FTA: In 1958 another calamity occurred, when his sister died of cancer just thirty-six hours after her husband was killed in a train wreck, leaving Vonnegut and his wife, Jane, to raise three more children in addition to three of their own. He fought off depression even when his writing career soared.

Eventually, it did soar. Along with it came duties and benefits for Vonnegut such as serving as honorary president of the American Humanist Association for the last fifteen years of his life—which ended in April 2007 due to a fall down the steps outside his Manhattan home.