Obituaries for 2018

[catfish1957]

He was also a trolling pioneer, calling Hussein SAD-dam, instead of SAH-dahm. His way of saying it roughly translated to shoe shine boy in Arabic, in the days before Twitter and ‘Rocket Man.’

I did not know that.  That is hilarious.

[musiclady]

Gutted twice in one week. They say it goes in threes,

Anyway, Rip Mr. President thank you so much for being president and serving our country, 

Amen!  And for loving our country. 

[musiclady]

He was also a trolling pioneer, calling Hussein SAD-dam, instead of SAH-dahm. His way of saying it roughly translated to shoe shine boy in Arabic, in the days before Twitter and ‘Rocket Man.’

He was witty and highly intelligent, and just plain classy.

[Bigun]

He was witty and highly intelligent, and just plain classy.

I was around him quite a bit years ago and will say this about the man without reservation.  He always treated everyone around him with respect and did what he believed the right thing to be without fail.  IMHO that is all anyone can ask of any man.

[mountaineer]

I was around him quite a bit years ago and will say this about the man without reservation.  He always treated everyone around him with respect and did what he believed the right thing to be without fail.  IMHO that is all anyone can ask of any man.

I had that impression, Bigun. Thanks for confirming. I may not have agreed with everything he did in office, but still had respect for him as a man.

[Gefn]

Amen!  And for loving our country. 

And his family and his doggies.

[musiclady]

I was around him quite a bit years ago and will say this about the man without reservation.  He always treated everyone around him with respect and did what he believed the right thing to be without fail.  IMHO that is all anyone can ask of any man.

One of my husband's good friends (from HS) has been the the Secret Service for decades, including protecting the President.

He has photos in his home of GHW and Barbara, and said that, without a doubt, they were the classiest, most caring people he ever protected.

Truth from the inside is helpful with all the propaganda from the outside.

Thanks for posting that, @Bigun

[verga]

I didn't agree with everything he did, but he was a decent man that loved his country and respected the office he held.

[libertybele]

I love this quote from him and something I wish ALL politicians would remember and try to incorporate in their day to day lives:

“Because you run against each other, that doesn’t mean you’re enemies. Politics doesn't have to be uncivil and nasty.”

[EasyAce]

I love this quote from him and something I wish ALL politicians would remember and try to incorporate in their day to day lives:

“Because you run against each other, that doesn’t mean you’re enemies. Politics doesn't have to be uncivil and nasty.”

Politicians, political commentators, and political junkies on message boards alike, for that matter.

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

Ken Berry, Star of 'F Troop' and 'Mama's Family,' Dies at 85

[excerpt]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ken-berry-dead-f-troop-mamas-family-star-was-85-999739

 The song-and dance-man, who received a career boost from Leonard Nimoy, also toplined the 'Andy Griffith Show' spinoff 'Mayberry R.F.D.'

Ken Berry, the rubber-legged actor who delighted TV viewers as the blundering Capt. Wilton Parmenter on F Troop and as the accident-prone Vinton Harper on Mama's Family, has died. He was 85.

Berry, an agile song-and-dance man who was encouraged in show business by his U.S. Army sergeant, future Star Trek legend Leonard Nimoy, died Saturday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, his ex-wife, actress Jackie Joseph-Lawrence, told The Hollywood Reporter.

[Gefn]

I loved him on F troop and Mama’s Family was one of my favorite sitcoms from the 80s.

RIP.

I didn’t know he adopted. Hurray!

[catfish1957]

I loved him on F troop and Mama’s Family was one of my favorite sitcoms from the 80s.

RIP.

I didn’t know he adopted. Hurray!

And Mayberry.  He was a staple of '70's and '80's TV.  2 years from now no one will remember he died due to who died at the same time.

[Gefn]

And Mayberry.  He was a staple of '70's and '80's TV.  2 years from now no one will remember he died due to who died at the same time.

It’s weird @catfish1957 the obit doesn’t say how he died.

[catfish1957]

It’s weird @catfish1957 the obit doesn’t say how he died.

Not really.  Seems we are seeing more and more of where families are keeping cause of death a private matter.

