him.  Tjokorda Raka Sukawati , passed away November 11 at age 85.  Although born a Balinese prince, he spent most of

Prince Tjokorda Raka Sukawati, PhD

his life as professional civil engineer in Jakarta.  While working on his car one day in 1988, his hydraulic jack slipped in some oil.  However, he could still rotate his car on the jack. He wondered if that incident could be applied to the construction world.  He soon introduced a technique that would enable flyover (overpass) construction to continue with minimal disruption to traffic on the road below.  It involved a tiny hydraulic platform able to support and rotate 480-ton pier heads.

A pier before rotating

 His innovation was quickly adopted in the US, Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.


If you ever go through a freeway overpass project without too much delay you can thank him.  Some day, as you swim at a beach, you may actually encounter microscopic particles from his ashes.

are a couple of remarkable photos from Getty images from that day from different perspectives, including the cremation itself.  And oh by the way, have your read the obituaries today?

The 7-tiered, 3 ton tower that followed the bull coffin

Unfortunately, we left before the actual cremation