In Remembrance
 

THIS DOES NOT END HERE...
We will take this disease apart and destroy it


Stephen Heywood, 37; he opened his life to other ALS patients
By David Abel, Globe Staff | November 28, 2006
http://www.als.net/images/stephen_11_27_06.jpghttp://www.als.net/images/Stephen%20...0Heywood-2.JPG
During the past several years, Stephen Heywood allowed stem cells to be injected into his spinal column, participated in clinical trials for new drugs and genetic studies, and received a brain implant as part of an experiment in how thoughts can be used to control a wheelchair and other robotic objects.

Just as the 37-year-old father from Newton gave his body to science in the waning years of his life -- even allowing himself to be the subject of the recently released, critically acclaimed documentary "So Much So Fast" -- he submitted himself to science in death as well.

Eight years after being diagnosed with ALS, the degenerative neurological disorder also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, Mr. Heywood lost the use of his ventilator early Friday morning, leaving him brain dead. His body survived for two days, long enough for him to donate his kidneys to two patients, relatives said.

"Stephen would tell a joke about wanting to die a heroic death," said his brother, Jamie of Newton. "It went something like this: There would be a fire, and he would save someone. But it would have be a slow fire with ramps, because he would be in a wheelchair. I think he found a way to do that."

In addition to the documentary, the brothers have been the subject of features in The New Yorker, on "60 Minutes," and in a book titled "His Brother's Keeper."

They chronicled how Jamie Heywood, a mechanical engineer without medical training, quit his job to seek a cure for ALS. He set up a foundation, raised millions of dollars, established a research laboratory, recruited scientists, and spent the last several years engaging in "guerrilla research" in a desperate effort to test a range of drugs, including those approved for other diseases.

"Stephen used to talk about how I gave him a gift in all the work we did on ALS," his brother said. "But what most people don't understand is that really he gave me the gift. . . . Stephen's disease will change . . . the way therapies are developed. His illness is a lens to make the process of discovering therapies better. His humanity gives the moral authority to fight the battles to fix the system."

Born in Newton, Mr. Heywood graduated from Newton North High School in 1987, his brother said. He studied English and art at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., graduating in 1992.

Over the following six years, he worked in construction and forged a career in California by designing and building houses in a distinct way. His brother called him "an artist-builder."

"He felt how you formed the wood was a higher art than the actual architecture," Jamie Heywood said.

Mr. Heywood was diagnosed with ALS in 1998 and returned to Newton. He was married in 2000 and had a son, Alexander.

"The thing about Stephen that's the most wonderful, valuable thing about him was that he always said the right thing," said his wife, Wendy. "He made you feel special, that he knew you through and through. He had a sort of Zen knowing. He said everything straight.

" He had the capacity to love everybody, for who they were. He never wanted to change them."

Even as his ALS progressed toward paralysis, he built three houses, including his own. His brother said he trained apprentice craftsmen when he could no longer use his hands and inspired others to imagine and build his designs when he could no longer use his voice.

In 1999, his brother founded ALS TDF, what he calls the world's first nonprofit biotechnology company. Mr. Heywood's other brother, Ben of Newton, and a friend started another company, PatientsLikeMe, allowing Mr. Heywood and other patients to share their disease progression and treatment regimens online.

"Stephen inspired those around him to imagine the impossible and then quietly challenged them to make it reality," Jamie Heywood said. "Though Stephen's ALS was advanced, no one thought of him as a dying man. He inspired thousands of ALS patients, not by fighting or living defiantly against the disease, but by simply making it inconsequential. . . . Stephen lived his life and forgot his disease."

Besides his wife, son, and brothers, Mr. Heywood leaves his, parents, John and Peggy of Newton.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at Grace Episcopal Church in Newton Center.
Stephen Heywood, 37; he opened his life to other ALS patients - The Boston Globe


A memorial service will take place at 3:00 PM on Sunday, December 3, 2006 at Grace Episcopal Church, 76 Eldredge Street, Newton Center, MA 02458.

