Obituaries

[beechnut79]

I would like to mention the recent passing of three legends of the music world.

John D. Loudermilk, 82, passed on Sept. 21. Composer of many pop and country hits including "Tobacco Road", "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye", "Sad Movies", "Break My Mind", "Abilene" and "It's My Time". Although his biggest success was as a writer of songs that were hits for other artists, he did do some recording himself. In early 1967 he had a minor hit with his own version of "It's My Time", which also was recorded by Dolly Parton, George Hamilton IV and Jody Miller.

Stanley Dural Jr., better known as Buckwheat Zydeco, passed on Sept. 24. He almost singlehandedly was responsible for taking this accordion based music out of the Louisiana Bayou and around the world. A goodwill ambassador for this brand of music.

Jean Shepherd, one of the original honky-tonk queens and one of the first female members of the Grand Ole Opry, passed Sept. 25 at age 82. She was the wife of Hawkashaw Hawkins, who was killed in the 1963 plane crash which also claimed the now legendary Patsy Cline, who was one of the first country stars to cross over into pop. Ms. Shepherd resisted the pressure to do the same and chose instead to stick to her pure country roots, paving the was for later female honky-tonkers such as Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette.

[Dan '82]

Quote:http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/201...car-crash/


Inspirational ex-Jet Dennis Byrd killed in car crash
Posted by Michael David Smith on October 15, 2016, 9:09 PM EDT
 


Dennis Byrd, a former Jets defensive lineman best known for battling back from a serious spinal injury and recovering to walk again, has died at the age of 51.
Byrd was killed in a car crash in Claremore, Oklahoma, today. According to Fox 23, Byrd was driving down the highway when his vehicle was struck head on by another vehicle, which had crossed the center line. A 12-year-old passenger in Byrd’s vehicle was hospitalized, as was the 17-year-old boy driving the vehicle that hit Byrd’s vehicle. Byrd was pronounced dead at the scene.
A second-round draft pick of the Jets in 1989, Byrd played four NFL seasons before suffering a serious neck injury in a collision with a teammate. Byrd was paralyzed and his career was over, but after lengthy physical therapy he was able to walk again. At the Jets’ home opener in 1993, Byrd walked to the middle of the field to represent his team in the pregame coin toss, and there he was given the team’s Most Inspirational Player Award, which is now known as the Dennis Byrd Award.
In 2012, when the Jets retired Byrd’s No. 90 jersey, he said that in his retirement from football he had found joy in coaching youth sports and speaking on behalf of people with disabilities.
“I really have loved coaching football and working with kids, talking about the lessons I’ve learned as an athlete and the journey as someone with a disability,” Byrd said then. “Football has always been, for me, a cornerpost of strength and a way to accomplish things in life, whether it’s on the field or just in maintaining a quality of life. All those lessons — dedication, perseverance, teamwork — they all dovetail nicely into living a blessed life.”

[pbrower2a]

My father died this morning.

He had not been himself for half a year. He unwittingly messed up my life badly in most of that time. I made a point to see him last night, and I saw a look of terror that I had seen only on my mother as she approached death.

I took the dog (who had a right to know) along. Supposedly he could hear, and about the only thing I could think of was to read the Bible. If he could still hear, then that could offer more assurance than anything else. It's not that I am a religious man; I am not. I had asked the nursing home staff to try to bring over a clergyman to give him some assurances.

Psalm 23, of course, and Psalm 33... the latter a psalm that Johann Sebastian Bach set as a delightful motet (but in German and not in English as in the King James Version).

But today I can almost cite Schopenhauer on how I feel: Obit anus, obit onus.  It has been that hard.

[Bad Dog]

(10-16-2016, 10:03 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: My father died this morning.

He had not been himself for half a year. He unwittingly messed up my life badly in most of that time. I made a point to see him last night, and I saw a look of terror that I had seen only on my mother as she approached death.

I took the dog (who had a right to know) along. Supposedly he could hear, and about the only thing I could think of was to read the Bible. If he could still hear, then that could offer more assurance than anything else. It's not that I am a religious man; I am not. I had asked the nursing home staff to try to bring over a clergyman to give him some assurances.

Psalm 23, of course, and Psalm 33... the latter a psalm that Johann Sebastian Bach set as a delightful motet (but in German and not in English as in the King James Version).

Nut today I can almost cite Schopenhauer on how I feel: Obit anus, obit onus.  It has been that hard.

I'm sorry, PRB.

It has been six years since my mother died, and I still pick up the phone to call her.

Wally.

[Odin]

(10-16-2016, 10:03 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: My father died this morning.

He had not been himself for half a year. He unwittingly messed up my life badly in most of that time. I made a point to see him last night, and I saw a look of terror that I had seen only on my mother as she approached death.

