GLORIA MCCLURE
December 22, 2011 on 1:09 pm | In Obituaries | 6 Comments
GLORIALEE MCCLURE
April 18, 1952 to December 1, 2011
A knack for humor
Glorialee McClure understood something about human nature. The Florida bond specialist—a Pembroke Pines resident who dreamed of someday buying a farm and raising animals—preferred laughter to tears. She had a knack for humor, could whip out a wry aside in the time it takes to blink.
It was a familiar refrain, “You could have been a standup comic, Glowie,” people would say. Due to her effervescent nature and sunny approach to life, many called McClure “Glowie.” Others called her “Glo” or “Gloria.”
His mother’s generous spirit
The mother of two sons, Matthew and stepson William, Gloria raised them with equal passion and nobility. Matthew McClure may have summed up his mother’s generous spirit best. “You showed me how to be a man; you taught me how to have a heart; you were my best friend. I could talk to you about anything.”
On Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011, Gloria passed away during the night, a shock to those who saw her as vibrant and healthy the day before.
She was just 59. Continue reading GLORIA MCCLURE…
CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN
January 2, 2009 on 1:47 pm | In Special Tribute, Obituaries | No CommentsRECREATING THE CELEBRITY OBIT
by Katharine Blossom Lowrie
One long, curly strip of dialogue
Who can forget Tom Hanks as Sam Baldwin, the grieving widower in Sleepless in Seattle (1993) as he struggles to find the precise words to describe his late wife to son Jonah (Ross Malinger, shown left with Hanks), who fears his mom is fading from his memory. “She could peel an apple…in one long, curly strip,” Sam finally tells his son, a note of awe in his voice. “The whole apple.”
Obituaries, my stock and trade, rarely make a lasting impression on the living - not in comparison to that “one long, curly strip” of dialogue (thanks to screenwriter Nora Ephron) that resurrects the mother Jonah so longs to remember. Which brings me to a pet peeve: the sameness with which deceased celebrities are paraded past us at year’s end, not to mention the reels of film clips that spool in the midst of every Oscar-type telecast.
Familiarity has bred contempt. And I write this stuff!
Dean of Dirty Words
Van Johnson
December 14, 2008 on 5:41 pm | In Obituaries | 1 Comment
CHARLES VAN JOHNSON
August 25, 1916 to December 11, 2008
by Katharine Blossom Lowrie
The perennial “guy next door”
Despite his lightweight reputation as the perennial “guy next door” in musicals and comedies of the ’40s and ’50s, Van Johnson (above with Esther Williams in an MGM publicity still ) accrued first-rate reviews for sturdier roles: the values-burdened naval lieutenant who relieves Captain Queeg (Humphrey Bogart) of his command in Edward Dmytryk’s 1954 adaptation of the Herman Wouk novel, “The Caine Mutiny”; Deborah Kerr’s illicit lover in Dmytryk’s 1955 adaptation of Graham Green’s “The End of the Affair,” and a bomber pilot in two WWII films, “A Guy Named Joe” (1943) and “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” (1944), in which the one-time chorus boy proved he could hold his own against the formidable Spencer Tracy.
An MGM musical junkie
Bill Stark
December 9, 2008 on 7:23 am | In Eulogies | No CommentsGOOD-BYE TO “HOT STUFF”
A Belated Eulogy for Bill Stark
1935 to 2007
And so began the sitcom
Bill and I divorced decades ago. So how did I end up folding his boxers, suffering his impatience, relinquishing the remote and sneezing from his cats? Esophageal Cancer. His third go-round. Sixteen years ago, a surgeon carved a tumor the size of a golf ball out of my ex-husband’s throat. Bill’s neck ended up looking as if a pit bull had mistaken it for dinner - his karma, I suppose, for a three-pack-a-day smoking habit. Good news is, they got the sucker out.
Except the Big C struck again in 2006. With a vengeance. Inoperable this time. What began as squamous cell carcinoma bred a tumor on Bill’s vocal chord, and the adjacent lymph glands welcomed it like a lover. “Chemo and radiation are your new best friends,” his oncologist told him. (I soon began to wonder who Bill’s worst enemies were.) Quickly wasted by chemo, he required a feeding tube after radiation toasted his tongue and scorched his throat to the point he could no longer swallow. He lost 60 pounds in a heartbeat, and his blood pressure plummeted to a point where most folks greet St. Peter. When the tumor blockaded his oxygen, a tracheotomy was performed. And so began the sitcom.
