ERIC’S STILL CRUISIN’
Many in Eugene’s hot rod community mourn longtime gearhead Eric Sanders

By Tim Christie

The Register-Guard

Published: September 20, 2008




Sometime early next month, the ashes of Eric Sanders will be packed into a parachute behind a 1953 Studebaker and be scattered into the desert winds of Utah as the bright yellow coupe rockets down a dry lake bed at top speed.

There could no more fitting requiem for Sanders, a lifelong gearhead, than the roar of an alcohol-fueled hot rod at terminal velocity on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Sanders, a Eugene resident, died Sept. 7 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a devastating ailment commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was 61.

News of his death was a tough blow for his many friends in the hot rod subculture of Eugene, who say he put a bolt on just about every hot rod built in this city.

“He was the ultimate old-school hot rodder and chassis builder,” said Bob White, owner of Graffiti Alley, a parts store for hot rodders. “He was a pillar in the hot rod community, bar none.”

He was extraordinarily knowledgeable about cars and hot rod culture and knew how to assemble a hot rod from the ground up, White said.

“He was way ahead of everybody else,” White said.

Sanders worked as a boilermaker and steel fabricator before starting a home business, Eric’s Garage, about 20 years ago.

He was a bachelor who kept a motorcycle in his bedroom and whose home was filled with carburetors, engines and various parts, said Rick Sanders, his older brother, who worked with Eric on building numerous cars.

When he worked on a car, he was patient and meticulous, taking the time to do a job right the first time, Rick Sanders said. If a project needed a part that wasn’t readily available, he’d build it himself.

“He was an excellent, excellent fabricator,” he said. “He only had to do it once. When it was done, it was done right.”

Earlier this week, on one of the last warm evenings of summer, more than 100 of his friends rumbled into Graffiti Alley on River Road, packing the parking lot with vintage cars, many of which he helped to build. The smell of grilling burgers mixed with motor oil as the middle-aged white men swapped stories and remembered their friend.

Many knew Eric from their high school days at North Eugene and Sheldon. These are guys who remember paddling down River Road when the Willamette flooded and cruising on it most any Friday night. Guys who remember when the Balboa drag strip in west Eugene was the place to be and for whom the Bonneville Salt Flats is the Promised Land.

Bob Drury, known as Low Ride to friends, said Eric inspired him to build his 1953 Studebaker and to run it at Bonneville.

“He was very good about helping people to do things mechanically they had never thought of doing themselves,” he said. “He was an inspiration to a lot of us.”

Drury recalled talking to Eric after he found out he had ALS. He asked him if he belonged to any support groups that could help him deal with his illness. Sanders looked at him, incredulous — what do you mean, support groups, he said.

“He said, I don’t need that,” Drury said. “My support group is my family and my friends and that’s all I need.”

The idea of scattering Sanders’ ashes at Bonneville arose a few months ago when Drury, who now lives in Vancouver, Wash., was visiting Sanders. Drury asked him if he’d thought about a funeral, and Sanders said no, he just wanted to be cremated.

Drury told him he’d be honored to scatter his ashes on the salt flats. Sanders smiled and, with a twinkle in his eye, said that would be really cool.

“This is perfectly in tune with Eric,” Drury said.

Eric’s family endorsed the idea, and after Eric’s death, Drury began making plans to head down for World Finals of Land Speed Racing, Oct. 8-11, but a problem arose. Drury had to spend $3,000 to repair the transmission on his tow truck, which he needed to transport his Studebaker, and he didn’t have the cash to go to Bonneville next month. The spreading of the ashes would have to wait until next August at Speed Week.

Then Drury got a phone call from John Woodrich, a friend of Eric’s for more than 40 years. Eric can’t wait until next summer, Woodrich told Drury. What do you need to go? Drury told him, and Wood*rich offered to underwrite the cost of trip.

The Bonneville Salt Flats in northwestern Utah is a remnant of Lake Bonne*ville. Its flat, hard surface is a mecca for speed enthusiasts, a place where hundreds of speed records have been set and broken.

Weather permitting, sometime on the morning of Oct. 9, Drury will fire up his Studebaker, which boasts a whopping 830 horsepower, put the pedal to metal and start building speed on the five-mile course. Some time between mile four and five, Drury hopes to hit or exceed 250 mph, at which point he’ll deploy the twin parachutes and send Eric’s ashes whipping into the dry desert air.