I took the dog (who had a right to know) along. Supposedly he could hear, and about the only thing I could think of was to read the Bible. If he could still hear, then that could offer more assurance than anything else. It's not that I am a religious man; I am not. I had asked the nursing home staff to try to bring over a clergyman to give him some assurances.

Psalm 23, of course, and Psalm 33... the latter a psalm that Johann Sebastian Bach set as a delightful motet (but in German and not in English as in the King James Version).

But today I can almost cite Schopenhauer on how I feel: Obit anus, obit onus.  It has been that hard.

I'm so sorry!

[Marypoza]

(10-16-2016, 10:03 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: My father died this morning.

He had not been himself for half a year. He unwittingly messed up my life badly in most of that time. I made a point to see him last night, and I saw a look of terror that I had seen only on my mother as she approached death.

I took the dog (who had a right to know) along. Supposedly he could hear, and about the only thing I could think of was to read the Bible. If he could still hear, then that could offer more assurance than anything else. It's not that I am a religious man; I am not. I had asked the nursing home staff to try to bring over a clergyman to give him some assurances.

Psalm 23, of course, and Psalm 33... the latter a psalm that Johann Sebastian Bach set as a delightful motet (but in German and not in English as in the King James Version).

But today I can almost cite Schopenhauer on how I feel: Obit anus, obit onus.  It has been that hard.

---- I am so sorry for your loss

[gabrielle]

(10-16-2016, 10:03 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: My father died this morning.

He had not been himself for half a year. He unwittingly messed up my life badly in most of that time. I made a point to see him last night, and I saw a look of terror that I had seen only on my mother as she approached death.

I took the dog (who had a right to know) along. Supposedly he could hear, and about the only thing I could think of was to read the Bible. If he could still hear, then that could offer more assurance than anything else. It's not that I am a religious man; I am not. I had asked the nursing home staff to try to bring over a clergyman to give him some assurances.

Psalm 23, of course, and Psalm 33... the latter a psalm that Johann Sebastian Bach set as a delightful motet (but in German and not in English as in the King James Version).

But today I can almost cite Schopenhauer on how I feel: Obit anus, obit onus.  It has been that hard.

Sorry for your loss.

[pbrower2a]

Ken Saru-Wiwa, Jr.

Wiwa was born in Lagos, the eldest son of Nigerian human rights activist and author Ken Saro-Wiwa.[2] He was educated in Nigeria and at Stancliffe Hall School and Tonbridge School in England, and then at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, now part of University College, London. He was editor of the United Kingdom's Guardian′s periodical New Media Lab, where he developed content for the paper's online edition.


Wiwa relocated to Canada in 1999, where he was a writer-in-residence at Massey College in the University of Toronto, Saul Rae Fellow at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto,[2] a mentor at the Trudeau Foundation[2] in Canada and a columnist for The Globe and Mail,[2] where he was twice nominated for National Newspaper Awards for feature writing.[3]

Wiwa addressed the European Union, Oxford Union and spoken at a number of colleges and universities, including Harvard University, McGill University and the University of Cambridge. He served as a conference rapporteur at a UN meeting on cultural diversity. A regular commentator on major news channels including CNN, BBC, Al-Jazeera, he appeared as a guest on Hard Talk and Newsnight.

In 2005 he was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader.[2] He was the founding curator of the Abuja Hub for the Globalshapers Programme of the World Economic Forum and has also served on the Africa Advisory Council of the Prince of Wales Rainforest Project.[4] He has wrote for The Guardian in the UK,[2][4] and the Washington Post, The New York Times and National Geographic, in the United States'. He served as an editor-at-large for Arise Magazine and contributed occasional columns for magazines, newspapers and blogs.

Wiwa produced and narrated television and radio documentaries for the BBC and CBC,[2][4] and wrote commentaries for National Public Radio. His memoir of his father, In the Shadow of a Saint, won the 2002 Hurston-Wright Nonfiction Award.[4]
Special Assistant

In 2005 he returned to Nigeria, and the following year former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Wiwa as his special assistant on peace, conflict resolution and reconciliation. He served President Umaru Yar'Adua as special assistant on international affairs.


Wiwa died in London on 18 October 2016,[5] aged 47, after suffering a stroke.[6]

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

[The Wonkette]

(10-16-2016, 10:03 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: My father died this morning.

He had not been himself for half a year. He unwittingly messed up my life badly in most of that time. I made a point to see him last night, and I saw a look of terror that I had seen only on my mother as she approached death.

I took the dog (who had a right to know) along. Supposedly he could hear, and about the only thing I could think of was to read the Bible. If he could still hear, then that could offer more assurance than anything else. It's not that I am a religious man; I am not. I had asked the nursing home staff to try to bring over a clergyman to give him some assurances.

