Dear Group,

On Friday the 14th we lost a father, a husband, a brother, a friend,
and all time great man to ALS.

Lee Kramer was my big brother. He never let the disease take charge of
his life instead he demonstrated how to LIVE with ALS. He did not fight
it alone. By his side was his wife Anne. Her love for my brother and
support of his journey allowed him to advocate and reach out to so
many. With his children and 2 other sisters, they set an example that
will always be remember within the ALS community for their care, love
and support of him.

He does not want us to be sad but celebrate the life he had. Those
arrangments are being made and will post as soon as they are.

Godspeed my brother,
Elizabeth

'Taken too soon'

By Libby Cluett
lcluett@mineralwellsindex.com

Buds and early blossoms on pear trees combined with sunflowers dotted throughout sprays of flowers seemed to beckon the renewal of spring at the same time family and friends of Precinct 1 Commissioner Ted Ray gathered to bid him farewell.

An estimated 500-plus friends came to “to honor a good man,” said Minister William Eudy at Southside Church of Christ Monday afternoon. Ray’s battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, ended on Friday.

Eudy compared Ray’s “untimely death” at age 61 to King David’s sentiment about the loss of Abner, an opposing general, when he cited “A prince and a great man has fallen in Israel this day.”

After Ray’s friend Ike Mercer sang “Amazing Grace,” State District Judge Jerry Ray and Wayland Wright contributed their thoughts and sentiments.

Judge Ray recalled the time when the “terrible diagnosis hit him” in 2006. He said that even with the diagnosis and disease, Ray made decisions, both personal and business, and “stuck by them.”

“He was taken too soon,” said Judge Ray, adding that even though the U.S. put a man on the moon almost 40 years ago, “Scientists and all the resources can’t find a way to treat or defeat this illness that took him from us.

“But ALS never had an opponent like Ted Ray. He continued with dignity and courage. He refused to let ALS define him and instead redefined ALS.

“To me, [ALS] will be known as ‘Amazing Love Story,’” Judge Ray added, which included Ray’s love for his wife and family as wells as friends.

Ray described his friend as an “honest man” and a “mountain of a man.”

“He was hardworking and loved his job – even while so sick, he did his job,” said Judge Ray, explaining that Ted Ray would start researching topics once he received the county agenda, enlisting the aide of his wife, Beth Ray, and Commissioner’s Court Assistant Iris Stagner.

He called Ted Ray “sincere,” explaining that the word translates from Latin into “without wax” and refers to a stone sculpture that was without blemish and therefore needed no wax to fill cracks or marks.

“Take him as he is; there are no cracks to fill,” said Judge Ray.

At the conclusion of eulogizing his friend, Judge Ray shared an excerpt of the taped KTVT-TV (Channel 11) interview from a month ago.

At the Feb. 4 interview and reception, Ted Ray told reporters that he wanted everyone who came that evening to know he was glad they came.

In addition to being remembered as a good husband, father and grandfather, he said that he “would like for my friends to remember me as a good and caring friend, as I remember them. I would also like to be remembered as one of Palo Pinto’s greatest county commissioners.”

Wright, a close friend of Ray’s, brought some levity with stories of young Ted who rolled in a tractor tire off Welcome Mountain, crossing busy streets and into the home of a surprised homeowner.

To laughter, he said that Ray “touched all our lives – some he may have touched a little harder.”

Wright shared that when Beth Ray asked her husband to make a list after his diagnosis of what he wanted to do, Ted Ray told her “I’ve done everything I’ve ever wanted to do.”

He also shared that being county commissioner was Ray’s “proudest accomplishment.”

“Goodbye my good friend. We’re going to miss you,” concluded Wright.

The service included a display of photos of Ray with family, friends, pets, favored cars, flying over the waves in a powerboat, parasailing, skiing, hunting by horseback in Alaska, fishing, riding four-wheelers, wearing his first tuxedo and his swearing in as county commissioner in January 2005. All served as illustrations and lasting momentos of Ray’s life.

Eudy said he found himself wanting to be a better man each time he was around Ray. He shared three things that stood out – Ray’s “fierce devotion to family and friends,” his “unshakable work ethic” and “his strength and courage in the face of trial.”

He said that Ray, the eleventh of 12 children, had the quality of making “friends feel like family and made his family like friends.”

