Schulz Remembered By His Children

Note: This was written in Feb. 2000 shortly after Charles Schulz died.

From famous friends to loving fans, hundreds turned out for a memorial for cartoonist Charles M. Schulz Monday.

They packed an auditorium in Santa Rosa, Calif., Schulz's adopted hometown. Amid the sadness, music filled the air and, of course, there was laughter. And it was all for the man whose Peanuts cartoon made millions laugh every day for nearly 50 years.

"The world has lost the most beloved cartoonist of all time," said Cathy Guisewite, who draws the comic strip Cathy. "The cartoonists of the world have lost our guiding light."

His wife, Jean, told the mourners, "My comfort comes from knowing that he fully received the love and appreciation that poured out to him" in his final days.

"He encouraged us to persevere," said his friend, Dr. Robert Albo. "Friendship, to you, was eternal. You were my best friend. You're a good man, Charles Schulz."

Two of Schulz's daughters, Amy Johnson and Jill Schulz-Transki, and son Charles Schulz Jr., known to his friends as Monte, spoke to Early Show Co-Anchor Jane Clayson about their father's memorial.

"The last three months of his life, nothing made him happier than to see how popular his stripreally was and how much it meant to so many people," said his son.

While her father always knew how his work affected people and that he was beloved by millions Amy explained, "He was always humble enough to have that sense of doubt. I remembera month agohe looked down at his table and he said, 'I don't even know if I have any friends.' And I think there was always that insecurity there. That was the beauty of Dad."

But Monte said that although his father had that insecurity, he also had a sense of purpose.

"I think, deep down, he knew he was going to be great, and he knew he was good at what he did, and that's what sustained him for 50 years," he added. "He was as proud of the work he did four months ago as what he did in the '50s."

He was just as dedicated to his role of a father.

"He was always willing to push back from the desk, and we would look at the work in process," recalled Jill. "Never once did he ever say, 'I'm busy' and make us wait to visit with him."

Amy said that, until recently, she had not realized her father "was so many people's security blanket that they count on seeing him (at the ice arena). They count on just being able to walk by and just say hello. There is going to be a lot of sadness, empty feelings here now."

As for their father's legacy, said his son, "Well, I think he'll go down as the greatest cartoonist of the 20th century, and I think he'll also go down as a great humanist and a man of common decency and a man of letters -- one of the finest that American culture has ever produced."

One final question: After all these years, Schulz never leCharlie Brown kick the football. Why?

Replies Jill, "He always told me, everybody experiences losing. Everybody's had that experience. Only one or two people ever really get to experience winning. Besides, he said, losing is funnier."

Schulz died Feb. 12 at the age of 77 after a battle with colon cancer. Word of his death came as readers read the final installment of his beloved comic strip in the Sunday papers.

The timing of Schulz's death from colon cancer was no coincidence, said Meredith Hodges, the oldest of his five children, at Monday's service.

"He was taken from this world to the next at the most sacred of moments for him because he earned it," she told the mourners.