“We’ll put some nitro in the tank so he gets a good whiff on his way out,” Drury said. “He’ll be with his heroes forever.”

David 'Whitey' Evenson
September 20, 2008

BROCKTON — David Thomas "Whitey" Evenson, 54, of Brockton, who worked as a truck driver, as well as farming and ranching in the Brockton area, died of Lou Gehrig's disease Thursday at the Billings Clinic.
Cremation will take place under the direction of Dahl Funeral Chapel, with burial of ashes at a later date.
Survivors include his wife, Irene of Brockton; son Tatum Evenson of Billings; daughters Merilee Evenson of Poplar and Roberta Campbell of Brockton; his mother, Alice Evenson of Culbertson; sister Bonnie Evenson of Salt Lake City; and three grandchildren.

George Lee: Jazz icon and mentor to SA’s top guitarists
Published:Sep 21, 2008

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George Lee, a jazz legend who passed away on Tuesday morning in his Johannesburg home, was a larger-than-life personality who devoted his life to mentoring young artists in the finer details of the jazz idiom in particular and African music in general.




Two years ago he was diagnosed with a terminal motor neuron disease ( Lou Gehrig’s), a paralysing condition that left him wheelchair-bound. Before this affliction, which disables the body but leaves the mind intact, one was struck upon meeting the Ghanaian-born saxophonist, songwriter and band leader by his imposing height and warm personality. These attributes earned him the nickname Big G — a real gentle giant who often left behind fond memories with those who crossed his path. Musically, he was also a giant.


A highlight of his stay in South Africa was a memorable performance in Cape Town during the World Festival of Sacred Music to mark the Dalai Lama’s visit and the dawn of the new millennium.

Born Kwame Narh Kojo Larnyoh on 8 January 1938 in Ghana, George Lee was raised on the swing jazz of American big bands personified by Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Louis Jordan and Duke Ellington.

So profound were his talents that his namesake, then head of state, the late Kwame Nkrumah, appointed him Ghana’s cultural emissary when he was barely 25.

As a songwriter, composer, arranger and stage director, his international career has been phenomenal. Thanks to his music’s global appeal, his compositions have been recorded by artists around the world, including the late South African expatriate, Chris McGregor, and the late saxophonist Mike Makhalemele.

Despite his reputation as a jazz man, he was highly versatile; he wrote music for the South African run of a classic Wole Soyinka play, and for an award-winning stage production by Khaba Mkhize, to mention just two examples of his theatrical contributions. He even featured in the Hollywood movie A Good Man In Africa, starring Sean Connery.

His versatility shone through in his collaboration with reggae icon Bob Marley. He worked extensively with Marley as a session musician and horns arranger. He also toured with Toots & The Maytals and Johnny Nash, when the latter’s hit, I Can See Clearly Now, was topping the charts.

Since 1990 he had lived in South Africa. One of his famous protégés, guitarist Jimmy Dludlu, joined his band, Anansi, in the late 1980s. In South Africa he was instrumental in shaping another young jazz lion’s future, guitarist Selaelo Selota. Just weeks before his death, Channel O pledged to honour him with a Special Recognition Award at the channel’s annual Music Video Awards ceremony set for 9 October 2008.

He was cremated on Friday in a private ceremony. A memorial service will be held this afternoon from 3pm at 22 1st Avenue, Houghton. He is survived by his wife, Andrea, and children Michelle, Paul, Mark, John-Paul and Simone. — Sam Mathe



http://www.thetimes.co.za:80/PrintEd...aspx?id=847260

Ex-Vikings linebacker Hilgenberg dies at 66
Wally Hilgenberg

By Staff report, Star Tribune

Last update: September 23, 2008 - 1:19 PM

[IMG]http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/502*401/1patr0117.jpg[/IMG]
Former Vikings linebacker Wally Hilgenberg died this morning after a battle with ALS.

Hilgenberg turned 66 last Friday.

Hilgenberg, who played college football at Iowa, was a member of the Vikings from 1968 to 1979. He started his career with the Lions in 1964 and missed the '67 season because of injury. He was traded to Pittsburgh in 1968 before being claimed off waivers by the Vikings at the start of the season.

"Wally had a tremendously strong Christian strength and that really carried him toward the end," said Bob Lurtsema, Hilgenberg's former teammate with the Vikings. "At the end he was at peace with himself. When he was young and healthy he was one of the biggest pranksters I've ever met."