In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to ALS Therapy Development Foundation, 215 First Street, Cambridge, MA 02142.

For those who are traveling, the ALS Therapy Development Foundation has arranged for a block of rooms at the Sheraton Newton Hotel. For your convenience, there will be a shuttle from the hotel to the church for the service. To make reservations, please call 888-627-7179 or click the link below for online reservations.
Website Not Found

Cyberkinetics Honors Stephen Heywood, the First ALS Participant in BrainGate Clinical
 

Cyberkinetics Honors Stephen Heywood, the First ALS Participant in BrainGate Clinical Trial
Nov 28 2006, 6:30 AM EST
BIOWIRE


Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc. (OTCBB:CYKN; Cyberkinetics) issued a statement to honor Stephen Heywood, the first participant with advanced ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease) to participate in the Cyberkinetics' BrainGate Neural Interface System (BrainGate) clinical trial. Stephen, 37, died Sunday, November 26, 2006, as the result of respiratory failure that was unrelated to the BrainGate technology. Stephen enrolled in the pilot trial of the BrainGate System in January 2006.

"Stephen Heywood's participation in the BrainGate pilot trial can be compared to Orville Wright's first plane flight from the hilltop in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. His efforts over the last year have demonstrated the potential of the BrainGate System to improve the lives of those with ALS and other motor neuron diseases," stated Timothy R. Surgenor, Cyberkinetics' President and Chief Executive Officer. "While we are saddened at Stephen's loss, we honor his courage and commitment to the advancement of our BrainGate technology and recognize him as a critical member of our development team. Stephen's indomitable spirit will keep us moving forward to develop the BrainGate technology to which he dedicated the last months of his life in order that people may ultimately lead more independent and productive lives despite their debilitating injuries and diseases."

"Stephen volunteered to participate in the clinical trial of the BrainGate technology because he believed it could change the world," added James A. Heywood, Chief Executive Officer and d'Arbeloff Founding Director of the ALS Therapy Development Foundation and Stephen Heywood's brother. "Following a recent BrainGate session in which he worked to control a robotic arm, Stephen sent me an email message that read: 'After being paralyzed for so long, it is almost impossible to describe the magical feeling of imagining a motion and having it occur.' Those with Stephen's pioneering spirit can see that the BrainGate technology, though only in its infancy, has the potential to enable those who are completely disabled to control computers, wheelchairs and robots with their minds. My family and I applaud the team at Cyberkinetics and the investors who support this valuable work for having the vision to bring this promising technology into reality."

In appreciation for Stephen Heywood's contributions to the development of Cyberkinetics' BrainGate technology, the Company will make a contribution to the ALS Therapy Development Foundation.

About the ALS Therapy Development Foundation

The ALS Therapy Development Foundation (ALSTDF) is a nonprofit biotechnology company that aggressively seeks out, develops and delivers promising therapies to slow, arrest and cure ALS. To learn more about ALSTDF or to make a donation, visit the foundation's website at www.als.net.

Press Release Source: ALS Therapy Development Foundation


Stephen Heywood 37, Dies; Subject of the 2006 Major Motion Picture - 'So Much So Fast'
Monday November 27, 10:11 pm ET


CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- ALS Therapy Development Foundation CEO and d'Arbeloff Founding Director, James Allen Heywood, announces the sudden, accidental death of his brother, Stephen Heywood, 37.
http://www.als.net/images/stephen_11_27_06.jpg
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061127/NYM223 )

Newton, MA
Saturday, November 25, 12:49 PM

Dear Friends,
Friday morning at 5:30 I received the call from Wendy that I have gone to bed each night hoping would never happen. I could tell from the sound of her voice that this one was different. When I arrived, their small street was lit up with the flashing lights of two fire trucks, an ambulance, and a police car. Going inside past Wendy holding Alex in her arms and into his bedroom, I found Stephen. His vent had disconnected, his lips were blue and despite aggressive CPR he looked peaceful perhaps with even a slight trace of a smile. I rode to Newton Wellesley with the ambulance driver who also grew up in Newton and remembered Stephen from other visits.