With all the TMZ type turds out there, I don't blame them.

[TomSea]

Melody Patterson passed away in 2015, of course, the romantic interest of Ken Berry's character:



The great Larry Storch is still with us:



wikipedia

[jmyrlefuller]

It’s weird @catfish1957 the obit doesn’t say how he died.

At that age, it could be any number of things―or they just may not know.

[Machiavelli]

F Troop - first episode

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

F Troop - first episode

Thanks.

[Machiavelli]

'Dynamite Kid' Tom Billington dead at 60 (professional wrestler)

The death of "The Dynamite Kid" Tom Billington came on Tuesday, his 60th birthday, his health battles post-wrestling front and centre for years, proof that there was a huge price paid to be one of the most innovative, influential professional wrestlers in history.

How influential was he? Even the curmudgeonly Bad News Allen Coage once gave Dynamite Kid props: "Pound for pound, Dynamite Kid was probably the best wrestler ever because you've still got these young guys today trying to emulate him in the ring. He was one of my favorites to work with. In our matches, the people just really wanted to kill me and just come in there and help him out."

The late Owen Hart, in one of his interviews with SLAM! Wrestling, said that growing up, he placed Dynamite Kid "on a pedestal ... I'd go 'Wow, that guy's awesome.' ... Dynamite, just because he was the original, was the best."

But the flipside of his legacy is equally lasting. As Dave Meltzer wrote in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 1994, that Billington was "a pioneer of insane bumps whose career was cut short by a crippling back injury no doubt related to his risk-taking, admitted blowing all his money on drugs, booze and women, claiming when he was in the WWF he drank himself silly, needed drugs (cocaine, Valium, speed and steroids) to survive the pace, get the sleep and keep his physique."

More

Wikipedia

[sneakypete]

'Dynamite Kid' Tom Billington dead at 60 (professional wrestler)


[admitted blowing all his money on drugs, booze and women,

@Machiavelli

Could have been worse. He could have wasted it.

[Gefn]

F Troop - first episode

Thanks @Machiavelli

[TomSea]

Dynamite Kid,  Tom Billington, one half of the British Bulldogs has passed on.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/7903580/dynamite-kid-dead-tommy-billington-british-bulldog/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_British_Bulldogs

[Free Vulcan]

Buzzcocks singer Pete Shelley dies aged 63



Pete Shelley, lead singer of punk band Buzzcocks, has died at the age of 63, his brother has said.

Shelley formed the group in 1976 and they achieved commercial success with hits including Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've).

His brother, Gary John McNeish, posted on Facebook: "This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do, is tell you my brother Pete Shelley had a heart attack this morning and passed away."

https://news.sky.com/story/buzzcocks-singer-pete-shelley-dies-aged-63-11573555

--------

Love the Buzzcocks. RIP.

[Machiavelli]

Larry 'The Axe' Hennig passes away at 82 (professional wrestler)

Larry Hennig, the father of Curt Hennig and one of the biggest stars in the history of the AWA, passed away earlier today at the age of 82.

Hennig attended Robbindale High School in Minneapolis, the alma mater of Verne Gagne. He was the state heavyweight wrestling champion in high school, and Gagne recruited him into pro wrestling when Hennig had turned down college football and wrestling offers because he already had his first child and had to work to earn money to support a wife and family.

He wrestled in the Midwest most of his career, and eventually was brought into the AWA in 1960 as Gagne's protege. He briefly held the AWA tag team titles with Duke Hoffman, but in 1963, he became a heel, "Pretty Boy" Larry Hennig, forming a tag team with "Handsome" Harley Race, which helped carry the territory for several years, working against all the top area babyfaces. Hennig & Race, taunted as The Dolly Sisters, had one of the biggest feuds in AWA history with Dick the Bruiser & The Crusher, which was really the feud that made Bruiser & Crusher tag team legends...

His grandson, Joe Hennig, works in WWE as Curtis Axel, with Axel being a tribute to his grandfather. Larry would regularly attend WWE shows in the Twin Cities...