Psalm 23, of course, and Psalm 33... the latter a psalm that Johann Sebastian Bach set as a delightful motet (but in German and not in English as in the King James Version).

But today I can almost cite Schopenhauer on how I feel: Obit anus, obit onus.  It has been that hard.

Like the other posters here, I am so sorry. May you find healing in this difficult time.

[pbrower2a]

Tom Hayden, 2T radical

(Reuters) - Veteran social activist and politician Tom Hayden, a stalwart of America’s New Left who served 18 years in California’s state legislature and gained a dash of Hollywood glamour by marrying actress Jane Fonda, has died aged 76, according to media reports.
Hayden died in Santa Monica, California, after a lengthy illness, The Los Angeles Times reported on its web site.
“A political giant and dear friend has passed,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti wrote on Twitter, adding “Tom Hayden fought harder for what he believed than just about anyone I have known.”


Hayden, who forged his political activism as a founding member of Students for a Democratic Society, which stood at the core of the 1960s anti-war and civil rights movements, was principal author of the group’s revolutionary manifesto, the Port Huron Statement.
The University of Michigan student ventured into the Deep South, where he joined voter registration campaigns and was arrested and beaten while taking part in the “freedom rider” protests against racial segregation.

Hayden, however, became perhaps best known as one of the “Chicago Eight” activists tried on conspiracy and incitement charges following protests at the turbulent 1968 Democratic National Convention. He was ultimately acquitted of all charges.
A New York Times book review of his 1988 memoir, “Reunion,” one of more than 20 books published under his name, called Hayden “the single greatest figure of the 1960s student movement.”

Outliving contemporaries Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Eldridge Cleaver and Huey Newton, Hayden remained active in left-wing politics well into the 21st century, posting on Twitter just a week ago. Winning election himself to the California state Assembly in 1982, and then the state Senate a decade later, Hayden went on to serve a total of 18 years.

Later he became director of the Peace and Justice Resource Center, a nonprofit left-wing think tank devoted mainly to analysis of continued U.S. military involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, drug policy and global poverty.

Hayden was married to actress Jane Fonda from 1973 to 1990, with whom he had two children. Midway through their marriage, the couple graced the cover of People Magazine.


In later years his writings were published in national publications including The New York Times, the Boston Globe and the Denver Post. He served on the editorial board and was a columnist for The Nation magazine, and was the author of more than 20 books.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tom-...bc?section=

[Odin]

One of the best of the War Babies. May he RIP.

[Eric the Green]

My leader. Sorry to hear this. Best wishes on the other side Tom.

[gabrielle]

Jack Chick Passes Away

Quote:Cartoonist Jack Chick has passed away at the age of 92, according to a Facebook post made by Chick Publications.

Chick was known for his small comic strip booklets, called "Chick tracts," that warned of social dangers through the lens of Chick's fundamentalist Christian beliefs.

Chick tracts warned of the dangers of everything from rock music, to Freemasonry, to Catholicism, Judaism, and Islam. One of Chick's most famous works, "Dark Dungeons," which espoused Chick's belief that roleplaying games such as Dungeons & Dragons were tools of Satanism, was adapted into an independent short film in 2014.

Chick Publications estimates that it has printed over 800 million copies of its well known tracts. 

RIP Jack Chick--Here's his top 5 most homophobic tracts

[gabrielle]

(10-24-2016, 03:04 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: RIP Pete Burns:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...ed-57.html

"Singer Pete Burns has died aged 57, his manager has confirmed. 

"In a statement on Twitter, his manager said: 'It is with the greatest sadness that we have to break the tragic news that our beloved Pete Burns of (Dead Or Alive) died suddenly yesterday of a massive cardiac arrest.' "

====================

I'll always remember him the way he looked back in the mid 80s.

Cosmetic surgery was the demon which ultimately did him in.

Sad to hear.

[pbrower2a]

(10-25-2016, 10:36 AM)X_4AD_84 Wrote:

(10-24-2016, 11:37 PM)gabrielle Wrote: Jack Chick Passes Away

Quote:Cartoonist Jack Chick has passed away at the age of 92, according to a Facebook post made by Chick Publications.

Chick was known for his small comic strip booklets, called "Chick tracts," that warned of social dangers through the lens of Chick's fundamentalist Christian beliefs.

Chick tracts warned of the dangers of everything from rock music, to Freemasonry, to Catholicism, Judaism, and Islam. One of Chick's most famous works, "Dark Dungeons," which espoused Chick's belief that roleplaying games such as Dungeons & Dragons were tools of Satanism, was adapted into an independent short film in 2014.

Chick Publications estimates that it has printed over 800 million copies of its well known tracts. 

 



RIP Jack Chick--Here's his top 5 most homophobic tracts

D&D ... oh my! I can see it now ... Satanic Demon Geeks taking over the world!

What a dreadful, petty, intolerant man!

