Joan M. LinneInterior Designer



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Joan Margaret Shackelford Linne, 74, an interior designer in the furniture department at Woodward & Lothrop for 30 years, died April 8 at her daughter's home in Centreville. She had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

Mrs. Linne was a professional model for about seven years in her youth, having graduated from a local modeling school. She was named the 1949 May Day Queen at Stafford High School, and in 1952, she was a princess in the Cherry Blossom festival.



She also graduated from a local interior design institute and began working at the department story in 1962, retiring in 1992.

Her husband of 52 years, William Arthur Linne, died in 2006.

Survivors include three children, LuLynne Linne of Centreville, Tara Marie Mahootian of Shepherdstown, W.Va., and William Linne of Falls Church; and five grandchildren.

Nancy Inez Pawlik


NANCY INEZ RAPP PAWLIK OAKHURST, Calif. - Nancy Inez Rapp Pawlik passed away Monday, April 2, 2007, after a long and painful battle with Lou Gehrig's disease. God saw fit to take his daughter Nancy home to heaven. Born June 11, 1946, the daughter of Dan and Edna (Rittmeyer) Rapp. She was a graduate of Durand High School. Nancy was such a gift and talent to all. Whether it was in her career as an aero-tech office manger, raising and sacrificing for her three children, being a great neighbor, devoting herself to her husband, helping in community efforts, being a loving sister to her blood brothers and sisters or serving her Lord in church. We all shall miss her beautiful face, smile, laughter, genius, kindred spirit and the grace of being in her presence. Her truest desire was that each and every one of us will be reunited in the eternal joy and glory of God's kingdom. Her favorite bible verse was and still is John 11:25, "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." Nancy is survived by her husband and caretaker, John; her children, Guy, Troy and Amy, with their respective families; five grandchildren; her brothers and sisters, Gary (Connie) Rapp, Dennis (Sue) Rapp, Bobbi "Roberta" (Jim) Montgomery, Doris (Bob) Akin and their respective families. Preceded in death by both parents; and her sister, Judy Dorney. A private funeral was April 7, 2007. Memorial service will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 28, in Sierra Vista Presbyterian Church, 39696 Highway 41, Oakhurst, CA 93644. It was Nancy's request that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to your local A.L.S Association on her behalf and others with this disease. For more information call 559-683-6742.

Claudia R. Long


Claudia R. Long, 78, of Chillicothe, went to be with the Lord at 4:35 p.m. Monday, April 23, 2007, in Adena Regional Medical Center following an extended battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease).

Funeral services will be held 2:00 p.m. Friday, April 27, at the Glorious Church of God, 123 W. Main St., with Bishop Melvin Maughmer officiating. Burial will follow in Greenlawn Cemetery. Friends may call Thursday from 6-8 p.m. at Haller Funeral Home.



She was born April 27, 1928, in Dayton, OH to the late Rev. William and Mary (Luckadoo) Cotton.

Surviving are her son and daughter-in-law Bruce E. (Lanita) Bunch, Columbus; daughter Mary F. Hill, Conyers, GA; grandchildren: Abdu Bunch, Jehan Bunch, Jamila Bunch, Maren (Anthony) Pope, and Matthew Hill; and a great-grandchild Israel Pope.
Mrs. Long was a member of the Glorious Church of God and retired from the former Wear-Ever Aluminum.

Her online guestbook is available at www.HallerFuneralHome.com




Originally published April 25, 2007

Michael Lawrence Knotts
Published: April 26. 2007 5:00AM PST
Feb. 9, 1950 - April 20, 2007

Michael Lawrence Knotts, of Cottage Grove, died Friday of Lou Gehrig's disease. He was 57.

A funeral service will be held at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Smith-Lunds-Mills Chapel in Cottage Grove.

Mr. Knotts was born Feb. 9, 1950, in Doniphan, Mo., to Everett and Hester (Forsyth) Knotts. He married Lynda Knotts in 1994.

Mr. Knotts served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1968 to 1972 in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. He worked as a heavy-equipment operator, retiring in 2006. He also was an artist.

He was a member of the Bend Church of Christ and the Church of Christ in Eugene. He enjoyed biking, bow hunting and basketball. He previously had lived in Gilchrist.

Survivors include his wife; four daughters, Anna Evans, Sarah Welden, Diane Vaught and Joanne Franklin; a brother, Hershal; a sister, Pam Blackwood; and six grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Sacred Heart in Eugene or Church of Christ in Eugene.

Smith-Lund-Mills Funeral Chapel in Cottage Grove is in charge of arrangements.

