Novelist Mona Simpson's touching eulogy for brother Steve Jobs; last words revealed

Apple Staircase
Design Patent US D478,999 S
Photo: ed.ie, Flickr

The New York Times has published Mona Simpson's affecting and eloquent eulogy for her brother, Steve Jobs, delivered Oct. 16 at his memorial service at the Memorial Church of Stanford University. Simpson is also a professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Even as a feminist, my whole life I’d been waiting for a man to love, who could love me. For decades, I’d thought that man would be my father. When I was 25, I met that man and he was my brother...
     ...Whenever he saw a man he thought a woman might find dashing, he called out, “Hey are you single? Do you wanna come to dinner with my sister?”
     He had surprises tucked in all his pockets. I’ll venture that Laurene will discover treats — songs he loved, a poem he cut out and put in a drawer — even after 20 years of an exceptionally close marriage. I spoke to him every other day or so, but when I opened The New York Times and saw a feature on the company’s patents, I was still surprised and delighted to see a sketch for a perfect staircase.
     ...He started his farewell and I stopped him. I said, “Wait. I’m coming. I’m in a taxi to the airport. I’ll be there.”
     “I’m telling you now because I’m afraid you won’t make it on time, honey.”
     ...Until about 2 in the afternoon, his wife could rouse him, to talk to his friends from Apple.
     Then, after awhile, it was clear that he would no longer wake to us...