"He should have been a Pro Bowler all those years," Lurtsema said of Hilgenberg. "He and Roy Winston they were outside linebackers and, playing with them, they were just so smart."

Hilgenberg was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, in 2006, and during the past two seasons, his former teammates frequently visited with him or called him at his Prior Lake home. Several stopped by last week.

In January, he discussed his prognosis with Star Tribune columnist Patrick Reusse and said, "I don't know how people could deal with something like this without faith," he said.

Hilgenberg is survived by his wife, Mary; four children; and 14 grandchildren.



http://www.startribune.com/sports/vi...7PQLanchO7DiUX

Stage and screen actor Hadi Çaman dies at 65
Turkish stage and screen actor, playwright and stage director Hadi Çaman died on Monday night. He was 65. Çaman died due to heart and respiratory failure at the Doğa rest home in İstanbul's Ziverbey neighborhood, where he had been living for the last six months, news agencies reported yesterday.


Doğa rest home owner Levent Cebir told the Anatolia news agency that Çaman died at around 7 p.m. He said the thespian was being treated for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a usually fatal disease caused by the degeneration of motor neurons, the nerve cells in the central nervous system that control voluntary muscle movement.
Born in 1943 in the Black Sea province of Kastamonu, Çaman moved to İstanbul to attend university and study law. He later transferred to a municipal conservatory. Çaman passed an acting exam at the Dormen Theater and Kent Theater in 1962, starting his professional career as an actor in "Altın Yumruk" -- a Turkish production of Clifford Odets' play "Golden Boy." Throughout his career, Çaman played numerous roles with many private theater companies, including the Gülriz Sururi-Engin Cezzar Theater, the Nisa Serezli-Tolga Aşkıner Theater, Müjdat Gezen's Miyatro and the Şan Theater. In 1982 he founded his own company, the Nişantaşı Yeditepe Theater, and has since put on numerous plays there.

Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay, in a message of condolence, said he was deeply saddened by the loss of Çaman, who, in addition to his career as an actor-director and playwright, also served in the development of theater in Turkey by raising young artists. Çaman was to be buried yesterday afternoon at the Karacaahmet Cemetery following a ceremony at the Hadi Çaman Theater and prayers at the Teşvikiye Mosque.

Gerald A. Margolis, 1943 - 2008
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

One of the country's most prominent legal minds, Gerald A. Margolis, passed away the morning of September 15, 2008 from complications relating to pneumonia. For the past six years Margolis courageously fought a debilitating illness that ravaged him physically, while never losing his dignity, optimism or humor. Throughout his battle, Margolis' intellectual capabilities never waned, and he continued to practice law, counsel, strategize, and advise at the highest levels of the legal profession until his untimely death. Margolis' passing is a tremendous loss to the entertainment industry, to which he made important contributions.

An ardent defender of the First Amendment during his thirty year career in law, Margolis' outstanding accomplishments as a trial lawyer and a partner at Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, LLP include numerous successfully-tried high-profile cases such as Hulex Music, et al, v. Columbia Pictures, et al in which the plaintiff contended the main title theme from the theatrical motion picture “Ghostbusters” was deliberately copied from the song “I Want a New Drug” by Huey Lewis and the News, and Rege v. Williams, where Margolis successfully defended his long-time client and friend Robin Williams in a product disparagement action brought against the comedian. Margolis also served as counsel to recording artist R. Kelly and successfully defended Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in a case alleging copyright infringement by Jagger/Richards relating to a song entitled “Saint of Me.”

A true renaissance man, Margolis was also unique to the profession. Unlike most lawyers, who focus on a single area of the law in this era of specialization, Margolis excelled at both litigation and transactional work, in both music and film. A graduate of Harvard University and Fordham Law School, Margolis is a former faculty member of the U.S.C. Law School Entertainment Law Symposium and lecturer with the Practicing Law Institute. He also was named as part of The Best Lawyers in America from 2005-2008.

Beyond his work in the courtroom, Margolis was a great athlete, an avid surfer in his day, a lover of the arts, and most importantly, a loving father and husband.

Margolis is survived by his wife Cyndi, daughter Jacey, brother Jeffrey and sister Sara. Margolis will be cremated and his ashes spread at New York's Jones Beach, where he was head lifeguard for many years, as well as at Southern California's Manhattan Beach.