Man is powerless against the occult and against religion other than fundamentalist Protestantism unless he accepts the narrow bigotry of Jack Chick. If you do not live in the abject fear of the LORD as such as Jack Chick understands it, which is the cloying fear appropriate for living under a tyrant like Josef Stalin, then one is doomed to the worst Gulag ever known -- Hell.

It's all the argument to fear, one of the most obnoxious fallacies to have ever existed.


The god who dangles us over a vat of sulfuric acid deserves rebellion -- not faith. Such a god is no better than a crime lord.

May the LORD have mercy upon this sick soul.

[pbrower2a]

Robert Anderson "Bob" Hoover (January 24, 1922 – October 25, 2016) was an air show pilot, United States Air Force test pilot and fighter pilot.[1] Known as the "pilot's pilot", Hoover revolutionized modern aerobatic flying and was referred to in many aviation circles as one of the greatest pilots ever to have lived.[2][3][4]




Bob Hoover 2005 Gathering of Eagles Lithograph

Hoover learned to fly at Nashville's Berry Field while working at a local grocery store to pay for the flight training.[5] He enlisted in the Tennessee National Guard and was sent for pilot training with the Army.[6]

During World War II, Hoover was sent to Casablanca, where his first major assignment was flight testing the assembled aircraft ready for service.[7] He was later assigned to the Spitfire-equipped 52d Fighter Group in Sicily.[8] On February 9, 1944, on his 59th mission, his malfunctioning Mark V Spitfire was shot down by 96-victory ace Ltn Siegfried Lemke of JG 2[9] in a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 off the coast of Southern France, and he was taken prisoner.[10] He spent 16 months at the German prison camp Stalag Luft 1 in Barth, Germany.[11]
After a staged fight covered his escape from the prison camp, Hoover managed to steal a Fw 190 from a recovery unit's unguarded field (the one flyable plane being kept there for spare parts) and flew to safety in the Netherlands.[12] He was assigned to flight-test duty at Wright Field after the war. There he impressed and befriended Chuck Yeager.[13] When Yeager was later asked whom he wanted for flight crew for the supersonic Bell X-1 flight, he named Hoover. Hoover became Yeager's backup pilot in the Bell X-1 program and flew chase for Yeager in a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star during the Mach 1 flight.[14] He also flew chase for the 50th anniversary of the Mach 1 flight in a General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon.[15]

Hoover left the Air Force for civilian jobs in 1948.[16] After a brief time with Allison Engine Company, he worked as a test/demonstration pilot with North American Aviation, in which capacity he went to Korea to teach pilots in the Korean War how to dive-bomb with the F-86 Sabre. During his six weeks in Korea, Hoover flew many combat bombing missions over enemy territory but was denied permission to engage in air-to-air combat flights.[17] During the 1950s, Hoover visited many active-duty, reserve and Air National Guard units to demonstrate planes' capabilities to their pilots. Hoover flew flight tests on the FJ-1 Fury, F-86 Sabre, and the F-100 Super Sabre.

In the early 1960s, Hoover began flying the North American P-51 Mustang at air shows around the country. The Hoover Mustang (N2251D) was purchased by North American Aviation from Dave Lindsay's Cavalier Aircraft Corp. in 1962. A second Mustang (N51RH), later named "Ole Yeller", was purchased by North American Rockwell from Cavalier in 1971 to replace the earlier aircraft, which had been destroyed in a ground accident when an oxygen bottle exploded after being overfilled. Hoover demonstrated the Mustang and later the Aero Commander at hundreds of air shows until his retirement in the 1990s. In 1997, Hoover sold "Ole Yeller" to his good friend John Bagley of Rexburg, Idaho. "Ole Yeller" still flies frequently and is based at the Legacy Flight Museum[18] in Rexburg.
Hoover set records for transcontinental and time-to-climb speed,[19] and personally knew such great aviators as Orville Wright, Eddie Rickenbacker, Charles Lindbergh, Jimmy Doolittle, Chuck Yeager, Jacqueline Cochran, Neil Armstrong and Yuri Gagarin.[20]

Hoover was best known for his civil air show career, which started when he was hired to demonstrate the capabilities of Aero Commander's Shrike Commander, a twin piston-engined business aircraft that had developed a rather staid reputation due to its bulky shape. Hoover showed the strength of the plane as he put the aircraft through rolls, loops and other maneuvers, which most people would not associate with executive aircraft. As a grand finale, he shut down both engines and executed a loop and an eight-point hesitation slow roll as he headed back to the runway. He touched down on one tire, then the other, before landing. After pulling off the runway, he would start engines to taxi back to the parking area. On airfields with large enough parking ramps (such as the Reno Stead Airport, where the Reno Air Races take place), Hoover would sometimes land directly on the ramp and coast all the way back to his parking spot in front of the grandstand without restarting the engines.