Between Wendy, his caregiver and the EMT's, Stephen had CPR for over 40 minutes. I don't know if it is because he forgot that he was sick or because his heart is larger and stronger than any I have ever known but it restarted. You could actually see the disbelief on the ER team's faces. You also knew that they were not sure this was a good thing because Stephen's eyes were not responding at all. They wanted to make sure we understood how bad it was but they missed Stephen's point as people often do.

Stephen would tell a joke about wanting to die a heroic death. It went something like this. There would be a fire and he would save someone but it would have to be a slow fire with ramps because he would be in a wheelchair. I think he found a way to do that.

There is no blood flow to either hemisphere of his brain and he has no EEG signals. Stephen is gone, left in our hearts and in the relationships and structures he built. Stephen was in command of his world and his body at all times and never lived life on anything other than his own terms. Thursday night before bed he sent an email to Ben saying how wonderful our Thanksgiving was; it was a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Stephen has kept his body alive so that his family and friends could gather and say goodbye. As Stephen indicated he wanted to, he will donate his organs to others to give them a chance at the amazing years of life that he gave us. Sometime over the next few days if it is possible, some very lucky person will get his heart.


So he found his slow fire and it has ramps.

-- jamie


Newton, MA
Sunday, November 26, 11:03 PM

Stephen Update

This morning at 6:30 a.m. Stephen went into surgery after being declared legally brain dead. Wendy quietly sang "Arms of an Angel" by Sarah McLachlan, and then we walked him down as a group. His body fought for 2 days to enable him to donate his organs in the best way. As I write this two patients, age 33 and 47, are receiving his kidneys and are being given a chance at life. Stephens's heart stopped at 7:36 a.m. My family was all together at our parents'.

Stephen found a chance even in death to help others. He gave so much strength to so many.

This does not end here. Together with Stephens's spirit continuing to guide us, we will take this disease apart and destroy it.


-- jamie


Stephen John Heywood, 37; Master-Builder/Architect

NEWTON, Mass. -- From December 1998 when Stephen Heywood was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease) to Sunday morning November 26, 2006 when he passed away with his family and friends Stephen lived a lifetime.

As his ALS progressed toward complete paralysis, Stephen, a vigorous artist builder, began a journey that compressed time. Over the past eight years he built and rebuilt three homes, including his own and a carriage house that is more art than structure. He trained apprentice craftsmen when he could no longer use his hands. He inspired others to imagine and build his designs when he could no longer use his voice. Stephen took joy in the feel of the materials and the art of the forms as they became reality.

Stephen married Wendy Stacy and together they built a family. They had a son, Alexander, in 2000 and together raised him to be a strong and caring child equipped with his first, full-sized power drill at the age of 2. Stephen was a most loving father and husband.

In 1999, Stephen and his brother Jamie founded ALS TDF, the world's first non-profit biotechnology company, now widely recognized as the leading edge in a new breed of institutions that are changing how treatments are developed for disease. Today, ALS TDF is the world's leading ALS research center and has defined new standards for quality and effective research.

Medically, Stephen's ALS progression was average for his age. Five years after diagnosis he opted for full-ventilator support to counter the degenerative effects of ALS. In 2000, he was the first patient in the world to receive a stem cells injection into the spinal fluid of his ventricle and lumbar cord. Stephen was resilient and often chose to participate in clinical trials for new drugs and genetic studies. And, for the last three years of his life was on an experimental drug discovered by the research team at ALS TDF.

Stephen was the impetus for PatientsLikeMe, a new online collaborative medicine company founded in 2005 by his brother Ben and friend, Jeff Cole. PatientsLikeMe was built to allow Stephen and other patients to share their disease progression and treatment regimens. With Stephen's inspiration, PatientsLikeMe is working to empower patients with all diseases to share their medical information and experiences to help improve treatment outcomes and quality of life.