More

Wikipedia

[TomSea]

MLB Players:

Four arrested in connection with deaths of Luis Valbuena and Jose Castillo


A horrifying turn in an already horrifying case: four people have been arrested in connection with the deaths of Luis Valbuena and Jose Castillo. They died after their car hit a large rock in the road, which caused them to be ejected from the vehicle. Authorities say that the rock was not in the road on accident. From the Los Angeles Times:

    Authorities said the players may have been the intended victims of criminals in Venezuela who throw rocks onto roadways to disable cars or cause crashes and then rob the vehicles’ occupants. Four suspects found with Valbuena’s and Castillo’s personal belongings were arrested by police, state governor Julio León Heredia wrote on Twitter.

If this report is true, and the accident was caused by people trying to commit a robbery, this could be charged as felony murder. Or would be in the United States. Whether Venezuela’s legal system would handle it the same is unclear, but most countries do consider deaths caused in furtherance of a felony — especially when the means employed to carry out the felony are likely to cause serious injury or death — to be the most serious of crimes. It could be charged as a capital offense in the United States, subject to the death penalty where applicable. Venezuela does not have the death penalty, but it would nonetheless be among the more serious crimes that could be prosecuted.

Read more at: https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2018/12/07/four-arrested-in-connection-with-deaths-of-luis-valbuena-and-jose-castillo/

wikipedia, Luis Valbuena

wikipedia, José Castillo

More reading: https://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/celebrities/article222780110.html

[TomSea]

Free agent Luis Valbuena, former MLB player Jose Castillo died in car accident in Venezuela
    by Matt Snyder @MattSnyderCBS

The Major League Baseball family lost two members to a car crash Friday morning. The league announced that free agent infielder Luis Valbuena and former player Jose Castillo died in a car accident:

The two Venezuelans were playing winter ball in their native country and took part in a game Thursday night. On their way home, it looks like they might have been targeted in a robbery. According to BeisbolPlay (via the Los Angeles Times), authorities believe the players and two other passengers -- who survived -- could have been targets of a criminal act. It seems like some groups in Venezuela throw rocks onto roads in order to disable vehicles and then rob those in the car.

The publication further reports that four suspects were arrested by police and had some of Valbuena and Castillo's personal belongings.

Read more at: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/free-agent-luis-valbuena-former-mlb-player-jose-castillo-died-in-car-accident-in-venezuela/

[Cyber Liberty]

MLB Players:


wikipedia, Luis Valbuena

wikipedia, José Castillo

More reading: https://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/celebrities/article222780110.html

@EasyAce  Have you seen this?

[EasyAce]

@EasyAce  Have you seen this?

Yes I have.

I hope whoever did this gets maximum justice.

[Machiavelli]

Melvin Dummar dead: Supposedly rescued Howard Hughes in Nevada desert

Melvin Dummar won fleeting fame and a lifelong curse for supposedly rescuing Howard Hughes from the cold Central Nevada desert in December 1967, but he never saw a dime of the billionaire’s fortune, despite a disputed will that named him as a beneficiary.

Instead, Dummar worked hard at whatever jobs he could find, right up until the end.

Dummar died Saturday in Nye County, according to his brother, Ray. He was 74.

Melvin Dummar found himself hounded by the media and mocked by Johnny Carson on the “Tonight Show,” after the so-called “Mormon Will” surfaced following Hughes’ death in 1976.

The mysterious document might have made Dummar a millionaire 100 times over had it not been dismissed as a fake by a Nevada court in 1978.

The story was later dramatized in the Academy Award-winning 1980 movie “Melvin and Howard,” but all the drama and scrutiny nearly ruined Dummar’s life.

More

Wikipedia


SCTV - Melvin and Howards

[SZonian]

Oscar-nominated actress Sondra Locke dies at 74

Actress and director Sondra Locke, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her first film role in 1968's "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" and went on to co-star in six films with Clint Eastwood, has died.

Locked died Nov. 3 at her Los Angeles home of cardiac arrest stemming from breast and bone cancer, according to a death certificate obtained by The Associated Press. She was 74. Authorities were promptly notified at the time, but her death was not publicized until RadarOnline first reported it Thursday. It is not clear why it took nearly six weeks to come to light.

https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Oscar-nominated-actress-Sondra-Locke-dead-at-74-13465237.php

[EasyAce]

Nancy Wilson, Grammy Winning Jazz Singer and TV Personality, Dies at 81

Nancy Wilson, one of the most revered jazz singers of the 20th century, has died at age 81, her manager told the Associated Press.