He finally said Ray seemed to have contentment about life that came with the feeling he had done everything he wanted to do. He noted that Ray’s pre-programmed messages – in the computer that gave him a voice in the past several months – included greetings like, “How are you doing today?” and replies that he was doing “great, thank you.”

Using Ray’s model Eudy suggested, “The next time someone asks how you are doing, don’t say ‘fine,’ say ‘great.’”

Before mourners passed the open casket to pay their respects, Eudy concluded that Ray never let ALS “slow him down. He had no bitterness. His only concern was on how hard the illness was on Beth.”

After all left the sanctuary, Ray’s coffin, covered in flowers and his cowboy hat, was escorted by rows of uniformed Palo Pinto County Sheriff’s Posse members and sheriff’s department deputies.

It seems the storms waited while family and friends accompanied Ray to his final resting place in Palo Pinto Cemetery.

One of ISU's best: 1980s All-American succumbs to Lou Gehrig’s Disease

By David Hughes
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — A heavily recruited two-way standout from Mount Healthy High School in Cincinnati, Wayne Davis initially wanted to play running back for Indiana State’s football team in the early 1980s.

But longtime ISU coach Dennis Raetz and his assistants persuaded Davis into playing cornerback for the good of the team.

The result was enough stellar performances to earn Davis the 1984 Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year award as a senior, a second-round selection (39th overall) by the San Diego Chargers in the 1985 NFL draft and a six-year NFL career that included stints with the Chargers, Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins.

One of ISU’s best football players ever, Davis died Sunday after a lengthy battle with Lou Gehrig’s Disease near Atlanta. He was 44.

The 5-foot-11, 175-pound Davis received three NCAA All-America honors in 1984. In the NFL, he totaled five interceptions in 73 games (14 starts), according to the www.pro-football-reference.com Web site. In 2002, he was inducted into the ISU Athletics Hall of Fame.

“Wayne was arguably the only shutdown corner Indiana State ever had,” Raetz recalled Wednesday. “He could really cover wide receivers one on one. He had very soft feet and great speed. He was a highly intelligent kid too.”

In the early 1980s, Indiana State had three athletes who won MVC Defensive Player of the Year — linebacker Craig Shaffer in 1981, Davis in 1984 and safety Vencie Glenn in 1985. But Davis, a three-year starter for the Sycamores, ended up being the highest-drafted ISU player by an NFL team.

“Wayne was a great guy,” said Tribune-Star sports correspondent Tom James, who worked with the football team for ISU’s sports information department in the early ’80s. “He was very musically talented. Wayne was a rapper before anybody knew what rapping was. He was very good at it.”

“Wayne was a leader on the field, but he was a leader by example,” Raetz added. “Wayne was not loud at all, but everyone who saw him play knew he could play.”

A glance through the pages of ISU’s 2007 football media guide does not show Davis among the statistical leaders in many categories, but Raetz said there’s a good reason for that.

“Most people didn’t throw at him,” the veteran coach said.

During Davis’ junior and senior seasons, the Sycamores finished 9-4 and 9-3 respectively.

Funeral services for Davis will take place Friday at the New Mercies Christian Church in Lilburn, Ga. A public viewing is scheduled from 10 to 11 a.m., with services beginning immediately afterward.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in memory of Wayne Davis to the ALS Association of Georgia, 1955 Cliff Valley Way, Suite 116, Atlanta, GA 30329.

Longtime worker for Catholic causes dies

Lou Gehrig's - The way Theresa Willett dealt with the disease inspired an Easter story Thursday, March 20, 2008NANCY HAUGHT The Oregonian Staff


Theresa Willett, a prominent Portland Catholic whose struggle with Lou Gehrig's disease inspired a 2007 Easter story in The Oregonian, died Tuesday, March 18, 2008, in her home. She was 54.

Diagnosed three years ago with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive illness that affects the brain and spinal cord, Willett refused to let the disease diminish her life.

She was a member of All Saints Parish for 30 years and helped organize an ongoing lecture series there. She served on the board of Catholic Charities for several years and was a member of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, an ancient charitable order of the church that builds schools, hospitals and health clinics in the Holy Land.

For the past two years, Willett used a wheelchair and in recent months could not speak without a computer voice generator. But she continued to attend events in the community and hosted monthly neighborhood gatherings in her Laurelhurst home.