Stephen embraced technology. His wheelchair, customized by his brother Jamie, is arguably the most advanced in the world with integrated power for his ventilator, computer, and even robotics which he could use to play with his son. Stephen was connected to his computer 24 hours a day enabling him to position any part of his body using the control system, and with the twitch of his jaw hit a variety of switches that kept him part of every conversation. The system ran Microsoft windows so every few hours or so Stephen would have to "reboot" himself.

Stephen's belief in the redemptive power of technology lead him to be the first ALS patient to have a brain implant as part of a clinical trial by the company Cyberkinetics. He was not so much the subject of the trial as he was a member of the development team using his signature humor to prod and drive his fellow engineers to new advances. Stephen inspired those around him to imagine the impossible, and then quietly challenged them to make it reality. In his last weeks he was able to achieve for the first time multi-axis control of a virtual robot arm by just imagining motion.

"Invincible." This is the word that has been used more than any other in the hundreds of emails received from around the world in the last day. Stephen's instant messenger and online handle were ALSKING and he was a constant presence on the phones and computers of his friends and family. Though Stephen's ALS was advanced, no one thought of him as a dying man. He inspired thousands of ALS patients not by fighting or living defiantly against the disease but by simply making it inconsequential -- it did not matter to him. There was no moment in Stephen's disease when he could not communicate and at no time was he not in control of every aspect of his life. Stephen lived his life and forgot his disease.

On Wednesday, Stephen took Alex to the barber where they both received haircuts, and on to the pet store to buy food for Alex's pet snake. On their way home, as Stephen did every week, he bought flowers for his wife Wendy. The holiday was with his family and friends. Watching Alex play he said, through his computer, "I am very lucky." His last email at 10:20 p.m. was to his brother Ben: "We had wonderful Thanksgiving. Elliot is incredible (referring to Ben's four-month old daughter)."

The cause of death was an accidental disconnection of his ventilator circuit at 5:00 a.m., the day after thanksgiving. The human and technological systems and backup systems failed. Between his wife Wendy, his caregiver and the EMT's, Stephen had CPR for over 40 minutes. Perhaps it is because his heart is so strong that it restarted despite the incredible odds against that happening. It was clear from the team at the hospital that his recovery was not necessarily a good thing because Stephen's eyes were not responding at all. There was no blood flow to either hemisphere of his brain and he had no EEG signals. Stephen was gone, left in the hearts of his family and friends and in the beauty of the structures he gave the world.

Stephen is survived by his wife Wendy Stacy Heywood, a son, Alexander, parents John and Peggy Heywood and Brothers James and Benjamin (Sherie); and nieces Zoe and Elliot, all of Newton.

A memorial service will take place at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 3, 2006 at Grace Episcopal Church, 76 Eldredge Street, Newton Corner, MA 02458.

In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to ALS Therapy Development Foundation, 215 First Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, http://www.als.net.

Stephen and his brother Jamie have been covered in "The New Yorker," "60 Minutes," "The Wall Street Journal," "The New York Times," "Science Magazine," and "The Economist."

Pulitzer Prize winning author Jonathan Weiner wrote a biography of Stephen and a chronicle of the early foundation of ALS TDF, by his brother Jamie, in "His Brothers Keeper."

Stephen's story is told in "So Much So Fast" a documentary now in limited nationwide release. Filmed over 4 years by Academy Award nominated Directors Steve Ascher and Jeanie Jordan, the Sundance celebrated film chronicles many of the amazing things Stephen has done and captures his humor, grace, and style in his own words.