"Ole Yeller," flown by John Bagley at an air show in Rexburg, Idaho.

His air show aerobatics career ended over medical concerns, when Hoover's medical certificate was revoked by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the early 1990s.[21][22]

Shortly before his revocation, Hoover experienced serious engine problems in a North American T-28 Trojan off the coast of California. During his return to Torrance, he was able to keep the engine running intermittently by constantly manipulating the throttle, mixture and propeller lever. The engine seized at the moment of touchdown. Hoover believed his successful management of this difficult emergency should have convinced the FAA that he hadn't lost any ability.[23] Meanwhile, Hoover was granted a pilot's license, and medical certificate, by Australia's aviation authorities.[24] Hoover's medical certificate was restored shortly afterward and he returned to the American air show circuit for several years before retiring in 1999. The 77-year old Hoover still felt capable of performing and had recently passed a rigorous FAA physical, but he was unable to obtain insurance for air shows. Although he had had free insurance for several years as part of air show sponsorship deals, he was forced in 1999 to pay for it out of his own pocket and could not get coverage under $2 million. His final show was Sun'N'Fun 2000 in Lakeland, Florida, where he did not perform any aerobatics.[22]




Bob Hoover's Shrike Commander at the Udvar-Hazy Center

Following Hoover's retirement, his Shrike Commander was placed on display at the National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, in Dulles, Virginia.[25]


Hoover was considered one of the founding fathers of modern aerobatics and was described by Jimmy Doolittle as "the greatest stick-and-rudder man who ever lived".[26] In the Centennial of Flight edition of Air & Space/Smithsonian, he was named the third greatest aviator in history.

During his career, Hoover was awarded the following military medals: the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Soldier's Medal for non-combat valor, the Air Medal with several oak leaf clusters, the Purple Heart and the French Croix de Guerre.[27] He was also made an honorary member of the Blue Angels, the Thunderbirds, the RCAF Snowbirds, the American Fighter Aces Association, and the original Eagle Squadron and received an Award of Merit from the American Fighter Pilots Association.[27] He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Famein 1988 and to the Aerospace Walk of Honor in 1992.[28]
Hoover received the Living Legends of Aviation Freedom of Flight Award in 2006, which was renamed the Bob Hoover Freedom of Flight Award the following year. In 2007, he received the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Trophy.[26][29]
On May 18, 2010, Hoover delivered the 2010 Charles A. Lindbergh Memorial Lecture at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School conferred an honorary doctorate on Hoover at the school's December 2010 graduation ceremony.[30] Flying magazine placed Hoover number 10 on its list of "The 51 Heroes of Aviation" in 2013.[2]

On December 12, 2014, at the Aero Club of Washington's 67th annual Wright Memorial Dinner, Hoover was awarded the National Aeronautic Association's Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy.

Flying The Feathered Edge: The Bob Hoover Project

Hoover's decades of fantastic flying formed the framework for the 2014 documentary film, Flying The Feathered Edge: The Bob Hoover Project, in which Hoover's likeable personality was the star. Hoover received a standing ovation from the crowd of about 100 at the invitation-only preview during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, July 2014.[31]

Harrison Ford and aerobatic legend Sean D. Tucker frame the documentary about the beloved aviation pioneer.[32] The film begins with a tribute to Bob's flying skills by Neil Armstrong, and it stars Harrison Ford, Burt Rutan, Dick Rutan, Carroll Shelby, Gene Cernan, Medal of Honor Recipient Col. George E. Bud Day, Clay Lacy and Sean D. Tucker, among others.[33]

Flying the Feathered Edge is a highly researched three-year project.[34] The film tells Hoover's story from his first flying lessons before World War II to his combat and postwar careers as a test pilot and air show legend.[33] Aviation Week reporter Fred George's review stated, "After 90 minutes there were few dry eyes in the house as the credits rolled at the end of the documentary ... in 'Aviation Week''s opinion, a film well worth our reader's viewing time when it appears in nearby theaters."[35]The film premiered August 2014 at the Rhode Island International Film Festival at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium (Providence) in Providence, Rhode Island,[33] winning the "Grand Prize, Soldiers and Sacrifice Award."[36] The film received the Combs/Gates Award from the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2015 [37] for excellence in preserving aerospace history.

A perhaps-undesired recognition for the late pilot is the "Hoover Nozzle" used on jet fuel pumps. The Hoover Nozzle is designed with a flattened bell shape. The Hoover Nozzle cannot be inserted in the filler neck of a plane with the "Hoover Ring" installed, thus preventing the tank from accidentally being filled with jet fuel.

