James Thurber (1894–1961) found laughter everywhere. The cartoonist, writer, and comic genius, born in Columbus, Ohio, was blinded in one eye by an arrow accident at age seven.

By age 40, he had suffered inoperable cataracts on the other, losing sight in both eyes — but he never lost his ability to laugh and to help others do the same.

Often compared to Mark Twain, Thurber once said, “Seeing is deceiving. It’s eating that’s believing.”

The shy Midwesterner contributed for over 30 years to The New Yorker magazine. With unpredictable wit, he illustrated a satirical look at psychiatry in the best-selling book Is Sex Necessary? (1929), collaborating with his friend E.B. White.

“I do not have a psychiatrist and I do not want one,” Thurber said, “for the simple reason that if he listened to me long enough, he might become disturbed.”

“He who hesitates is sometimes saved,” he said. “It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.”

One of his most beloved characters was Walter Mitty, the mild-mannered dreamer who escaped the challenges of daily life with heroic imagination.

“I write humor the way a surgeon operates,” he explained, “because it is a livelihood, because I have a great urge to do it, because many interesting challenges are set up, and because I have the hope it may do some good.”