Obituaries for 2020

[roamer_1]

@roamer_1

I spent the summer I was 13 working as a deckhand on a shrimp boat,working a man's job and getting a man's pay.

Had PLENTY of money every time the hold was full and we went to port to unload and sell,and I went drinking in the same places the other deck hands went drinking.

You figure it out.

@sneakypete

I don't have to figger Sneaks. I know the answer. 

[jmyrlefuller]

Kelly Preston
Actress, model and wife of John Travolta dies at 57



Preston, who had a modest acting career consisting mostly of supporting roles in middling films (she was a four-time Golden Raspberry Award nominee, winning once for her work in Battlefield Earth), was perhaps better known as the longtime wife of John Travolta, with whom she had three children.

Preston died July 12 following a two-year bout with breast cancer.

Obituary from Entertainment Tonight

Wikipedia

IMDB

[jmyrlefuller]

Jay Severin
Talk radio personality dies at 69

James "Jay" Severino had some brief stints in national syndication and as a guest host for national shows but was best known for his work in Boston, Massachusetts. He died July 10 of a stroke.

Obituary from All Access Music Group

Wikipedia

[Gefn]

Kelly Preston
Actress, model and wife of John Travolta dies at 57



Preston, who had a modest acting career consisting mostly of supporting roles in middling films (she was a four-time Golden Raspberry Award nominee, winning once for her work in Battlefield Earth), was perhaps better known as the longtime wife of John Travolta, with whom she had three children.

Preston died July 12 following a two-year bout with breast cancer.

Obituary from Entertainment Tonight

Wikipedia

IMDB

Cancer is a miserable way to go. I hope she’s at peace now, with het son who died a few years back.

[Smokin Joe]

Cancer is a miserable way to go. I hope she’s at peace now, with het son who died a few years back.

I agree, on both counts.

[Gefn]

Benjamin Keough, Elvis Presley's grandson, dead at 27

July 12 (UPI) -- Singer and actor Benjamin Keough -- son of musicians Danny Keough and Lisa Marie Presley and grandson of rock 'n' roll icon Elvis Presley -- has died at age 27.

Keough's sister is The Lodge actress Riley Keough.

TMZ reported he died from an apparent, self-inflicted gunshot wound Sunday in Calabasas, Calif.

"Lisa Marie is completely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated but trying to stay strong for her 11-year-old twins and her oldest daughter, Riley," Presley's representative told ETOnline. "She adored that boy. He was the love of her life."

https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2020/07/12/Benjamin-Keough-Elvis-Presleys-grandson-dead-at-27/3721594593803/

Suicide isn’t painless. RIP

[mountaineer]

July 13, 2020 / 4:09 AM / Updated 4 hours ago
Zindzi Mandela, daughter of Nelson Mandela, has died - ANC spokesman

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Zindzi Mandela, daughter of former South African president and liberation hero Nelson Mandela, has died, the spokesman of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) said on Monday.

Zindzi Mandela, whose mother was anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, rose to international prominence when she read out Nelson Mandela’s rejection of then-president P.W. Botha’s offer for freedom in 1985.

State broadcaster SABC said the 59-year-old, who was serving as South Africa’s ambassador to Denmark, died in a hospital in Johannesburg. It did not say why she had died.  ... Reuters

[Gefn]

It went in threes overnight didn’t it. Rip miss Mandela

[sneakypete]

Kelly Preston
Actress, model and wife of John Travolta dies at 57



Preston, who had a modest acting career consisting mostly of supporting roles in middling films (she was a four-time Golden Raspberry Award nominee, winning once for her work in Battlefield Earth), was perhaps better known as the longtime wife of John Travolta, with whom she had three children.

Preston died July 12 following a two-year bout with breast cancer.

Obituary from Entertainment Tonight

Wikipedia

IMDB

@jmyrlefuller

She was also known for living a clean,scandal-free life as a respectable wife and mother. Virtually unheard of in the professional circles where she circulated.

This is,IMHO,worthy of note as well as praise.

[Hoodat]

Kelly Preston
Actress, model and wife of John Travolta dies at 57

Wow, sorry to hear this.  I always had a huge crush on her.