Reference:

ALS TDF -- http://www.als.net
PatientsLikeMe -- http://www.patientslikeme.com
Cyberkinetics -- http://www.cyberkineticsinc.com
So Much So Fast -- http://www.somuchsofast.com
His Brothers Keeper -- http://www.jonathanweiner.com

CONTACT: James Heywood / Anthony Bernal
617-441-7222 / 617-733-3525




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: ALS Therapy Development Foundation

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Dennis Arthur Knudson John "Jack" Earl Hamilton
Robert G. "Bob" Karle Alex Dechief
Larry David Peterson Ian Davies
Holt A. Murray Jr. Kevin Heidrich
Judy Cooper Robert Fulford
Donald F. Jarrell Jr. Lucy Jane Buchanan
Robert Bob Mayes Denny White
Brian Thomas Wolfe Walter Antle Wall
Michael R. Hubbell Sharon Ambroso
Roderick Douglas Macleod John F. Malley
Robert Joseph "Bob" Marsh Victor Mezzo
James Clare Warner Robert R. Henderson
John Frederick Piquette Doyle Wade Mcclennen
Sarah Childs-Grebe Jean (Bradley) Stockwell
Albert Todd Jason A. Davis
Helen Elizabeth Edmisten J. Carl Coleman
Bill Singer Patricia Hamilton
Stephen L. Proctor Maureen Burke-Paolantonio, RN
Scott Fraza


Ezra Charles
David Niven
Jonathan Stone
Jacob Javitz

Edward M. Drost Sr., 79

Edward M. Drost Sr., a retired Crown Cork and Seal Co. supervisor and baseball fan, died Nov. 23 at Oak Crest Village in Parkville of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. He was 79.
Mr. Drost was born and raised in East Baltimore and graduated from City College in 1945. He served in the Marine Corps from 1945 to 1947 and earned a bachelor's degree from Loyola College in 1962.

While at City, he played second base, and in the late 1940s, he played professional baseball for several years as a third baseman for the minor league Danville Leafs in Virginia.

A highlight of his career, family members said, was attending spring training with the old Washington Senators.

"At the end of spring training, he was given his pink slip, and he returned to Danville," said a daughter, Julia D. Snyder of Raleigh, N.C.

Mr. Drost was a member of the City College Athletic Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Maryland Old-Timers Baseball Association Hall of Fame in 1984. In 1988, he was inducted into the Susquehanna League Baseball Hall of Fame.

He also officiated at local basketball games for more than 25 years.

Mr. Drost worked for more than 40 years at Crown Cork and Seal, retiring in 1991 as procurement supervisor. He subsequently worked part time for a decade for T.A. Gorman Co. Inc., a Rosedale engineering firm.

"He enjoyed working and said that this was his 'golf course,'" said another daughter, Elisa A. Gittings of Roswell, Ga.

Mr. Drost was a member of the Parkville Post of the American Legion and the Headquarters Marine Corps Association.

He was a communicant of St. Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church in Overlea.

A funeral Mass was offered Monday at the Parkville retirement community.

Also surviving are his wife of 50 years, the former Theresa H. Hock; a son, Edward M. Drost Jr. of Parkton; another daughter, Kristina D. King of Carney; and nine grandchildren.

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Anne Davis
Anne Karen Davis, 66, of Chattanooga, passed away Sunday, Dec. 3, 2006, at her home after a courageous four-year battle with ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

Born on Oct. 31, 1940, Karen lived a life full of joy and love. She was an active member of Brainerd Baptist Church and played clarinet in the church orchestra. She taught speech and English at both the college and high school level for many years as well as being part of the sales team at J.C.

Penny’s. She was a positive voice for the neighborhood where she lived.

Karen is survived by her husband of 37 years, Allen Hill Davis Jr.; daughters and sons-in-law, Helen and Bill Johnson, and Susan and John Lazenby; grandchildren, Emma Johnson, John and Kathryn Lazenby, all of Chattanooga; and sister, Helen Chouinard, of Hollister, Calif.

Visitation for the family will be held from 5:45 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006, at Brainerd Baptist Church, 300 Brookfield Ave., Chattanooga, TN 37411, (423) 624-2606. A memorial service will follow at 6:30 p.m.