This system was given this name following an accident in which Hoover was seriously injured, when both engines on his Shrike Commander failed during takeoff. Investigators found that the plane had just been fueled by line personnel who mistook the piston-engine Shrike for a similar turboprop model, filling the tanks with jet fuel instead of avgas (aviation gasoline).[38] There was enough avgas in the fuel system to taxi to the runway and take off, but then the jet fuel was drawn into the engines, causing them to stop.


Once Hoover recovered, he widely promoted[39] the use of the new type of nozzle with the support and funding of the National Air Transportation Association, General Aviation Manufacturers Association and various other aviation groups (the nozzle is now required by Federal regulation on jet fuel pumps).[40][41]

[pbrower2a]

The songwriter of "The Green, Green Grass of Home"

Claude "Curly" Putman, Jr. (November 20, 1930 – October 30, 2016) was an American songwriter, based in Nashville. Born in Princeton, Jackson County, Alabama, his biggest success was "Green, Green Grass of Home"



...A man returns to his childhood home; it seems that this is his first visit home since leaving in his youth. When he steps down from the train, his parents are there to greet him, and his beloved, Mary, comes running to join them. All is welcome and peace; all come to meet him with "arms reaching, smiling sweetly." With Mary the man strolls at ease among the monuments of his childhood, including "the old oak tree that I used to play on." It is "good to touch the green, green grass of home." Yet the music and the words are full of foreshadowing, strongly suggestive of mourning.

Abruptly, the man switches from song to speech as he awakens in prison: "Then I awake and look around me, at four grey walls that surround me. And I realize that I was only dreaming." He is, indeed, on death row. As the singing resumes, we learn that the man is waking on the day of his scheduled execution[3] ("there's a guard, and there's a sad old padre, arm in arm, we'll walk at daybreak"), and he will return home only to be buried: "Yes, they'll all come to see me in the shade of that old oak tree, as they lay me 'neath the green, green grass of home."

The Joan Baez version ends: "Yes, we'll all be together in the shade of the old oak tree / When we meet beneath the green, green grass of home."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green,_Gre...ss_of_Home

[Bad Dog]

(10-27-2016, 01:46 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Robert Anderson "Bob" Hoover (January 24, 1922 – October 25, 2016) was an air show pilot, United States Air Force test pilot and fighter pilot.[1] Known as the "pilot's pilot", Hoover revolutionized modern aerobatic flying and was referred to in many aviation circles as one of the greatest pilots ever to have lived.[2][3][4]




Bob Hoover 2005 Gathering of Eagles Lithograph

Hoover learned to fly at Nashville's Berry Field while working at a local grocery store to pay for the flight training.[5] He enlisted in the Tennessee National Guard and was sent for pilot training with the Army.[6]

During World War II, Hoover was sent to Casablanca, where his first major assignment was flight testing the assembled aircraft ready for service.[7] He was later assigned to the Spitfire-equipped 52d Fighter Group in Sicily.[8] On February 9, 1944, on his 59th mission, his malfunctioning Mark V Spitfire was shot down by 96-victory ace Ltn Siegfried Lemke of JG 2[9] in a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 off the coast of Southern France, and he was taken prisoner.[10] He spent 16 months at the German prison camp Stalag Luft 1 in Barth, Germany.[11]
After a staged fight covered his escape from the prison camp, Hoover managed to steal a Fw 190 from a recovery unit's unguarded field (the one flyable plane being kept there for spare parts) and flew to safety in the Netherlands.[12] He was assigned to flight-test duty at Wright Field after the war. There he impressed and befriended Chuck Yeager.[13] When Yeager was later asked whom he wanted for flight crew for the supersonic Bell X-1 flight, he named Hoover. Hoover became Yeager's backup pilot in the Bell X-1 program and flew chase for Yeager in a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star during the Mach 1 flight.[14] He also flew chase for the 50th anniversary of the Mach 1 flight in a General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon.[15]

Hoover left the Air Force for civilian jobs in 1948.[16] After a brief time with Allison Engine Company, he worked as a test/demonstration pilot with North American Aviation, in which capacity he went to Korea to teach pilots in the Korean War how to dive-bomb with the F-86 Sabre. During his six weeks in Korea, Hoover flew many combat bombing missions over enemy territory but was denied permission to engage in air-to-air combat flights.[17] During the 1950s, Hoover visited many active-duty, reserve and Air National Guard units to demonstrate planes' capabilities to their pilots. Hoover flew flight tests on the FJ-1 Fury, F-86 Sabre, and the F-100 Super Sabre.