[jmyrlefuller]

Grant Imahara
Engineer best known for his work on Mythbusters dies at 49



In college, Imahara had two passions and had difficulty deciding between them: electrical engineering and show business. He got his degree in the former, becoming a skilled robot maker, but found work in the latter almost immediately, landing at Industrial Light & Magic, the famed special effects company.

He made his television debut as a contestant on the original BattleBots. In 2005, he joined the "Build Team" on MythBusters. When the Build Team was summarily cut from the show nine years later, he and his two partners formed the White Rabbit Project for Netflix. He also was responsible for building "Geoff Peterson," the robot sidekick on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Imahara died July 13 of an aneurysm.

Obituary from the Hollywood Reporter

Wikipedia

IMDB

[Cyber Liberty]

I liked Grant in Mythbusters, and never watched a Myth Busters since he got cut.

[jmyrlefuller]

Morris Cerullo
Televangelist and media mogul dies at 88

Cerullo, a Jewish convert to Christianity, is best known for purchasing the assets of Jim Bakker's PTL ministry out of bankruptcy in 1990. Included in the assets were the property of Heritage USA, a theme park that never reopened under Cerullo and was repurposed as the residential Regent Park; and INSP, the Inspiration Network, which under Cerullo has been transitioned from a televangelism network to a family entertainment service.

Cerullo died July 11 of pneumonia.

Obituary from The Christian Post

Wikipedia

[Gefn]

Rep. John Lewis, lion of the civil rights movement, dies at 80

Rep. John Lewis, the sharecroppers' son who became a giant of the civil rights movement, died Friday after a monthslong battle with cancer, his family said. He was 80.

The longtime Georgia congressman, an advocate of nonviolent protest who had his skull fractured by Alabama state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, was the last surviving speaker from 1963's March on Washington.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/rep-john-lewis-lion-civil-rights-movement-dies-80-n1109176


He died of pancreatic cancer. What a miserable death, I hope he’s at peace now,

[mountaineer]

Another civil rights leader died.

Rev. C.T. Vivian, key civil rights leader, has died at 95
By DESIREE SEALS and MICHAEL WARREN
yesterday

ATLANTA (AP) — The Rev. C.T. Vivian, an early and key adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who organized pivotal civil rights campaigns and spent decades advocating for justice and equality, died Friday at the age of 95.

Vivian began staging sit-ins against segregation in Peoria, Illinois, in the 1940s — a dozen years before lunch-counter protests by college students made national news. He met King soon after the budding civil rights leader’s leadership of the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, and helped translate ideas into action by organizing the Freedom Rides that forced federal intervention across the South. ...

Associated Press

[Gefn]

Two civil rights leaders in 48 hours. It makes you think. RIP.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Two civil rights leaders in 48 hours. It makes you think. RIP.

About what?  @Gefn

[jmyrlefuller]

Two civil rights leaders in 48 hours. It makes you think. RIP.

There are such things as coincidences. Most of the leaders of the movement are now in their 80s and 90s. Even Malcolm X and MLK would have likely died by now had they not been shot.

[Applewood]

The old time civil rights leaders advocated truly peaceful protests to achieve their goals.  I don't know that too many of them would have been supportive of the BS going on today -- the riots, burning, looting. 

Rest in peace, Mr. Lewis and Rev. Vivian.

[Smokin Joe]

Rep. John Lewis, lion of the civil rights movement, dies at 80


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/rep-john-lewis-lion-civil-rights-movement-dies-80-n1109176


He died of pancreatic cancer. What a miserable death, I hope he’s at peace now,

Same here, RIP.

[EasyAce]

Then old time civil rights leaders advocated truly peaceful protests to achieve their goals.  I don't know that too many of them would have been supportive of the BS going on today -- the riots, burning, looting. 

@Applewood
Most would not have supported that.

RIP John Lewis and Rev. C.T. Vivian.

[dfwgator]

Rep. John Lewis, lion of the civil rights movement, dies at 80


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/rep-john-lewis-lion-civil-rights-movement-dies-80-n1109176


He died of pancreatic cancer. What a miserable death, I hope he’s at peace now,

This John Lewis?

“Read the Republican contract....They’re coming for our children. They’re coming for the poor. They’re coming for the sick, the elderly and the disabled.”

Forgive me, if I don't shed any tears.

[EasyAce]

This John Lewis?