The family will hold a Memorial Service on Monday, October 6th at 11:00am at Fox Studios’ Darryl F. Zanuck Theater. Guests are asked to use the Galaxy Parking structure.

The family has requested contributions in memory of Gerald A. Margolis be made to the Challenged Athlete's Foundation.

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/s...80&newsLang=en

Paula Anderson, 62, lively, spirited person
Friday, September 26, 2008 The Hillsboro Argus
PORTLAND - Paula M. Anderson, 62, Portland, died Sept. 21, 2008, at Hopewell House in Portland, of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Private graveside services have been held.

A life celebration will be 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 10, at Cedar Hills United Church of Christ, 11695 SW Park Way, Portland.


She was born Paula Joeckel, Oct. 10, 1945, in Corvallis, a daughter of Everett and Evelyn Gritton Joeckel. Her family moved to Gaston in 1955. She attended Gaston High School and was involved in many activities. She graduated in 1963 and attended Portland State University.

She married David Anderson in 1966 and lived in Sherwood and Hillsboro. They divorced in 1988.

She worked as a school secretary and education aide. She enjoyed skiing and loved the outdoors, mountain climbing, camping and hiking. A Mazama member, she climbed three mountains, including Mt. Hood. Her grandchildren called her "Mim." She loved to babysit and often took them fishing.

An active member of Cedar Hills United Church of Christ, she also followed the Portland Trailblazers and college basketball.

She was preceded in death by her parents.

Survivors include her daughters and a son-in-law, Shannon and Greg Meythaler and Morgan Anderson; her brothers and sisters-in-law, Terry and Cathy Joeckel, Kevin and Lisa Joeckel and Mark Joeckel; and three grandchildren.

Remembrances: ALS Association or Cedar Hills United Church of Christ Endowment Fund.

An online guest book is at dvfuneralhome.com.

Arrangements: Duyck & VanDeHey, Forest Grove.

Kevin R. Clinedinst
October 4, 2008


LINTON, Ind. — Kevin Ray Clinedinst, 40, who most recently resided in Linton, Ind., died Monday, Sept. 29, 2008, after a long and courageous battle with ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He was born April 26, 1968, in Rome, Ga., a son of Bobby Ray Clinedinst and Barbara Dawson Clinedinst.

Kevin grew up in Staunton and Churchville and graduated from Buffalo Gap High School. He then moved to Roanoke. He served loyally in the Virginia Army National Guard and was medically retired after 17 years of service.
He was a son, a brother, a husband, a father, an uncle, a soldier and a friend.

Those remaining to cherish, honor and remember him include his grandmother, Anna Reeves Clinedinst; his father, Bobby Ray Clinedinst and wife, Kathryn; his mother, Barbara Dawson Clinedinst; his father's former wife, Juice Clinedinst Grimm and special friend, Rodger Huffman; Kevin's former wife, Donna Clinedinst Ramirez, mother of Kevin's children; his daughter, Fujiko Grace Clinedinst and fiance, Giacomo Montouri; his son, Josiah Sampson Clinedinst and special friend, Ruth Edwards; his former wife, Mitzi Watts Clinedinst, mother of his son, Garrett Watts Clinedinst; his sister, Marianne Aylor and husband, Anthony Aylor; his brothers, Lamar (Buzzy) and Bobby Andrew Clinedinst; his stepbrother, Michael Entsminger and special friend, Maria Hill; his stepsister, Julie Simmons and husband, Jeff Simmons; his nieces, Brittany, Katelyn, Shelby and Rachael; and nephews, Bo, Hayden and John. His fellow soldiers and friends and mentor, coach Leonardo Lopez, also will remember him.

He was preceded in death by his daughter, Mayumi Faith Clinedinst; his grandfather, Charles Winston Clinedinst; his grandmother, Mary Etta Dawson; his great-grandmother, Ruth Reeves; and his uncle, the Rev. Jay C. Morgan.

Anderson-Poindexter Funeral Home in Linton is handling funeral arrangements.

A memorial service will be conducted at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008, at Memorial Baptist Church in Staunton, with a reception to follow.

Memorial contributions may be made in Kevin's memory to the ALS Association online by visiting www.alsa.org.



http://www.newsleader.com/apps/pbcs....RIES/810040317

Thomas Patterson dies - saved Jeremiah O'Brien
Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Retired Rear Adm. Thomas J. Patterson, who had a major role in saving the World War II Liberty ship Jeremiah O'Brien as a living memorial to the U.S. merchant marine, died in New York City Wednesday at the age of 84.

