Sunday, August 9, 2015

Frances Oldham Kelsey

Sean Price

Rapper -- via Rolling Stone.

Shawn Robinson

Stuntman -- via US Magazine.


Allison Boisvert

Activist -- via the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Howard "Shep" Paine

Glyn Morgan

Artist -- via the Telegraph.

Clarke Chambers

Scholar -- via the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Vito Buffalo

Bandleader (and butcher) -- via the Chicago Tribune.

Bahar Nawaz

Poet and lyricist -- via DNA India.

Bill Kidwell

Artist -- via the Knoxville News-Sentinel.


Thursday, August 6, 2015

Jemera Rone

Human rights researcher and activist -- via African Arguments.

Ambros Seelos

Calle Ornemark

Sculptor and artist -- via Jyntt.

Hiroyuki Agawa

Writer -- via the Japan Times.


J. Durward Morsch

Composer, arranger, trombonist, and teacher -- via the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Rueben Espinosa

Journalist -- via CNN.

George Cole

Actor -- via the BBC. Best known for his work in films and TV, "Minder" and the St. Trinian's film series among them.




Jack Spring

Former MLB pitcher -- via the Spokane Spokesman-Review.


Ellen Vogel

Actress -- via nu.nl.

Billy Sherrill

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Natalia Molchanova

Free diver -- via USA Today.

Lynn Manning

Playwright, poet, and actor -- via Southern California Public Radio.

Lela Swift

TV director and producer -- via Variety.



Robert Conquest

Historian and poet -- via The Tribune.

Margot Loyola

Forrest Bird

Doctor, researcher, and inventor -- via the New York Times. Best known for creating ventilators and respirators that saved thousands of lives. Also an active aviator, inspired by his father, a WWI combat pilot, and by meeting Orville Wright. Single-handedly eliminated the iron lung. Also innovated with medivac procedures in the Vietnam War, saving more lives.

Red Dragon

Singer and dj -- via the Jamaica Gleaner. AKA LeroyMay, Redman.

Shane Redway

Rapper -- via the Hollywood Reporter.

John Hinds

Shannon Madill Burgess

Actress -- via Global News.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Weekly Reader changing over to Facebook posts

Dear Readers: I have been having a devil of a time keeping up with my self-imposed weekly posting of stories curated from around the world on death, mourning, and related  topics. This has something to do having lots of stories on lots of subjects to write! That is a good reason to be tardy, but two weeks at a time has stretched into a month, and I find myself hopelessly behind.

I will attempt to correct the problem by posting these stories individually to my Obit Patrol Facebook page. (I am currently working my way up through my backlog.) This will be immensely easier and faster for me, and hopefully more current than it is now. I hope that posting each story on its own will give it better exposure, and that it will prompt more followers via social media. Obits, and stories I write myself, will still be posted regularly on the website.

If you feel like following via Facebook, these stories run the gamut from serious discussion to whimsical feature to humor, a compendium of the talk that's going on out there on the topic. Thanks for participating in whatever way suits you best!

Brad W.


Harry Pitch

Harmonica player -- via the Guardian.




Ludmila Dvorakova

Soprano -- via Slipped Disc.




Laszlo Sinko

Actor -- via westernboothill.blogspot.com.

Roland Dupree

Dancer, choreographer, and actor -- via West Hawaii Today. Fun fact: he was the reference model for motion of Disney's "Peter Pan."






Johnny Meeks

Guitarist -- via Guitar World. Replaced Cliff Gallup in Gene Vincent's band for 18 months.



Coleen Gray

Actress -- via Variety. AKA Doris Jensen. Though not as well known as other starlets, she  was a solid performer who appeared in several excellent films. Among there classics such as "Kiss of Death," "Nightmare Alley," and "Red River"; solid genre pieces such as "Kansas City Confidential"and "Apache Drums"; and cult crap such as "The Vampire," "The Leech Woman," and "The Phantom Planet."














Monday, August 3, 2015

John Culhane

Animation historian, writer, and educator -- via legacy.com. Best known for his scholarship on Disney, Culhane is immortalized twice in Disney cartoons: as Mr. Snoops in "The Rescuers" and as Flying John in the "Rhapsody in Blue" sequence in "Fantasia 2000."