“Read the Republican contract....They’re coming for our children. They’re coming for the poor. They’re coming for the sick, the elderly and the disabled.”

Forgive me, if I don't shed any tears.

The mourning here is far more for what he did in the civil rights movement than what he did in his later life as a Congressman. It's possible to separate the two and mourn the civil rights figure without concurrently giving his Congressional career a fully free pass, just as it was possible to separate John McCain's military career and mourn the courageous Navy pilot and war prisoner without concurrently giving his Senate career and presidential campaigns a fully free pass.

[Applewood]

This John Lewis?

“Read the Republican contract....They’re coming for our children. They’re coming for the poor. They’re coming for the sick, the elderly and the disabled.”

Forgive me, if I don't shed any tears.

\And that's your right.  But as @EasyAce pointed out, he and those old timers in the civil rights movement did good -- certainly better than the anarchists and terrorists out there now.  And as for Lewis'  political career -- yes, he was a Democrat and what he said was reflective of the Democrat meme of the time and which still is being preached today -- that Republicans don't care about black people, the poor, the elderly and so on.  Remember the campaign ads of Republicans pushing Grandma in her wheelchair off the cliff?  Smart voters don't buy that BS, but it's been used effectively by the Democrats for years.  Sadly though, Republicans, on the other hand, do little to counter it. 

Anyway, I choose to forget about the man's politics and remember his struggle with Dr. King and so many others.  I figure someone else with more knowledge about Mr. Lewis' life and with greater authority than mine will make the judgment.  It's not up to me now.

[Slide Rule]

I have kicked a few of the dead. This man did not qualify for that treatment because of his poor choice of words and low effectiveness. If you were talking about FDR, or Wilson that would be another matter.

I wish Lewis and his family peace after years of constant war.

[Hoodat]

I had a lot of respect for Lewis up until the point where he lied about Tea Party members.  It went downhill from there.  While I still admire his earlier accomplishments, he has done a huge disservice over the last 30 years by refusing to hand over the legacy to the next generations.  And because of the egos of these so-called icons, today's generations have zero connection with the Civil Rights legacy other than the color of their skin.

[sneakypete]

Rep. John Lewis, lion of the civil rights movement, dies at 80


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/rep-john-lewis-lion-civil-rights-movement-dies-80-n1109176

He died of pancreatic cancer. What a miserable death, I hope he’s at peace now,

@Gefn

He was a lucky man if he only suffered a couple of months. Most/lots of people suffer with cancer for years before it takes them.

[sneakypete]

This John Lewis?

“Read the Republican contract....They’re coming for our children. They’re coming for the poor. They’re coming for the sick, the elderly and the disabled.”

Forgive me, if I don't shed any tears.

@dfwgator

I do get your point,but in MY opinion,the man was just stupid,not evil. It's no sin to be stupid.

[EasyAce]

From Erick Erickson, The Resurgent, in an e-mail:

John Lewis did not stop his partisanship from allowing him to have friendships with those with whom he had disagreements. He worked behind the scenes with Republicans to do what he could to help Georgia. He cultivated friendships with conservative members of congress with whom he could find no agreement on politics.

Contrast Lewis, a partisan Democrat who could be a bomb thrower against Republicans, with the fickle children running the New York Times now. The very idea of friendship with political opponents is anathema to them. Lewis would have published Tom Cotton’s op-ed and condemned it with his own op-ed next to it.

He was a complex man whose on-camera appearances were deeply partisan for his side and whose off-camera work was congenial, bipartisan, and kind.

Nowadays people would call that being two-faced. People seem to think if you’re a partisan bomb-thrower in a radio ad or on television, that’s who you should be in person. But people and relationships are more complex, politics is weird, and John Lewis was a giant who earned his street cred getting the crap knocked out of him by white supremacists in the streets of the South when all he wanted was the right to sit in a restaurant.

John Lewis and I agreed on little in politics. I only met the man once, in passing, on a flight from Washington back to Atlanta. We shared a laugh about some political nonsense going on at the time. That was the only time we ever spoke to one another. But we spoke to one another and found a way to share a laugh.

Not enough people do that with their political opponents these days. We presume disagreement means the other side wants to destroy the country when sometimes it is just a disagreement.

That tells you something right there.