In the early 1960s, Hoover began flying the North American P-51 Mustang at air shows around the country. The Hoover Mustang (N2251D) was purchased by North American Aviation from Dave Lindsay's Cavalier Aircraft Corp. in 1962. A second Mustang (N51RH), later named "Ole Yeller", was purchased by North American Rockwell from Cavalier in 1971 to replace the earlier aircraft, which had been destroyed in a ground accident when an oxygen bottle exploded after being overfilled. Hoover demonstrated the Mustang and later the Aero Commander at hundreds of air shows until his retirement in the 1990s. In 1997, Hoover sold "Ole Yeller" to his good friend John Bagley of Rexburg, Idaho. "Ole Yeller" still flies frequently and is based at the Legacy Flight Museum[18] in Rexburg.
Hoover set records for transcontinental and time-to-climb speed,[19] and personally knew such great aviators as Orville Wright, Eddie Rickenbacker, Charles Lindbergh, Jimmy Doolittle, Chuck Yeager, Jacqueline Cochran, Neil Armstrong and Yuri Gagarin.[20]

Hoover was best known for his civil air show career, which started when he was hired to demonstrate the capabilities of Aero Commander's Shrike Commander, a twin piston-engined business aircraft that had developed a rather staid reputation due to its bulky shape. Hoover showed the strength of the plane as he put the aircraft through rolls, loops and other maneuvers, which most people would not associate with executive aircraft. As a grand finale, he shut down both engines and executed a loop and an eight-point hesitation slow roll as he headed back to the runway. He touched down on one tire, then the other, before landing. After pulling off the runway, he would start engines to taxi back to the parking area. On airfields with large enough parking ramps (such as the Reno Stead Airport, where the Reno Air Races take place), Hoover would sometimes land directly on the ramp and coast all the way back to his parking spot in front of the grandstand without restarting the engines.



"Ole Yeller," flown by John Bagley at an air show in Rexburg, Idaho.

His air show aerobatics career ended over medical concerns, when Hoover's medical certificate was revoked by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the early 1990s.[21][22]

Shortly before his revocation, Hoover experienced serious engine problems in a North American T-28 Trojan off the coast of California. During his return to Torrance, he was able to keep the engine running intermittently by constantly manipulating the throttle, mixture and propeller lever. The engine seized at the moment of touchdown. Hoover believed his successful management of this difficult emergency should have convinced the FAA that he hadn't lost any ability.[23] Meanwhile, Hoover was granted a pilot's license, and medical certificate, by Australia's aviation authorities.[24] Hoover's medical certificate was restored shortly afterward and he returned to the American air show circuit for several years before retiring in 1999. The 77-year old Hoover still felt capable of performing and had recently passed a rigorous FAA physical, but he was unable to obtain insurance for air shows. Although he had had free insurance for several years as part of air show sponsorship deals, he was forced in 1999 to pay for it out of his own pocket and could not get coverage under $2 million. His final show was Sun'N'Fun 2000 in Lakeland, Florida, where he did not perform any aerobatics.[22]




Bob Hoover's Shrike Commander at the Udvar-Hazy Center

Following Hoover's retirement, his Shrike Commander was placed on display at the National Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, in Dulles, Virginia.[25]


Hoover was considered one of the founding fathers of modern aerobatics and was described by Jimmy Doolittle as "the greatest stick-and-rudder man who ever lived".[26] In the Centennial of Flight edition of Air & Space/Smithsonian, he was named the third greatest aviator in history.

During his career, Hoover was awarded the following military medals: the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Soldier's Medal for non-combat valor, the Air Medal with several oak leaf clusters, the Purple Heart and the French Croix de Guerre.[27] He was also made an honorary member of the Blue Angels, the Thunderbirds, the RCAF Snowbirds, the American Fighter Aces Association, and the original Eagle Squadron and received an Award of Merit from the American Fighter Pilots Association.[27] He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Famein 1988 and to the Aerospace Walk of Honor in 1992.[28]
Hoover received the Living Legends of Aviation Freedom of Flight Award in 2006, which was renamed the Bob Hoover Freedom of Flight Award the following year. In 2007, he received the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Trophy.[26][29]
On May 18, 2010, Hoover delivered the 2010 Charles A. Lindbergh Memorial Lecture at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School conferred an honorary doctorate on Hoover at the school's December 2010 graduation ceremony.[30] Flying magazine placed Hoover number 10 on its list of "The 51 Heroes of Aviation" in 2013.[2]

On December 12, 2014, at the Aero Club of Washington's 67th annual Wright Memorial Dinner, Hoover was awarded the National Aeronautic Association's Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy.