Veteran newsman Keith Bradbury succumbs to Lou Gehrig's disease

2007-04-27 22:02:00






VANCOUVER (CP) - Keith Bradbury, a former lawyer and then longtime newsman at BCTV, died Friday morning at his home on the Sunshine Coast north of Vancouver.

He was considered one of the mainstays at BCTV, which is now known as Global TV, and was one of the reasons the station grew from third place in B.C. to one of the most watched stations in the country.

In a report aired Friday, Global TV reviewed his career and aired tributes from many of the people who worked with him.

He earned a bachelor's degree at the University of B.C. and then went to study law. He practised law for a time before the journalism bug caught him.

"Keith was responsible, virtually every day for determining the nature and direction of most of the editorial flow," former BCTV news boss Cameron Bell said in the Global TV report.

In his student days, he was once editor of the UBC newspaper, The Ubyssey, which was chosen the best student newsaper in Canada that year.

He and Bell believed in letting pictures tell the story and together they and their reporters broke many stories over the years.

He died of ALS - Lou Gehrig's disease.

He was named a lifetime achievement award winner in 2004 by the Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada.

In 1999, Bradbury and former BCTV News boss Cameron Bell were jointly awarded the Bruce Hutchison Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jack Webster Foundation.

EMS pioneer Marilyn Crook dies
By Gerald Ensley


Marilyn Crook, a Tallahassee paramedic who became the first female director of an ambulance service in the nation, has died.

Crook, 78, died Monday in Raleigh, N.C., from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a degenerative neurological condition known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Crook had spent most of her life in Tallahassee before moving to Raleigh two years ago.


In 1972, Crook became one of the first 18 emergency medical technicians — and the only female EMT — hired by Tallahassee Memorial Hospital when it assumed control of the ambulance service. Until then, local funeral homes provided ambulance service.

Crook was believed to be the first paid, female EMT in the state. Three years later, TMH promoted her to director of the ambulance service — making her the first female emergency-medical-services director in the nation. She remained in that role until her retirement in 1987.

She oversaw TMH's growth to 60 EMTs and paramedics and 10 state-of-the-art ambulances. She also helped found the TMH Life Flight helicopter service in 1982.

TMH operated the ambulance service until December 2003, when Leon County government assumed control.

"Marilyn was a pioneer — and just a wonderful person," said Bobby Bailey, a retired director of the TMH's ambulance service who joined the department in 1975 under Crook. "She was very caring, very committed to the job we did. She did so many wonderful things for so many people and touched so many lives."

For more on this story, read Saturday's Tallahassee Democrat.

4 WILSON, Helen Mary - With heartbreaking sorrow the family . . .


(May 3, 2007) -- 4 WILSON, Helen Mary - With heartbreaking sorrow the family announces the passing at her residence, on Monday April 30, 2007. Helen M. (Smida) Wilson, in her 70th year, much loved wife and best friend of Tommy. Loving mother of Leanne and her husband Terry Gregory and Joey. Devoted grandmother of Matthew and Mark Gregory. Dear sister of Margaret and her husband Frank Shutsa and sister-in-law of Verne Contini (Joe), Diane Godfrey (late Ray), Carol Horner (Mike), Jill Pembleton (John), Ted Wilson (Patti) and the late Jack Wilson. Favourite aunt to many nieces and nephews. Helen will be missed by her friends from the University of Guelph and the infamous "S & B Club" and the girls of the Guelph Curling Club. Resting at the Gilbert MacIntyre and Son Funeral Home, DUBLIN CHAPEL, 252 Dublin Street North, Guelph, (Thursday 2-4 and 7-9 p.m.) Funeral on Friday morning, May 4, to St. Joseph's Church for Funeral Mass at 10 a.m. Interment Marymount Cemetery. Vigil for Helen on Thursday evening at 8:45 p.m. As expressions of sympathy, donations to A.L.S. (Lou Gehrig's Disease) or the charity of one's choice would be appreciated by the family (cards available at the funeral home 519-822-4731 or send condolences at www.gilbertmacintyreandson.com).

Earl H. Graffam, 79, a retired Navy captain who was chief of staff and commander of the Middle East Force, died April 10 at his home in Arlington. He had complications of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

Capt. Graffam was a native of Winnipeg, Alberta, and a graduate of Drake University in Iowa. He served as a White House military aide and a temporary aide to Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz early in his career.

He was the first executive officer of the destroyer McMorris and commanding officer of the minesweeper Persistent. After graduating from the Naval War College, he was an aide to the chief of naval personnel in Washington. He then was the first executive officer of the guided missile cruiser Fox and the first commanding officer of the frigate Schofield.