[verga]

From Erick Erickson, The Resurgent, in an e-mail:

John Lewis did not stop his partisanship from allowing him to have friendships with those with whom he had disagreements. He worked behind the scenes with Republicans to do what he could to help Georgia. He cultivated friendships with conservative members of congress with whom he could find no agreement on politics.

Contrast Lewis, a partisan Democrat who could be a bomb thrower against Republicans, with the fickle children running the New York Times now. The very idea of friendship with political opponents is anathema to them. Lewis would have published Tom Cotton’s op-ed and condemned it with his own op-ed next to it.

He was a complex man whose on-camera appearances were deeply partisan for his side and whose off-camera work was congenial, bipartisan, and kind.

Nowadays people would call that being two-faced. People seem to think if you’re a partisan bomb-thrower in a radio ad or on television, that’s who you should be in person. But people and relationships are more complex, politics is weird, and John Lewis was a giant who earned his street cred getting the crap knocked out of him by white supremacists in the streets of the South when all he wanted was the right to sit in a restaurant.

John Lewis and I agreed on little in politics. I only met the man once, in passing, on a flight from Washington back to Atlanta. We shared a laugh about some political nonsense going on at the time. That was the only time we ever spoke to one another. But we spoke to one another and found a way to share a laugh.

Not enough people do that with their political opponents these days. We presume disagreement means the other side wants to destroy the country when sometimes it is just a disagreement.

That tells you something right there.

Amen, not unlike the relationship between Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I have had several good friends that were on the complete opposite end of the political/ religious spectrum. It is possible to disagree with out being disagreeable.

[Smokin Joe]

Amen, not unlike the relationship between Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I have had several good friends that were on the complete opposite end of the political/ religious spectrum. It is possible to disagree with out being disagreeable.

Right. It's fairly simple. Keep the disagreement about the issue, not about the person. I knew a couple of liberals I'd engage in discussions about issues, and we'd sit and drink coffee the whole time. It wasn't about them, but the issues.

[PeteS in CA]

Right. It's fairly simple. Keep the disagreement about the issue, not about the person. I knew a couple of liberals I'd engage in discussions about issues, and we'd sit and drink coffee the whole time. It wasn't about them, but the issues.

For me personally, there is a limit to that. For example, until last year I had never UnFriended anyone on FB. I figured that if any Prog FB Friend REALLY could not stand my very occasional political-oriented posts they could UnFriend me. But then two FB Friends who know me better thought it a cool idea to insinuate that I'm a racist. So I UnFriended them.

Lewis was complex. He was significant in the Civil Rights Movement, which helped shove the Feds to do what they should have done decades earlier. OTOH, he was a prominent front-line race-baiter-for-political-gain in the last 2 or 3 decades of his life. He would have been out of my life for doing that were he a friend. There is no excusing slander of that magnitude.

[skeeter]

@dfwgator

I do get your point,but in MY opinion,the man was just stupid,not evil. It's no sin to be stupid.

John Lewis was the civil rights movement in microcosm, which started out from the moral high ground and as it accomplished its objectives slowly became corrupt and began existing for its own benefit.

[Applewood]

John Lewis was the civil rights movement in microcosm, which started out from the moral high ground and as it accomplished its objectives slowly became corrupt and began existing for its own benefit.

The old timers were admirable for the sacrifices they made.  Then the two extortionists, Al and Jessie came along.  Now we have terrorists destroying our cities and businesses.  What was once a profile in courage is now a criminal enterprise. 

[catfish1957]

John Lewis was the civil rights movement in microcosm, which started out from the moral high ground and as it accomplished its objectives slowly became corrupt and began existing for its own benefit.

100% agree.  And if the events of the past few months wouldn't have happened, I 'd probably be more gracious, and positive sounding in my comments.  Then add his one of his last quote during the BLM rioting...  "Give Until you can't Give Anymore". 

That's how I'll remember the guy.  You know....  Last Impressions are often the most lasting.

[sneakypete]

John Lewis was the civil rights movement in microcosm, which started out from the moral high ground and as it accomplished its objectives slowly became corrupt and began existing for its own benefit.

@skeeter  Well said!

[Mod1]

We're getting off the track here, folks. This thread is for obits, not for wideranging discussions of the failings of other individuals. Start another thread if you want to debate the merits of MLK, Jr., and his associates.