Flying The Feathered Edge: The Bob Hoover Project

Hoover's decades of fantastic flying formed the framework for the 2014 documentary film, Flying The Feathered Edge: The Bob Hoover Project, in which Hoover's likeable personality was the star. Hoover received a standing ovation from the crowd of about 100 at the invitation-only preview during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, July 2014.[31]

Harrison Ford and aerobatic legend Sean D. Tucker frame the documentary about the beloved aviation pioneer.[32] The film begins with a tribute to Bob's flying skills by Neil Armstrong, and it stars Harrison Ford, Burt Rutan, Dick Rutan, Carroll Shelby, Gene Cernan, Medal of Honor Recipient Col. George E. Bud Day, Clay Lacy and Sean D. Tucker, among others.[33]

Flying the Feathered Edge is a highly researched three-year project.[34] The film tells Hoover's story from his first flying lessons before World War II to his combat and postwar careers as a test pilot and air show legend.[33] Aviation Week reporter Fred George's review stated, "After 90 minutes there were few dry eyes in the house as the credits rolled at the end of the documentary ... in 'Aviation Week''s opinion, a film well worth our reader's viewing time when it appears in nearby theaters."[35]The film premiered August 2014 at the Rhode Island International Film Festival at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium (Providence) in Providence, Rhode Island,[33] winning the "Grand Prize, Soldiers and Sacrifice Award."[36] The film received the Combs/Gates Award from the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2015 [37] for excellence in preserving aerospace history.

A perhaps-undesired recognition for the late pilot is the "Hoover Nozzle" used on jet fuel pumps. The Hoover Nozzle is designed with a flattened bell shape. The Hoover Nozzle cannot be inserted in the filler neck of a plane with the "Hoover Ring" installed, thus preventing the tank from accidentally being filled with jet fuel.

This system was given this name following an accident in which Hoover was seriously injured, when both engines on his Shrike Commander failed during takeoff. Investigators found that the plane had just been fueled by line personnel who mistook the piston-engine Shrike for a similar turboprop model, filling the tanks with jet fuel instead of avgas (aviation gasoline).[38] There was enough avgas in the fuel system to taxi to the runway and take off, but then the jet fuel was drawn into the engines, causing them to stop.


Once Hoover recovered, he widely promoted[39] the use of the new type of nozzle with the support and funding of the National Air Transportation Association, General Aviation Manufacturers Association and various other aviation groups (the nozzle is now required by Federal regulation on jet fuel pumps).[40][41]

There will never be another one. I watched his demonstrations with the Shrike Commander, in pure awe.

[pbrower2a]

(CNN)Janet Reno, former US attorney general under President Bill Clinton, died Monday morning following a long battle with Parkinson's disease, her sister Maggy Hurchalla said. She was 78.

Reno, the nation's first-ever female attorney general, served in the Clinton White House from 1993 to 2001.


From Miami to Washington D.C.

Born in 1938, Reno grew up in Miami, Florida, with parents who both worked as reporters for Miami newspapers. After attending Cornell University for her undergraduate degree, Reno enrolled at Harvard University for law school in the early 1960s. During her first year, she heard one of her heroes, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, speak at the Sanders Theater.

"She was so wonderful and her voice was still so clear and so magnificent," Reno later recalled in a 1993 speech to the Women's Bar Association. "And I went up to her afterwards, and I said, "Mrs. Roosevelt, I think you are perfectly wonderful." And I will never forget her looking at me and saying, 'Why, thank you, my dear. Those words mean so much to me.' And she seemed to mean it."

Caught in the middle of Clinton-era scandals

When Clinton's administration was rocked by the Whitewater scandal, Reno was the person tasked with appointing special prosecutor Robert Fiske to lead the probe in 1994.

The Clintons were never charged with criminal wrongdoing.

In Clinton's second term -- months before his impeachment -- the Republican-controlled House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform voted to cite Reno for contempt of Congress for failing to hand over key memos.
Reno eventually provided those documents. Congress never moved forward with a vote on the matter.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/07/politics/j...um=twitter

[pbrower2a]

Zoltán Kocsis (Hungarian: [ˈzoltaːn ˈkot͡ʃiʃ]; 30 May 1952 – 6 November 2016) was a Hungarian virtuoso pianist, conductor, and composer.


Born in Budapest, he began his musical studies at the age of five and continued them at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in 1963, studying piano and composition.[1] In 1968 he was admitted to the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he was a pupil of Pál Kadosa, Ferenc Rados and György Kurtág, graduating in 1973.

He won the Hungarian Radio Beethoven Competition in 1970, and made his first concert tour of the United States in the following year.[2] He received the Liszt Prize in 1973, and the Kossuth Prize in 1978.[2]

Considered as a great pianist[3], Kocsis performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Philharmonia of London, and the Vienna Philharmonic.


He recorded the complete solo piano works and works with piano and orchestra of Béla Bartók.[4] In 1990, his recording of Debussy's Images[5] won "The Gramophone" Instrumental Award for that year. He won another in 2013 in the chamber category with Bartók works. American critic Harold C. Schonberg praised Kocsis' technique and piano tone.[6]

Kocsis co-founded the Budapest Festival Orchestra in 1983.[2] He was the musical director of the Hungarian National Philharmonic. Kocsis died on 6 November 2016, aged 64.[7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolt%C3%A1n_Kocsis