♪♪♪♪♫ .... He's really, most sincerely dead!

Meinhardt Raabe, the oldest living “Wizard of Oz” munchkin, died yesterday at 94. You probably remember him for his lines/song …. "As coroner, I must aver …. I thoroughly examined her …… And she's not only merely dead …… She's really, most sincerely dead!" Only 22 munchkins … out of the 124 ….. had speaking parts.

Needless to say when you lived that long you have stories ….. and a memoir: "Memories of a Munchkin: An Illustrated Walk Down the Yellow Brick Road," …. to tell and Mr. Raabe is no exception! He put himself through college, worked as an accountant for Oscar Meyer where he begged for a leave of absence to perform in the “Oz” movie. His notoriety eventually led him out of the offices and into traveling the country in the famed Wiener Mobile giving motivational speeches in schools for three decades. According to his interview given to The Washington Post (May, 2005): “The accomplishment he is most proud of is his service with the Civil Air Patrol. He worked as a ground instructor during the war and says he flew every kind of single-engine airplane made at the time.”

Rest in peace in that Emerald city in the sky!