[jmyrlefuller]

In any event, this thread was meant to honor and remember the dead -- in this case, John Lewis -  not to argue over what amounts to unproven conspiracy theories about Dr. King.  Honor Mr. Lewis or don't honor him.  I don't care.  But let's respect @jmyrlefuller who runs this thread and get it back on track.

I appreciate the sentiment, though I am a mere caretaker.

But yes, Lewis's political motivations aside, let's keep discussions at hand to the deceased. I don't mind going off-track a little bit, but try not to totally derail.

[Cyber Liberty]

We're getting off the track here, folks. This thread is for obits, not for wideranging discussions of the failings of other individuals. Start another thread if you want to debate the merits of MLK, Jr., and his associates.

I split the whole page of comments about MLK into a new thread to fight on.  "MLK, Good Guy or Bad?"

http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,408795.0.html

MLK died in 1968, and this thread is for current Obits.  Any further comments about MLK will be simply deleted.  TIA

[Applewood]

Thank you @Cyber Liberty

And @jmyrlefuller :

 

[Cyber Liberty]

Thank you @Cyber Liberty

And @jmyrlefuller :

 

Most welcome.  I was out of town for the annual Mohave County GOP Picnic in the mountains (cool weather, yay!), and I didn't see this mess until I got back in town.  I am sure nobody is miffed at me for the cleanup.

[Applewood]

Most welcome.  I was out of town for the annual Mohave County GOP Picnic in the mountains (cool weather, yay!), and I didn't see this mess until I got back in town.  I am sure nobody is miffed at me for the cleanup.

I'm jealous -- cool, mountain air.  Too bad you couldn't send that to me.  94 degrees here.  LOL

And if anyone squawks about moving the arguments over MLK to a separate thread, send them to me.  I will give them one of these:   

[sneakypete]

I appreciate the sentiment, though I am a mere caretaker.

But yes, Lewis's political motivations aside, let's keep discussions at hand to the deceased. I don't mind going off-track a little bit, but try not to totally derail.

@jmyrlefuller

For the record,I considered Lewis to be fairly honest for a politician.

Nobody can question his courage or dedication,even if you might not have liked his methods.

[Slide Rule]

Does anyone have a photo of Lewis with a smile? I am sure there are plenty
but I haven't seen any. He seemed to have that tough survival look.

[mountaineer]

Charles Evers, civil rights icon and brother of Medgar Evers, dies at 97
Evers, the first Black elected mayor of a Mississippi city, had been a gun-toting bootlegger, a numbers-runner and a pimp in Chicago before returning to Mississippi after his brother was assassinated in June 1963.
By USA TODAY Jul 22, 2020, 2:46pm CDT
Jimmie E. Gates

JACKSON, Miss. – Civil rights icon Charles Evers, the first Black elected mayor of a Mississippi city and brother of Medgar Evers, has died at the age of 97.

Evers became the first black mayor of a Mississippi town or city since reconstruction when he was elected mayor of Fayette in 1969.

Evers died Wednesday surrounded by family at his Rankin County home, according to the Rankin County coroner. ...

More at Chicago Sun-Times


Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
I am deeply saddened by the loss of my friend Charles Evers. Charles was a trail blazer in politics and a fearless leader, alongside his brother Medgar, for Civil Rights.

6:46 PM · Jul 22, 2020

[Hoodat]

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
I am deeply saddened by the loss of my friend Charles Evers. Charles was a trail blazer in politics and a fearless leader, alongside his brother Medgar, for Civil Rights.
6:46 PM · Jul 22, 2020

Charles Evers was a great man.  He stood up to the race pimps.

[Smokin Joe]

Charles Evers was a great man.  He stood up to the race pimps.

Seems like the 'old guard' is checking out, just in time for 'the movement' to be co-opted by The current crop of Marxists.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Does anyone have a photo of Lewis with a smile? .

       

@Slide Rule

[Slide Rule]

Thanks. I had only seen him with a scowl in photos and video.

[sneakypete]

Charles Evers was a great man.  He stood up to the race pimps.

@Hoodat

Why not? He WAS an actual pimp at one time. Who better to represent freedom,equality,and women's rights than a pimp?