DEATHS ; Notable Passings; The Thread to Pay Last Respects

[Marc Chevalier]

*** Voluntarily deleted by me because it was a pretty dumb post. ***


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[Hemingway Jones]

And the silence in here is deafening (but predictable) :whistling


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There's no reason to politicize it; this is news many of us are waking up to. Being from Massachusetts, the news is devastating. It's as if a face tumbled off Mount Rushmore, or the Old Man of the Mountain crumbled again. Sen. Kennedy was an icon, whether you agreed with him or not. He was the last knight of the Roundtable and the last vestige of Camelot.

 

[BinkieBaumont]

Wiki is quick off the mark!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kennedy

 

[Ephraim Tutt]

Vale

 

[K.D. Lightner]

To me, it feels like the end of an era. I just hope the next generations of Kennedys can keep up the activism, whether it is in politics or the environment or human rights.

Only one of the original clan left alive.

Rest in Peace, Ted, and thank you for a job well done.

karol

 

[Carlisle Blues]

This is news many of us are waking up to. Being from Massachusetts, the news is devastating. It's as if a face tumbled off Mount Rushmore, or the Old Man of the Mountain crumbled again. Sen. Kennedy was an icon, whether you agreed with him or not. He was the last knight of the Roundtable and the last vestige of Camelot.

:arated:

I may be a displaced New Yorker, but, this man transcended any physical boundary line. His worked for everyone. It will be difficult to to find ten statesmen to fill his shoes. I especially liked his work on behalf of US veterans. His egalitarian perspectives were a boon to society as a whole, not only as a statesman, but, as a person.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

There's no reason to politicize it; this is news many of us are waking up to. Being from Massachusetts, the news is devastating. It's as if a face tumbled off Mount Rushmore, or the Old Man of the Mountain crumbled again. Sen. Kennedy was an icon, whether you agreed with him or not. He was the last knight of the Roundtable and the last vestige of Camelot.

I don't think Marc was being political.

Marc has -expectations- of how people -should- react and then post in this thread.

People did not move -fast- enough for him....ignoring the tiny little fact that it was 2 am in most places....and folks do actually sleep.

 

[scotrace]

Hem said it well. As large a character in the 20th Century as Clay, Calhoun, Webster in the 19th. Quite a landmark passing, to be marked with respect.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I don't think Marc was being political.

Marc has -expectations- of how people -should- react and then post in this thread.

People did not move -fast- enough for him....ignoring the tiny little fact that it was 2 am in most places....and folks do actually sleep.

Oh SNAP!


(Love you too, Denise!)


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[Antje]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/arts/music/25carter.html

snippet:

How sad,

 

[Chas]

There's no reason to politicize it; this is news many of us are waking up to. Being from Massachusetts, the news is devastating. It's as if a face tumbled off Mount Rushmore, or the Old Man of the Mountain crumbled again. Sen. Kennedy was an icon, whether you agreed with him or not. He was the last knight of the Roundtable and the last vestige of Camelot.

Well said, Hemingway. Whatever one's politics are, he served his country diligently for many years, and for that he deserves respect from both sides of the floor. He had his vices like all people do, and somebody must have forgiven him, they kept on voting for him, after all.

 

[Brian Sheridan]

No one deserves to happen to their family, what happened to the Kennedys, in terms of tragedy. It is amazing Ted went on. He will be missed by both sides of the aisle.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Dominick Dunne, a best-selling author and special correspondent for Vanity Fair, died today at his home in Manhattan. He was 83.








http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2009/08/dominick-dunne-obituary.html

 

[Barrelhouse]

Dominick Dunne and Ted Kennedy on the same day. Wow, truly an end to an era in more ways then one. May they rest in peace and God grant their families and friends some comfort in their time of grief.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Dominick Dunne, a best-selling author and special correspondent for Vanity Fair, died today at his home in Manhattan. He was 83.

]http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2009/08/dominick-dunne-obituary.html[/url]

Very sorry to hear that. He was one of my favorites..and a quite classy 83 yr old..!
HD

 

[Marc Chevalier]

And Mr. Dunne's daughter was murdered years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominique_Dunne One likes to think that he is reunited with her at last.



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[Story]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Mary Morris Lawrence, one of the first female photographers at The Associated Press, has died. She was 95.