Everything transpired through a tube
Helen Cecilia Spitzer
November 3, 2008 on 12:52 pm | In Obituaries | 8 Comments
HELEN CECILIA SPITZER
September 24, 1922 to October 31, 2008
Family and friends, knowing Helen Spitzer’s door was always open, flocked to the historic old Colonial at 2540 West Royalton Road over the years. Helen’s hospitality, all say, was as huge and welcoming as her generous heart. Unfortunately, that heart gave out on Friday, Oct. 31, 2008, when Helen Cecilia Spitzer, 86, died unexpectedly at home, her loving caregivers, Julie and April, with her at the time. Spending her last hours in the place she loved best - the 105-year-old restored residence in Brentwood Lake Village, OH, a community developed by her late husband John A. Spitzer and his brothers - was as Helen would have wanted it, her family said.
“The wind beneath his wings”
Imbued with the kind of sturdy Midwestern values and strong Catholic faith that can sometimes seem quaint and old-fashioned in this day and age, Helen was a traditional housewife who stayed home to raise five children, while her husband worked long hours to build the family business. It paid off. John Spitzer, former Chairman of the Spitzer Organization, a group of companies encompassing automotive retailing and real estate development, turned his father’s modest hardware store in Grafton, OH into multiple auto franchises around the country, eventually becoming one of the nation’s largest automotive retailers.
The Family Store
Sgt. William P. Rudd
October 8, 2008 on 11:30 am | In Fallen Heroes, Special Tribute, Obituaries | No CommentsWILLIAM PATRICK RUDD
1981 to October 5, 2008
Eight tours in service to his country
Sgt. William Patrick Rudd, 27, an Army Ranger who planned to go hunting with his father when he flew home to Madisonville, Kentucky for Thanksgiving, died Oct. 5th from wounds sustained while on combat patrol in northern Iraq. It was Patrick’s eighth deployment in support of the War on Terror - his sixth in Iraq. Two previous tours were spent in Afghanistan.
The one thing that sustains his father, William E. Rudd, a Madisonville real estate broker, is that his son loved his job. “When someone loves something so much and something bad happens, we’re at peace with it,” said Bill Rudd, who has been buoyed by “the love and prayers” of his community. “Through God’s strength, we’re able to celebrate his life.”
A lanky young man with the sunny disposition
Butch Cassidy
September 30, 2008 on 3:14 am | In Special Tribute, Obituaries | 3 Comments
PAUL L. NEWMAN
January 26, 1925 to September 25, 2008
“There’s a point where feelings go beyond words,” Robert Redford said of the passing of his dear friend and favorite co-star, Paul Newman. “My life - and this country - is better for his having been in it.” (The two are shown above in their signature roles as Butch Cassidy (Newman) and the Sundance Kid (Redford) in a still from the 1969 20th Century Fox film.)
An Uncommon Actor
Atul Vyas
September 17, 2008 on 2:09 pm | In Obituaries | 1 CommentATUL VYAS
1988 to September 12, 2008
He could quote whole episodes of South Park and Family Guy
Atul Vyas, a brilliant physics and mathematics student, who planned to attend medical school after graduating from Claremont McKenna College in 2009, was one of 25 victims of the Chatsworth train crash on Friday, Sept. 12. The gregarious pre-med student, who doted on younger cousins and loved to play family pranks, was on his way home to see his parents in Simi Valley for the weekend when his Metrolink passenger train collided with a freight train. He was only 20 years old.
A fan of the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip, Curious George books and strenuous workouts, Atul was known across the Claremont campus for his expertise at Super Smash Bros., a Nintendo video game, quoting whole episodes of “South Park” and “Family Guy”, and his luminous personality. He lit up a room with his smile, said his grieving father Vijay Vyas, and never seemed to need to study all that hard to make top grades.
“Thoroughly brilliant, flying high”
James William Adams, An Easy Rider
September 16, 2008 on 9:54 am | In Obituaries | No Comments
JAMES WILLIAM “JIM” ADAMS
June 8, 1955 to September 9, 2008
by Jeremiah Adams
He died as a result of being stubborn
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Some obituaries are just too good to pass up-even if we didn’t write them. This gem, written by James Adams’ son, Jeremiah, appeared in the Star Tribune in Casper, Wyoming on September 16, 2008.]
A celebration of life for James William “Jim” Adams, 53, will be held at a later date.