Visit www.lane-southcrestchapel.com to send condolences.

I Corinthians 15:54 — "The perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality... " "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

Arrangements are by the South Crest Chapel of Lane Funeral Home & Crematory.

Particle physics pioneer Bernard Gittelman, Cornell professor emeritus, dies at 74
By Lauren Gold

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Bernard Gittelman, Cornell professor emeritus of physics, died in Ithaca Nov. 25 at age 74. The cause of death was amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as ALS and Lou Gehrig's Disease).

Gittelman was a pioneer in the design and development of storage rings at the Wilson Synchrotron Laboratory. He led in the design and construction of the CLEO detector, the large multi-university collaboration devoted to exploiting the production and decay of new particles containing heavy quarks from the Cornell Electron Storage Ring.

"Bernie was one of the key reasons why Cornell and the CLEO collaboration led the world in heavy quark physics during the 1980s and 1990s," said friend and colleague Karl Berkelman, professor emeritus of physics at Cornell.

Gittelman earned his bachelor's degree and Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, then worked as a research associate at Princeton University (1958-66) and Stanford University (1966-69), where he collaborated with Nobel laureate Burton Richter and colleagues to construct the first colliding beam device. He joined Cornell's faculty in 1969. In 1987 he was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society "for contributions to the design of storage rings and detectors as well as for contributions to the understanding of the physics of the production and decay of B mesons."

After his retirement, Gittelman continued his involvement with the CLEO research program in spite of his illness.

He is survived by his wife, Sandra, and three children.
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Ex-Saints CEO Thom Clark dies
The Lowell Sun
Article Last Updated:12/03/2006 09:53:39 PM EST


Thomas Clark, the executive who led Saints Medical Center from the red to the black while maintaining a hearty outlook and holding close the hospital's Catholic mission, died Saturday evening at his home in Westwood.

He was 63 and is survived by his wife, Lloyd, and four grown children, two sons and two daughters.

Clark, Saints' president and CEO for 10 years, died following a long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, said his good friend and Saints Chief Financial Officer Thomas Klessens.

Klessens called Clark "bigger than life" and "a Southern gentleman."

Clark left Saints (then known as Saints Memorial Medical Center) in June 2005 on indefinite medical leave. He officially retired two months later. He was replaced a year ago by Michael Guley.

An affable man with a shock of gray hair and an accent that betrayed his Southern roots, Clark was known for his communications skills, ability to lead, optimism and a forcefulness for getting results. And a profound love of golf.
In all, he compiled three decades of experience as a health-care executive.

His decade at the helm of Saints began in March 1995

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Post Script: Despite disease, teacher never lost his spirit of adventure
By STACI DENNIS, Correspondent
© December 5, 2006



NORFOLK - Bill Sams Jr. was a romantic at heart.

He proposed at the top of the Eiffel Tower and recited wedding vows in a private ceremony under an apple tree in Vermont.

"He was my adventure buddy," said his wife, Elizabeth McDowell. "He was creative and fun, but most of all, he just loved to travel."

McDowell said they would work and save money for trips. They would plan where they wanted to go and do what it took to get there, she said.

Sams, who died Nov. 20 at age 42 after battling ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, since 2001, didn't let his diagnosis slow him down. Even after he was in a wheelchair, the couple visited The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C. It was their last trip together.



Sams and McDowell married five years ago, but their adventures together date to their college years. After the couple graduated, they spent the summer in Maine working to raise money to live in the West Indies for six months.

"When we finally reached the remote beach where we were going to live, his eyes got so wide and a huge grin spread across his face," McDowell said. "Out of everywhere we ever went, that was his favorite place."

In addition to his global travels, Sams also spent time traveling with his friends. One of his favorite destinations was South Carolina - to pick up fireworks.

"He didn't care if he was in a wheelchair or what," said longtime friend John Hickey. "He commanded us into the car and didn't let up until we picked up the fireworks."

