Two months ago, I asked the question, “You go to heaven and you get to personally meet 10 figures from history. Who would they be?”

My only two rules were that people not name loved ones, and that the people be dead. The other assumption, which never got into the column, was that if you believe in eternity, you already would include the central figure of your faith.

I promised to report back to you and here are my responses:

Tom Whitten reminded me that my final assumption was wrong right away. He listed Jesus, the apostle Paul and eight more. Interesting to me was that Tom’s list also was heavy on military leaders, including Sun Tzu, who wrote “The Art of War.”

Other folks, like Whitten, had lists that tell as much about them as the people they listed.

Doris Rodocker sent a note with a thought-out list of people who interest her. They included Willie Mays, Eleanor Roosevelt, Florence Nightingale and her fifth-grade teacher. Doris also included Ansel Adams, one of my favorites, too.

Gwen Wagner’s list included Fred Rogers (a minister and television personality), Milton Friedman (an economist), Jim Henson and John Candy. Gwen obviously has wide-ranging interests.

My editor, Justin Lafferty, had a varied list. Justin is inclined to sports figures like Satchel Paige and Barry Zito. He also included George Carlin and Eva Longoria (beautiful, but I think alive, as are a couple on other lists.)

Like Doris’ list, almost all the rest included a teacher. It is impressive that the list had many educators and few politicians.

Another reflection is that people would like to meet and have a conversation with bright and mostly nice people (although there were a few bad guys). The notorious people were generally those who changed history because they forcibly changed national boundaries.

When I got done analyzing things, I found that 10 is not enough. I could have included many of the people mentioned by others.

For example, Gwen mentioned Jimmy Stewart. Stewart was an elder of his church, a military officer, a philanthropist as well as an actor. He would be a great guest.

There is still time for you to add to your list. I’m continuing to add to mine.

Mike McLellan can be contacted by calling and leaving a message at 830-4201 or emailing him at DrMikeM@sbcglobal.net.