The singer passed away at her home in Pioneertown, a small California community north of Palm Springs, after a long illness, according to manager Devra Hall.

Wilson’s three Grammy awards spanned a more than 40-year period, with her first coming in 1965 in the Best Rhythm & Blues category for her Capitol single “How Glad I Am.” Her last was in 2007, awarded for Best Jazz Vocal Album for “Turned to Blue,” her final release. (She had seven nominations in all.) Wilson’s recording career actually dates back to 1959, when she released “Like in Love,” an album arranged by the legendary Billy May . . .

RIP to an artist and a lady.


Sorry...


Sorry...


Sorry...

[DB]

Oscar-nominated actress Sondra Locke dies at 74

Actress and director Sondra Locke, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her first film role in 1968's "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" and went on to co-star in six films with Clint Eastwood, has died.

Locked died Nov. 3 at her Los Angeles home of cardiac arrest stemming from breast and bone cancer, according to a death certificate obtained by The Associated Press. She was 74. Authorities were promptly notified at the time, but her death was not publicized until RadarOnline first reported it Thursday. It is not clear why it took nearly six weeks to come to light.

https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Oscar-nominated-actress-Sondra-Locke-dead-at-74-13465237.php

A bad way to go.

[Applewood]

A bad way to go.

The cardiac arrest was a blessing, but I agree regarding breast and bone cancer.  A woman I worked with many years ago had breast cancer which ended up in her bones.  Excruciating. 

Rest in peace, Miss Locke.

[Applewood]

@EasyAce

Thanks for the notice re:  Nancy Wilson.  I remember when she made the rounds of tv variety shows back in the 60s. She was a frequent guest of the long-defunct Mike Douglas Show, a daytime talk and entertainment show when I was growing up.   Great voice. 

May she rest in peace.

[EasyAce]

@EasyAce

Thanks for the notice re:  Nancy Wilson.  I remember when she made the rounds of tv variety shows back in the 60s. She was a frequent guest of the long-defunct Mike Douglas Show, a daytime talk and entertainment show when I was growing up.   Great voice. 

May she rest in peace.

@Applewood
If you're my age, you remember hearing this hit of hers almost as frequently as you heard the Beatles in 1964 . . .


Sorry...

[Applewood]

@EasyAce

I sure do remember.  I just didn't remember the title.  Once I heard it just now though -- yeah!

[TomSea]

A bad way to go.

Sondra Locke, a memorable actress, in 'The Outlaw Josey Wales',

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sondra_Locke

I also remember her in a Kung Fu episode:


Sorry...

Part of the plot was she was possessed by demons or something like that but by the end of the episode, which this is, she was freed from that.

Here too, it must have been early in the episode:


Sorry...

[TomSea]

Bill Fralic, played for Pitt Panthers and the Atlanta Falcons, I saw one story saying something like he was a real life Hulk or something:

Bill Fralic, All-Pro Falcons lineman and Pitt legend, dies at 56

Bill Fralic, a four-time Pro Bowl selection and College Football Hall of Fame member, died Thursday at age 56 after a battle with cancer.

The University of Pittsburgh, where Fralic starred from 1981-84 before becoming the second overall pick in the 1985 NFL Draft, announced his passing Friday morning.

http://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/bill-fralic-dies-obit-atlantal-falcons-pittsburgh-college-football-hall-of-fame-hof/16jvcxnx94htw1a80f5olcbsu7

More: https://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/12/14/pitt-mourns-death-of-college-football-hall-of-famer-bill-fralic/

[skeeter]

Sondra Locke, a memorable actress, in 'The Outlaw Josey Wales',

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sondra_Locke

I also remember her in a Kung Fu episode:


Sorry...

Part of the plot was she was possessed by demons or something like that but by the end of the episode, which this is, she was freed from that.

Here too, it must have been early in the episode:


Sorry...

i wonder how Clint feels, considering their less than amicable separation.