He died Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008 at Memorial Hospital of Converse County in Douglas. Jim, who had tired of reading obituaries noting other’s courageous battles with this or that disease, wanted it known that he lost his battle. It was primarily as a result of being stubborn and not following doctor’s orders, or maybe for just living life a little too hard for better than five decades.
He was born June 8, 1955 in Garrison, N.D. the son of James William and Ruby Helen (Clark) Adams.
Deprived of his final wish…to be run over by a beer truck
David Nunez
August 28, 2008 on 12:44 pm | In Fallen Heroes, Obituaries | No Comments
DAVID NUNEZ
June 16, 1980 to May 29, 2008
Flawed like the rest of us
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following message, posted originally in Spanish by a woman named Gloria, was in reaction to a Los Angeles Times obituary devoted to Sgt. 1st Class David Nunez, 27, of Los Angeles, a member of the U.S. Army’s elite Green Berets, who died as a result of small arms fire on May 29, 2008 in Shewan, Afghanistan. More than anything else, the poignancy of the response rests in the first sentence, which stands as one of the most memorable (if not the most memorable) tributes to a young man who, while flawed like the rest of us, so loved his country that he made the ultimate sacrifice.
A womanizer, liar, and drinker
“You were a womanizer, liar, and drinker. But this does not take away your good qualities. You were human, and like all humans you made errors. Nobody knows about me or about our love, and they never will know in reality what happened with us. It made me sad to see you buried and your death in this way. But my comfort is my memories of you and the time we lived together. We were very happy in that time. What I do know is that your only and true love was your work. You died doing what you wanted most in life. In reality I never understood what it was that you did but just hearing you talk about it was enough to know that you enjoyed it. Now you can rest, you did your part in this battle. You will always live in my heart. Gloria”
Into his third deployment
Elizabeth Campbell
August 25, 2008 on 8:05 am | In Obituaries | 9 Comments
ELIZABETH AILEEN CAMPBELL
October 1, 1960 to July 20, 2008
An indomitable, spirit
Elizabeth A. Campbell, Director of Women’s Programs for Pacific Hills Treatment Centers in Dana Point - an indomitable spirit who breathed life, love and hope into those who had none - succumbed to lung cancer Sunday, July 20th. She was 47.
Her legend grew quickly at Pacific Hills, the scary click of her spike heels as she marched down the hall to a meeting, those in attendance often quivering in fear at the sound. Only 5′2″ and 120 lbs. “soaking wet,” according to her husband of 24 years, Greg Campbell, Elizabeth was a powerhouse presence, especially when something didn’t measure up to her rigorous standards. Whether at Pacific Hills, or at home in Aliso Viejo, said Greg, Director of Sales at Irvine BMW, she was like a drill sergeant. “Hey, Campbell,” she would call to her husband. “You made a mess. It’s unacceptable! It is not okay!”
The lucky person who gets those eyes
Faoa L. Apineru
August 15, 2008 on 1:32 pm | In Fallen Heroes, Obituaries | No Comments
FAOA L. APINERU
1976 to 2007 to
August 3, 2008
Semper Fi
Considerably after the fact
It’s strange how one Marine’s death can affect so many - especially when it is acknowledged considerably after the fact. Such is the case with Faoa L. Apineru, 31, of Yorba Linda, a staff sergeant in the Marine Corps Reserve, who died on July 2, 2007, two years after suffering massive brain injuries due to a roadside bomb attack in Anbar province, west of Baghdad. Yet, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) did not officially recognize his death as resulting from the Iraq war until August 3, 2008.
Just how did the DOD explain the cause of death of the strapping Samoan, formerly a black belt in karate and marathon runner, who was confined for over two years in the Veteran’s Affairs Hospital in Palo Alto, his brain so traumatized with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) he had to relearn how to walk, talk and drive? Perhaps the DOD viewed Apineru’s loss of memory, his inability to distinguish nightmares from reality, his tendency to attack anyone who resembled a “jihadist” (his term for the enemy, said his brother, Selemaea Apineru of Colorado) as some sort of a chemical imbalance. The Department of Defense isn’t saying.
Reliving the attack in recurring nightmares
Cyd Charisse
June 23, 2008 on 12:50 pm | In Special Tribute, Obituaries | No Comments
CYD CHARISSE
1921 to 2008
Pure glamour and romantic escapism
If you once sat enthralled by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals, the name Cyd Charisse evokes Technicolor images of pure glamour and romantic escapism, images that have long since passed into film history. Shown above with Fred Astaire in MGM’s The Band Wagon (1953), Charisse - who was to movie dance partners as rhythm is to blues - died of complications from a heart attack in Los Angeles on Tuesday, June 17. She was 86.