Sams' father, Skip, said his son's adventures started early and he never lost his boyhood imagination. "He was a kid at heart," he said.

When Sams was 12, he brought home a few ducklings that had been separated from their mother.

Sams nurtured the fowl, even helping them learn to swim in the bathtub.

"They started following him around like they would have their own mother," Skip Sams said. "The next thing I know, he's telling me he wants a gorilla."

McDowell says Sams never lost that sense of adventure, even days before his death.

"He told me he wanted to refinish the boat his dad gave him and take it out on the ocean," McDowell said about a 1955 vintage speedboat he got from his dad as a teenager. "He was never one to let a dream die."


Reach Staci Dennis at postscripts@pilotonline.com.

David Abell
David A. Dx 6/96, PEG 10/99, Vent 1/00
Oswego, IL
Don't forget to live!
http://hometown.aol.com/abe11/Davesindex.html

http://hometown.aol.com/abe11/images/mickey.jpg

David Earned His Wings Today
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group.../message/43911




http://hometown.aol.com/abe11/Davesindex.html

A Newspaper article about me.


Oswego & Montgomery IL.
"The Sun"
Friday, May 5, 2000
By Stacy M. Strunk
SUN CORRESPONDENT
When Oswego resident David Abell was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 1996, it brought his naval career to a premature end. It began as a weakness in his right hand that would eventually spread to his left hand and then his legs. He didn't realize, at first, that ALS becomes both jailor and executioner for most patients.
"I didn't think I was going to die," said David. "I thought there would be a prescription that will take care of it."
ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive neuromuscular disease in which specialized nerve cells controlling movement of voluntary muscles gradually cease functioning and atrophy.
Eventually, the paralysis will also affect the muscles used in breathing and the patient will die of respiratory problems. According to the Les Turner ALS Foundation, the average survival rate is three to five years, although many people live 10 or even 20 years after a diagnosis is made.
No matter how severe the paralysis becomes, an ALS patient maintains his sensations, vision, sexual function and intellect.
"Because the muscles are withering and atrophying, they become prisoners in their own bodies," said Jerry Abell, David's father.
There is no cure, but many of the symptoms are treatable and new drugs are being tested all the time. For instance, David took part in a drug study at Northwestern University Center for Clinical Research. He was testing Sanofi, which was supposed to slow the progression of ALS.
There are also new technologies available that make living with ALS easier. Abell's doctor recommended he buy a computer to help him keep busy.
He has an Eyegaze System, which uses his eye movements to control the computer. By looking at control keys displayed on a screen, he can synthesize speech, control the lights and appliances in his home, type, operate a phone, run computer software and access the Internet and his e-mail.
"I use Eyegaze for all of the above," said David. "It is my link to the world."
"I got info on ALS from the Internet," he said. "I contacted the MDA. They were very helpful. And I slowly began to accept the fact that I was losing my physical abilities."
The computer system was a blessing for David, said Jerry. Until he received the system, his father had to Velcro the computer mouse to David's left hand, which still had a little strength in it.
"It has been frustrating at times," said David, "but I try to focus on what I can do rather than what I can no longer do. I've had to accept help and re-evaluate what is important in life."
Help from others
Help has come in many forms. The ALS Association provided books on ALS management and other resources. The Paralyzed Veterans of America have helped him receive his Veterans Administration benefits. And the V.A. provides David with medical care.
"Although it is 40 miles away and frustrating dealing with all the paperwork and bureaucracy, I don't know how I would afford all of the services I receive without the V.A.," he said.
The V.A. helped build his wheelchair-accessible home and buy a van with a wheelchair lift. It also provided a powered wheelchair, a ventilator and the computer he uses for everything.
Even with the help David receives, it isn't easy dealing with ALS, especially for the people who love him.
"It hasn't been a good situation," Jerry said. "But we've gotten to know each other a lot better, I know that."
David said re-evaluating his priorities has reminded him how grateful he is for his family and friends, many of whom are taking part in a fund-raiser for the Les Turner ALS Foundation. The Tag Days fund-raiser on Saturday and Sunday in Montgomery and Oswego will raise awareness and money for the treatment of ALS. Similar fund-raisers will be taking place throughout Chicago during May.
"If there is going to be a cure for ALS, it is going to require money from private donations," said David. "The government can only do so much."
"With the advances being made in research and medicine today, there is hope that a cure will be found in the near future," he said.
For now, David said, he will continue to make the most of the time he has.