[EasyAce]

Wilfred DeFour, 100-year-old Tuskegee Airman, dies

(CNN)Wilfred DeFour, who served with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, was found dead Saturday in New York. He was 100.

New York police said officers responded to a 911 call to a residence in Harlem and found a man identified as DeFour unconscious and unresponsive. There were no obvious signs of trauma, police said, and the medical examiner will determine the cause of death.

DeFour attended a ceremony last month for the renaming of a Harlem post office in honor of the Tuskegee Airmen, CNN affiliate WABC reported . . .

RIP to a hero and a groundbreaker.

[Applewood]

I met Bill Fralic once.  Seemed like a very nice guy.  Apparently, he was.  From the Sporting News:

Fralic was in the news just last week after paying the hotel costs for his alma mater, Penn Hills High School, to travel to the Pennsylvania state championship game in Hershey a day ahead of time instead of having to make the round trip on game day.

Rest in peace, Mr. Fralic. 

[TomSea]

Remembering Lyudmila Alexeyeva, the Matriarch of Russia’s Human Rights Movement

To honor her, we should do our part to make the world a better place
Published in The Moscow Times
Associate Director, Europe and Central Asia Division Tanya Lokshina

To us, she was always “Grandma Lyuda,” which is also what the matriarch of Russia’s human rights movement, Lyudmila Alexeyeva, ironically called herself for the past few decades. It seemed like Grandma Lyuda had been around forever, and it seemed that she’d always be here. There was no reason to think otherwise, especially as her mind and wit remained scarily sharp into her late eighties and beyond.

Today, as we lay her to rest at 91, it’s impossible to believe that she is really gone, that there will be no more phone calls and no more heated discussions at the table, laden with delicious food, in her apartment on the Arbat, an old Moscow neighborhood. 

Alexeyeva was born in 1927, which meant, as she would say many times, that she was 25 years old when Stalin died. She knew all there was to know about totalitarianism – from Stalin’s great terror to the less bloody but still repressive decades that followed until the openness of the late eighties, which culminated in the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Read more at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/12/11/remembering-lyudmila-alexeyeva-matriarch-russias-human-rights-movement#

When she passed away, an article was posted. This is an additional eulogy for her. She was so powerful and renown, she was honored by the upper-rungs of the government there for whatever reason they have, for show or whatever, she was shown respect.

[SZonian]

Yankees Vice Chair Joan Steinbrenner, Wife of George Steinbrenner, Dies at 83

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2810951-yankees-vice-chair-joan-steinbrenner-wife-of-george-steinbrenner-dies-at-83

[jmyrlefuller]

Les Kinsolving, Episcopal clergyman turned conservative shock jock and columnist, dies at 90

Obituary from The Baltimore Sun

Joseph Farah's tribute to Kinsolving on WorldNetDaily

Wikipedia

[DB]

Sondra Locke, a memorable actress, in 'The Outlaw Josey Wales',

I thought she played her part well in the "The Gauntlet" too.

[jmyrlefuller]

Colin Kroll, Internet entrepreneur, dies at 35

Kroll's most famous contribution to the world was Vine, a mobile app that created looping videos only six seconds long. He sold Vine to Twitter, who promptly killed off the service, then blocked him from reviving it as V2.

Kroll then founded HQ Trivia, where he was serving as CEO at the time of his death from a suspected drug overdose.

https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/16/hq-trivia-and-vine-co-founder-colin-kroll-found-dead-of-suspected-overdose/

[Gefn]

Yankees Vice Chair Joan Steinbrenner, Wife of George Steinbrenner, Dies at 83

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2810951-yankees-vice-chair-joan-steinbrenner-wife-of-george-steinbrenner-dies-at-83

Yankees fans will be sad.

@EasyAce did u see this?

[Gefn]

I thought she played her part well in the "The Gauntlet" too.

Didn’t she date Clint Eastwood? She was in several movies with him. Wonder how old she was.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Didn’t she date Clint Eastwood? She was in several movies with him. Wonder how old she was.

Yes @Freya   Sandra Locke dated Clint Eastwood for quite a while.

She was 74.