You won’t see her like today.
In contemporary musicals like Mamma Mia (2008) and Hairspray (2007), actors still break into song and dance, but it’s not the same as watching icons of the genre like Singin’ in the Rain (1952) and The Band Wagon. Not that Charisse ever broke into song - unless her voice was dubbed. She could not sing a note, and her acting was at best “on cue,” according to one critic.
The epitome of dance
Timothy John Russert Jr.
June 14, 2008 on 1:27 pm | In Special Tribute, Obituaries | 1 Comment
TIMOTHY JOHN RUSSERT JR.
May 7, 1950 to June 13, 2008
by Katharine Blossom Lowrie
Meet the Best
My sister called from Arizona that fatal Friday afternoon. “Tim Russert died,” she exclaimed, the shock in her voice reverberating through the phone. “I’m in my car and just heard it on NPR. You were the only one I could think of to call.” (Photo: Reuters)
My sister is an educator, and I am a journalist, professions that have something in common, mainly the ability to communicate. Other than that, our lives couldn’t have taken more divergent paths - except for one overwhelming passion: politics. Fortunately, we are on the identical side of the political fence. But even if we were not paired up in terms of party affiliation, watching Meet The Press would have been de-rigueur on Sunday mornings for both of us. That was one of the splendors of Russert’s talent: to serve as an impartial witness to the facts and let us judge for ourselves. Whether Democrat or Republican, you got an unbiased view of the day’s hottest issues - from the host, at any rate. (Oh, maybe a hint of a lean toward the Dems at times.)
Never mean, petty or disparaging
Tony Snow and Clay Felker
June 13, 2008 on 4:22 pm | In Special Tribute, Obituaries | 1 Comment
TONY SNOW & CLAY FELKER
July, 2008
By Katharine Blossom Lowrie
A grief that transcends politics
Two partings in July: Tony Snow (above) and Clay Felker (left). Of different generations, the two had little in common, other than journalism and cancer. Tony Snow, former press secretary to George W. Bush, died of colon cancer on July 12. He was 53.
Felker, the visionary editor whose New York magazine spawned New Journalism in the 1960s, died in his sleep on July 1, according to his wife, author Gail Sheehy. He was 82 and had suffered from throat cancer for some time.
With the death of Tim Russert in June, one mourns the loss of this distinguished cluster of journalists, a grief that transcends politics. For those of us who go about our daily lives attached to a morphine drip of news - whether TV, newspapers, Internet or radio - such passings affect us deeply. Even with Felker, whose New Journalism heyday had long since been eclipsed by the New Media, his impact on reporting and writing hoists him into the legendary category.
An incestuous family, loners who thrive best in packs of our peers
Sydney Pollack
June 1, 2008 on 3:52 pm | In Special Tribute, Obituaries | No Comments
SYDNEY POLLACK
July 1, 1934 to May 26, 2008
by Katharine Blossom Lowrie
He seemed taller in person
I met Sydney Pollack back when I covered Hollywood as a freelancer for the LA Times Calendar section in the early 1980s. He seemed taller in person, distinguished, with a wide, welcoming grin. The event was a Columbia Pictures screening of Tootsie, the 1982 comedy starring Dustin Hoffman, whose character transforms from down-and-out actor Michael Dorsey into actress Dorothy Michaels to boost his sagging career. Pollack, who directed the movie, plays a featured role as Dorsey’s agent (shown above with Hoffman in a still from the film). With Tootsie heavy with pre-release Oscar buzz, my intention was to snag a future interview with Hoffman. Since I knew him from our days as drama students, I wasn’t too worried about approaching him at the screening. But Hoffman was in absentia, off filming in New York.
After the screening, although I was among those who congratulated Pollack for his directorial efforts and splendid comic turn at acting, I didn’t feel right about mentioning my long-ago relationship with Hoffman or requesting an interview with Pollack.
Not a single unnecessary word is spoken
Corporal Joseph C. McCarthy, USMC
May 26, 2008 on 2:38 pm | In Fallen Heroes, Obituaries | 5 Comments
CORPORAL JOSEPH C. MCCARTHY
March 21, 1983 to Sept. 6, 2004
[EDITOR’S NOTE: On this Memorial Day 2008, a U.S. Marine is remembered for his sweet heart and belief in future generations, a belief his family gives voice to through a foundation bearing their fallen hero’s name.]