"She wanted very much to live a graceful life up to the end," said her husband, Ken Willett. "She wanted to live with dignity and carry on in spite of the disease."

The Rev. Patrick Brennan, working Wednesday on a homily for Willett's funeral Mass, recalled her last years.

"A woman so active, struck with ALS, but somehow, despite that, she remained active," he said. "And her action was transferred to others, who carried out the missions she had started. Her spirit was not, in any way, reduced."

Willett saw her illness as a cross that she was willing to bear.

"There is a role for suffering in life," she said in a 2007 Easter story in The Oregonian. "Everyone has something to bear. You can't cut yourself off and think you are unique or be demanding in your suffering. If someone else is suffering, you have to be there."

She was born Theresa Marie Laskowski in Galveston, Texas, on Jan. 25, 1954. She moved to Portland in 1960 and attended Holy Child Academy and graduated from Whitman College in Walla Walla in 1976. She married Ken Willett in 1978.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by their four children, Catherine, Claire, Christopher and Colin; two brothers, Patrick and Mark Laskowski; a sister, Kathleen Dickson; and her mother, Dorothy.

A funeral Mass will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday in All Saints Church in Northeast Portland. A rosary will be said at 7 p.m. Monday in the church.

Her family suggests remembrances to the ALS Association, where she had been an active volunteer since her diagnosis.

Nancy Haught: 503-294-7625; nancyhaught@news.oregonian.com

Tommy Allen, 60, had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. He had been in the hospital since Dec. 31 and was breathing with the use of a ventilator and battling pneumonia. He died Sunday.

Morley, an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, visited Tommy, Jean and Tommy's wife of 37 years, Irene, nearly every day.

Lee left his mark
Monday, March 24, 2008
By Elizabeth Yarlott
Yuma, Arizona

On Friday, March 14, we lost a father, a husband, a brother, a friend and all-time great man to ALS.

Lee Kramer was my big brother and over the last 18 years battled the disease known as Lou Gehrig’s. He never let the disease take charge of his life. Instead, he demonstrated how to live with ALS. He did not fight it alone. By his side was his wife Anne. Her love for my brother and support of his journey allowed him to advocate and reach out to so many. With his children and two other sisters, they set an example that will always be remembered within the ALS community for their care, love and support of him.

Having moved away 14 years ago, we did not experience his disease as those by his side, but through the Internet and a support group called Living with ALS, we were able to follow his path.

Our family has had many challenges that tested its roots — he, being the strongest, always set an example for the rest. I am not surprised that he demonstrated that same love to those with this disease. His mark here has been set for many to follow.
Godspeed brother.

http://www.napavalleyregister.com/ar...1007652217.txt

Bruce Sinder, 55, SoHo Realty Broker
By STEPHEN MILLER
Staff Reporter of the Sun
March 25, 2008



Bruce Sinder, who died March 13 at 55, was a real estate agent who was among the leaders in revitalizing real estate in TriBeCa, SoHo, and other downtown neighborhoods.

An aspiring guitar and piano player, Sinder moved to TriBeCa in the early 1970s, when there was little in the neighborhood but abandoned loft space. He soon turned to real estate to make a living, and helped to bring Dean & Deluca to the corner of Broadway and Prince Street in 1987.

His Sinvin Realty, LLC, worked with a number of high visibility clients, including Helmut Lang, Adidas, and Balthazar Restaurant. "Bruce was one of the driving forces of downtown real estate," restaurateur Drew Nierporent said in a statement. "He is one of the reasons why the neighborhoods of TriBeCa and SoHo are so rich."

Born September 9, 1952, in the Bronx and raised in Plainview, Long Island, Sinder's first experience of entrepreneurship was selling "Juice by Bruce" that he squeezed at his father's luncheonette. Later, he studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Sinder helped originate the practice of making clients pay for their own ads up front, then deducted the cost from his own fee at sale, which he said helped attract sellers with realistic expectations.

In the Meatpacking District, Sinder helped attract restaurants and stores including Soho House and Theory.

He his own hand at development when he opened a Reade Street restaurant called Bon Temps Rouler during the 1980s Cajun craze. After a later remake the place became Spaghetti Western, still managed by Sinder's brother, Robert.

Stricken several years ago with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Sinder was confined to a wheelchair. He retired in January.