She died Aug. 12 at her home in Oakland, Calif., her husband, Harold Lawrence, said Wednesday. She was suffering from heart problems.

The Chicago native joined the AP in New York on Nov. 16, 1936, and worked as a features photographer.

Morris Lawrence described herself as a "groundbreaker" in an interview with The Oakland Tribune in 2007 and recalled male colleagues at the AP joking that they would no longer be able to change their pants in the darkroom.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBIT_MARY_MORRIS?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

 

[Doctor Strange]

Ellie Greenwich, one of the creators of the sixties girl group sound:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellie_Greenwich

 

[MisterCairo]

I only just found this link. Jan Rubes, best known in the US for his role in the movie Witness with Harrison Ford, died in June:


http://entertainment.sympatico.msn.ca/movies/features/article.aspx?cp-documentid=20616545

 

[carouselvic]

Woman helped town live

Nicodemus matriarch dies
Photos

1983 FILE PHOTOGRAPH/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Ora Switzer, the matriarch of Nicodemus, died Aug. 23 at the age of 106. Her funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday in Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Hill City.
| EMAIL | PRINT | COMMENT | SHARE By Jan Biles
Created September 1, 2009 at 5:48pm

Updated September 2, 2009 at 12:53am
Ora Switzer, who was born in a sod house and grew to become the matriarch of Nicodemus, died Aug. 23 at the age of 106.

Nicodemus, established in 1877 by former slaves, is the only remaining all-black community west of the Mississippi.

"She was oldest centenarian ever of Nicodemus," said Angela Bates, of Bogue, historian and descendant of the town's settlers.

Bates said she was gathering information about Switzer this week so a plaque could be presented to the family during Switzer's funeral at 11 a.m. Saturday in Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Hill City.

In 1992, Switzer wrote an essay describing the highlights of her life: She was born Feb. 24, 1903, the third child of Clara C. Williams and Thomas W. Wellington, a farmer. She finished the eighth grade and attended Bogue High School "all but six weeks."

She married Fred L. Switzer on Nov. 2, 1921, in the courthouse in Hill City. He died on March 12, 1984.

The Switzers had seven children. A daughter died in infancy, and Lee E. Switzer died in 2008. The surviving children are Lorene Powell, of Topeka; Harold Switzer, of Sacramento, Calif.; Avalon Brown, of Phoenix; Freddie T. Switzer Jr., of Nicodemus; and Veryl A. Switzer, of Manhattan.

Powell, 82, of Topeka, remembers her mother fondly.

"She was a beautiful mother," Powell said. "I'm so happy I survived her and to have had so long (to be with her)."

At one time, Powell said, her mother worked as a midwife and traveled the countryside with a doctor.

"She delivered many babies in the Nicodemus area," she said, adding that her mother also worked as a substitute teacher.

Most of Switzer's life was spent in Nicodemus, but she lived and worked in Topeka during the 1950s to earn money to send her son, Veryl, to Kansas State University, where he was a standout on the football team.

Powell said her mother was a cook at the Topeka Country Club and also ran the Liberty Snack Shop at 10th and Kansas Avenue.

"After he got through college, she moved back to Nicodemus," Powell said.

Veryl Switzer went on to play with the Green Bay Packers, work for the Chicago Board of Education and serve in a variety of administrative and athletic department positions at K-State before retiring in October 2005.

Ora Switzer taught piano lessons, served on the Silver Haired Legislature and Nicodemus school board and was a member of the Willing Workers Extension Homemakers Unit, Silver Star Order of Eastern Star/Ruth Chapter Order of Eastern Star and the American Legion Auxiliary in Nicodemus. She was a church clerk and mission secretary for 50 years.

She also was known for serving breakfast, lunch and dinner out of her home.

"Sundays were special days and she would serve anyone that stopped by after church," the program for her funeral service states. "She also raised farm animals and planted a garden every year."

Over the years, Switzer was profiled in a number of newspaper and magazine stories, including an article published Sept. 23, 1991, in People magazine.

Switzer, who was in her 80s at that time, was asked by a reporter to explain the longevity of her hometown.

"It won't ever die, and you know why? Because I'm not ever gonna die," she said with a laugh. "I'll keep it alive."

Jan Biles can be reached at (785) 295-1292 or jan.biles@cjonline.com.
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