He had been suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neurological disorder commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He died at the home of New York fire Capt. Richard Patterson, one of his two sons.
Adm. Patterson had a long career as a seagoing officer, a senior official of the U.S. Maritime Administration and deputy superintendent of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

But the real love of his life was an old gray cargo ship, one of more than 2,700 identical vessels produced in World War II. The ship was the Jeremiah O'Brien, launched in 1943 and a veteran of the 1944 D-Day invasion.

When he first saw the ship, it was languishing in the reserve fleet in Suisun Bay and was about to be scrapped. He talked the government into giving the ship to a nonprofit corporation he founded, then recruited a volunteer crew and sailed it to a San Francisco shipyard for an overhaul. The ship was declared a national historic landmark and was put on display on the San Francisco waterfront in 1980.

Fourteen years later, in 1994, Adm. Patterson and his associates sailed the old vessel from San Francisco to France and back, a voyage of more than 18,000 miles that took five months and attracted international attention.

President Bill Clinton and wife Hillary Rodham Clinton came aboard while the ship was in Britain. The O'Brien sailed to Normandy the next day to celebrate the golden anniversary of D-Day. Adm. Patterson called the occasion "the greatest day of my life."

The Jeremiah O'Brien returned to a tumultuous welcome at its home port in San Francisco in September and has cruised on San Francisco Bay and made occasional Pacific Coast voyages ever since.

The French government presented Adm. Patterson with the Legion of Honor in 2004 for his role in restoring the ship and for bringing it to France.

"If it hadn't been for Tom Patterson, the Jeremiah O'Brien wouldn't be what it is today," said Capt. Walter Jaffee, who wrote two books about the O'Brien. "If it weren't for him, it would never have returned to Normandy."

"He was a wonderful shipmate," said retired Navy Capt. Mark Shafer, one of Adm. Patterson's oldest friends. "This is the best thing you can say about any sailor."

Thomas Patterson Jr. was born in Philadelphia in 1924. He was always drawn to the sea and attended the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, graduating in 1944. He held a commission both as a naval officer and as a merchant marine officer, and he sailed as a mate on tankers and then as a Navy officer aboard the Guardian, a World War II Liberty ship that had been converted to a radar picket ship in the Atlantic.

He was first the ship's executive officer and then commanding officer.

After Navy service, he worked for the Maritime Administration, rising to be the Western regional administrator based in San Francisco.

One of his assignments was to select Liberty ships for scrapping. It was then that he encountered the Jeremiah O'Brien, fell in love with the ship and determined to save it as a memorial.

He was also selected to be deputy superintendent of the Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N.Y., his alma mater. The appointment carries with it the rank of rear admiral in the U.S. Maritime Service.

After he retired to his home in San Rafael, he devoted all of his energies to the Jeremiah O'Brien and served as chairman of the National Liberty Ship Memorial, the corporation he founded to operate the ship.

He was married in 1947 to Ann Cornell, who predeceased him. In 2007, he married Dorothy Blackburn of Myrtle Beach, S.C., who survives him.

Other survivors include a brother, Donald Patterson of New Hope, Pa.; sons Thomas Patterson III of Pebble Beach and Richard Patterson of New York City; daughters Barbara Deane of Pacific Grove and Carolina Finn of Seattle; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held today at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N.Y. Adm. Patterson's ashes will be scattered from the O'Brien at a later date.

Memorial contributions may be made to the National Liberty Ship Memorial, Pier 23, San Francisco, CA 94111.


E-mail Carl Nolte at cnolte@sfchronicle.com.

Thomas A. Cooper
Monday, October 06, 2008 The Oregonian
A service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008, in Sonrise Church in Hillsboro for Thomas A. Cooper, who died Oct. 1 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at age 51.

Thomas A. Cooper was born Nov. 22, 1956, in Portland. He graduated from Jackson High School and was a driver for UPS, as well as a member of Teamsters Local 163. In 1981, he married Jilann Green.

Survivors include his wife; sons, Ryan and Gregory; daughter, Meegan; father, Robert M.; brothers, Michael, Peter and Paul; and sisters, Therese Ranck and Lucy Freeman.


Remembrances to Tom Cooper ALS Memorial Fund at First Tech Credit Union, in care of Jilann M. Cooper. Arrangements by Tualatin Valley Funeral Alternatives.