He is survived by his wife, Stacie, sons Jackson and Reuben, and his mother, Marilyn.

John Cushley

Filed: Monday, 24th March 2008

By: Staff Writer


Former Hammer John Cushley has died after a long illness.

The Scottish star, who was 65, died earlier today after losing his battle with Motor Neurone Disease.

Cushley was a member of the Celtic squad that became the first British team to win the European Cup. He made 38 appearances for United between 1967 and 1970 before returning to Scotland where he went on to play for Dunfermaline and Dumbarton.

A tough, uncompromising centre-half who briefly played alongside Bobby Moore, Cushley went into teaching once his playing career had ended before returning to Celtic as the club's Education Officer.

However he was forced to retire last year after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, an incurable brain condition.

News-Herald File Photo. Bob Bilderback is shown here in Feb. 11, 1996, when the former Lake Havasu City Herald photographer was teaching fly-fishing and fly-tying at Mohave Community College.

Pioneer, photographer Bob Bilderback dies at 71


By DIANA PARKER
Tuesday, March 25, 2008 9:11 PM MST


The man who chronicled much of the early history of Lake Havasu City with his camera died earlier this month in Mesa.

Bob Bilderback was the staff photographer at the Lake Havasu City Herald from the summer of 1968 to May 1973, when a dispute over some of his most acclaimed photographs resulted in his firing.

Bilderback, 71, died March 7 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The effects of ALS forced his move to Mesa in 2004 to be closer to his daughter, Linda Bilderback Ebersole.

"He loved Lake Havasu. He never got over the fact that I had to move him from there," Ebersole said.

Bilderback came to Lake Havasu with his father as a child to fish in the area of Site Six before the city was founded, Ebersole said.

"They'd fight off the rattlesnakes, and they'd fish," she said.

Bilderback moved to Lake Havasu City in the mid-1960s after leaving a stressful job as a photographer and laboratory technician with the aerospace contractor North American Rockwell.

As staff photographer for the Herald, Bilderback documented the myriad community happenings that attended the growth of the new city. He photographed dignitaries, celebrities and girls in bikinis.

The turning point of his career with the Herald came on May 13, 1973, when Bilderback was standing near third base at the baseball field at Lake Havasu High School shooting a game between the amateur Lake Havasu City Pioneers and the Blythe team.

Nineteen-year-old pitcher John Wade, who had been a star athlete at LHHS, was on the mound, and the Pioneers were in their defensive positions when lightning struck the field.

Bilderback recounted in the May 17, 1973 issue of the Herald: "I thought, as did others in the stands, that we had been bombed. I shot pictures desperately. The entire team seemed to have been wiped out, players lying everywhere."

Wade appeared to have been killed instantly. Seven other players were treated at the community hospital. The only thing that seemed to have saved Bilderback was the fact he was wearing rubber soled shoes rather than metal baseball cleats.

"I remember the day he came home when it happened," Ebersole said. "He came home white as a sheet, and I said, something's wrong. And that's when he told me what he'd seen."

Bilderback's stepson Keith Snyder vividly recalled the stories Bilderback later told about the day.

"It scared the living heck out of him, because he thought he was killed," Snyder said. "All he could do was keep his finger on the shutter while the whole team was being wiped out."

Bilderback took some dramatic photographs that day. His editor at the Herald chose not to publish the most graphic of them. Because Bilderback shot the photos on his day off, he felt he was free to sell them to United Press International, which distributed them on their international newswire. A six-page spread of the photos appeared in the German edition of Sports Illustrated.

Unhappy Bilderback had sold the photos, the Herald publisher fired him. Ironically Bilderback was later nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for the shots.

After leaving the Herald, Bilderback was hired to be the official photographer to chronicle the dismantling and reassembly of the London Bridge. He also ran his own photography business, Bilderback Photography, and taught fly fishing and fly tying at Mohave Community College.

Bilderback's last job in Lake Havasu City was as a greeter at Wal-Mart, Ebersole said. Even as his health deteriorated, she said, her father remained positive.

"He never once said, 'Why me?' He kept his spirits up the whole time," she said.

You may contact the reporter at dparker@havasunews.com.

On Tuesday March 25th, Earl Spangenberg left this earth and met his
Savior. He was surrounded by his wife Carol and their 3 daughters. He
very peacefully slipped away