Capt. Graffam also studied at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and served in the office of the chief of naval operations. From 1972 to 1974, he was chief of staff and commander of the Middle East Force in Bahrain. He then returned to the United States as commanding officer of the Recruit Training Command in Orlando, a post from which he retired.


He was a member of Rock Spring Congregational Church in Arlington, the Arlington Kiwanis, the Military Officers Association of America, the American Bahraini Friendship Society and the Society of White House Military Aides.

Survivors include his wife of 47 years, Olive Blair Graffam of Arlington; a son, Earl H. Graffam Jr. of Fort Washington, Pa.; a sister; and a grandson.

Sherwood V. Cohen | Ophthalmologist, 71
Rev. Robert J. Conner Sherwood V. Cohen, 71, of Elkins Park, a retired ophthalmologist, died Wednesday of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) at home.
A native of Hudson, N.Y., Dr. Cohen earned a bachelor's degree from Columbia University and a medical degree from State University of New York in Syracuse. He interned at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and completed an ophthalmology residency at Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia.

He established a practice in Northeast Philadelphia in 1965, shortly before he was drafted during the Vietnam War. From 1966 to 1968, he served in Army hospitals in the States.

After his discharge he returned to his practice and treated generations of patients before retiring at the end of 1999. He was on the staffs of Graduate Hospital, Holy Redeemer Hospital, and Rolling Hill Hospital.

Dr. Cohen wrote medical columns for the Jewish Exponent and the Northeast Jewish Times. His letters to the editor appeared in the Exponent and in The Inquirer. He had strong opinions about certain subjects, including medical ethics and the Middle East, said his wife, Judith Silver Cohen.

He was a member of Beth Sholom Congregation in Elkins Park and conducted the summer services. He was an avid traveler and a longtime Philadelphia Orchestra subscriber.

In addition to his wife of 43 years, Dr. Cohen is survived by sons Stephen and David; two sisters; and two grandsons.

The funeral will be at 12:30 p.m. today at Goldsteins' Rosenberg's Raphael-Sacks Memorial Chapel, 310 S. Second Street Pike, Southampton. Burial will be in Roosevelt Memorial Park, Trevose.

Famed veterinarian leaves behind stories and memories

By MICHAEL BECKER Chronicle Staff Writer

John A. McIlhattan, veterinarian, horse driver, outdoorsman and author, died last week at his home in Bozeman. He was 61.


A fourth-generation resident of the Gallatin Valley, McIlhattan was the son of Alton and Katherine (Bohart) McIlhattan. Three decades ago, after veterinary school, he opened the well-known Valley View Veterinary Hospital.

In the last few years of his life, McIlhattan was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, which robbed the strength from his arms and took him away from many of the activities he loved.

Despite his weakness, he spent much of the past two years writing the stories of his life in longhand. McIlhattan self-published the stories in his book “Montana-Born Luck” earlier this year.

Nick Shrauger, chairman of the Draft Horse Teamster Hall of Fame, to which McIlhattan was inducted in 2006, said Friday that the book reveals the humor and warmth behind the doctor's quiet personality.

"He did such a service to us all by his book because it gives us a characterization of this warm and funny person," Shrauger said.

McIlhattan had a passion for draft horses and volunteered where he could. Gene Surber worked with McIlhattan on various 4-H programs and said McIlhattan loved teaching children about the animals.

"From a standpoint of helping out youth, John was there," Surber said. "He thought youth ought to have a nice start and there should be somebody there to help."

McIlhattan and his wife, Eileen Wallin, had one son, John.

At the veterinary hospital -- on McIlhattan Road -- farrier Larry Grantier said McIlhattan held on to traditional values.

"He was an old-fashioned kind of guy, where a handshake meant something," he said.

Grantier recalled the stories McIlhattan told, many of which are recorded in the book.

One tells how his father, while training dairymen in Cuba, barely escaped a violent revolution in the 1930s. Another tells the secrets of keeping buffalo happy -- McIlhattan raised buffalo on his farm since 1981.

"The way he tells it, you're laughing so hard," Grantier said. "You can picture every single moment."

Chris Nielsen, a family friend who helped care for McIlhattan in the last months of his life, said he always lived for the present, reveling in having too many irons in the fire.

Even after his ALS diagnosis, McIlhattan told her, "I feel more like myself than I did before."

Friends say reading the book is knowing the man.

"You read the book and you feel like you get to know the man," Nielsen said. "His whole life is that book."

Family and friends will gather Sunday, May 13, at the Springhill Community Pavillion north of Bozeman. All are welcome to share stories and memories.

McIlhattan's book can be purchased at the Valley View Veterinary Hospital.

Michael Becker is at mbecker@dailychronicle.com