“Hearts and minds, gents”
Lance Cpl. Joseph C. McCarthy, 21, would kneel down and clown around with Iraqi children, dispensing fistfuls of candy (which he always carried), even in dangerous situations. “Hearts and minds, gents,” he would quip, leveling a frisky grin at fellow Marines concerned for his safety. McCarthy’s sweet-dispensing ways won him the nickname “Willie Wonka.”
Joe’s mother, Rhonda McCarthy of St. John’s, AZ, said her son believed Iraqi children “were going to change the world.” On Easter Sunday in 2004, she said, he handed out candy to youngsters at a military checkpoint west of Fallujah while strangers, who could have been insurgents, looked on. “He did it because he loved kids,” Rhonda McCarthy said. “Joe was the peacemaker that day, and they were all laughing and joking within minutes.”
Couldn’t wait to…get in the corps
Sgt. Timothy Smith, U.S. Army
April 29, 2008 on 12:58 pm | In Fallen Heroes, Obituaries | 6 Comments
TIMOTHY MICHAEL SMITH
Sept. 20, 1982 to April 7, 2008
Stop-Loss
Stop-Loss orders suspend discharges so that experienced members of the
military can continue to serve at a time of national crisis. Hollywood made a
movie about it. The reality ordered Sergeant Timothy Michael Smith back
to duty last year. He died April 7th when his Humvee struck an improvised
explosive device in the streets of Baghdad. He was 25 years old.
Known to family and friends in his hometown of South Lake Tahoe as “Timmy,” the newly-married sergeant had already served one tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2006 and should have been released from the Army last November. Instead, he was redeployed to Iraq as part of the 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Polk, Louisiana.
Pretty gung-ho
Lance Cpl. Marcus Stephen Glimpse
April 6, 2008 on 11:29 am | In Fallen Heroes, Obituaries | 2 Comments
LANCE CPL. MARCUS STEPHEN GLIMPSE
1983 to 2006
[EDITOR’S NOTE: To honor the fallen heroes of Iraq and Afghanistan, Précis occasionally revisits those who have paid the ultimate price. This is the second in a series of profiles in bravery—a reminder of what we have lost.]
160 pounds of pure muscle
Few are as utterly transformed by the U.S. Marine Corps as Lance Cpl. Marcus Glimpse of Huntington Beach. Prior to entering boot camp in 2003, Marc, as everyone called him, was 129-pound high-school dropout, who couldn’t hold a job and liked to sleep the day away. He sported a fuchsia Mohawk, painted his fingernails Visigoth black and spent every waking hour playing video games or watching The Sopranos.
Then the Marines took over. By the time Marc graduated the School of Infantry in 2004, he was 160 pounds of “pure muscle,” said his father, Guy Glimpse. He went on to become an authoritative leader, volunteer for the prickliest combat assignments and inspire his collegues with his quick-draw wit.
But the Marines fired-up something else in Marcus Glimpse: ambition. Following his deployment in Iraq, he planned to go on to college and become a lawyer.
That dream came to a crashing halt
The Dave Clark Five - Minus Two
March 24, 2008 on 4:58 pm | In Special Tribute, Obituaries | 31 Comments
L-R: Rick Huxley, Lenny Davidson, Denis Payton, Mike Smith and Dave Clark
DENIS PAYTON
1943 to 2006
MIKE SMITH
1943 to 2008
By Nola Leone
R&R Hall of Fame Too Late for Two of the DC5
Back in the mid-60s, the first thing I noticed about the Dave Clark Five was how damn good-looking they were. And such gentlemen! Unlike most groups who wore rebelliousness and bad behavior like a badge of honor, the “DC5,” as they were dubbed in fan shorthand, were well mannered, bright, funny, respectful and fun. In their trademark blazers, coordinated slacks and black boots, Dave Clark, Mike Smith, Denis Payton, Rick Huxley and Lenny Davidson were the complete package: good looks, talent and class. Thrilled to act as one of their publicists from 1965-70, I saw them as British knights in shining armor come to conquer America.
Influenced by everyone from Elvis Presley to Little Richard to Ray Charles, the DC5 became rock royalty, part of “The British Invasion” that included the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Unlike the latter two bands, however, the Dave Clark Five were endlessly passed over for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an oversight protested by music professionals and fans, particularly after they stalled in the 2006 and 2007 semifinals. Eligible since 1989 (25 years after their first US recording), the DC5 were finally inducted in a moving ceremony on March 10, 2008 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York. Longtime admirer Tom Hanks did the honors.
Two were missing