I have had a trach & ventilator since Jan. 2000. I use a Shiley 6cfs cuffless trach & I can still talk. My speech is not clear because of my tongue weakness but my volume is better because the vent gives me more air. I had a peg G-tube put in before the trach (Oct. 99) and haven't eaten by mouth since then because of swallowing troubles but I can still drink Pepsi or water if I want. I have to tuck my chin down to swallow & I don't take a lot. I use an Nellcor Puritan-Bennett LP-10 Ventilator. It is small enough to fit on the back of my wheelchair and has an internal battery backup and an external battery that can go for 6 - 8 hours so I can go out and about. Having a vent is not as hard as many think. It requires some training to learn how to operate and suctioning but my family and caregivers were able to learn fairly quickly. I'll be happy to answer any questions about ALS.


Take care,
David


I created a page and means to recognize our friend David. You may wish
to make a donation in memory of David elsewhere, but I wanted to make
sure that there is a place where donations that will benefit PALS can
be made in his memory. Go to: http://web.alsa.org/goto/David.Abell

Gamboachuck aka Chuck Hummer

John Mahan, Santa Clara civic leader
By Julie Patel
Mercury News
John Mahan was a quiet but powerful force in the valley for five decades, as a Santa Clara councilman and a civic leader.

``He wasn't the most talkative council member, but when he talked, everyone listened,'' Santa Clara City Manager Jennifer Sparacino said of Mr. Mahan's time on the council in the 1970s and '80s.

Mr. Mahan died Monday at a VA Palo Alto Health Care System facility after a yearlong battle with Lou Gehrig's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

A devout Catholic, Mr. Mahan graduated from Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose. He joined the U.S. Navy, serving three years during World War II, then attended San Jose State University. In 1948, he married his high school sweetheart, Laura, whom he had met on a summer cannery job.

As the couple raised three daughters, Mr. Mahan managed an electronics and appliance store and volunteered for various city commissions.

Mr. Mahan, whose father died when he was 3, worked at his grandparents' bakery in San Jose as a teenager. His mother, a teacher, worked at the bakery, too, and the family spent many holidays baking turkeys and hams ordered by customers.

``They worked hard together and had fun together,'' said his daughter, Santa Clara Mayor Patricia Mahan.

Mr. Mahan served two terms on the city's Civil Service Commission, two terms on the Planning Commission and 11 years on the council, after he was appointed for a one-year term.

He was also a Santa Clara Unified School District board member. He joined the Santa Clara Host Lions Club in 1958 and during the 48 years that he was in the club served as secretary, treasurer, president, deputy district governor and district governor. He had many years of perfect attendance at club meetings. He was also an active volunteer for the club's Blind Center.

Patricia Mahan said she knew about ``Dad's meeting nights'' as a girl but didn't fully appreciate his role in the city until she grew older and was inspired to serve on the student council, the planning commission and the community college board, and eventually the city council.

``It wasn't ever about him, it was about what's best for everyone. He led by serving other people,'' she said.

Colleagues say Mr. Mahan was thoughtful, reflective and articulate.

``People respected him for that, they looked up to him, and they looked to him for leadership,'' Sparacino said.

About 20 years ago, the council was divided on whether the city should borrow $130 million to buy Great America amusement park, blocking a developer's plan to turn the site into an office park. After a lot of thought, Mr. Mahan cast the deciding vote to approve the deal.

``He didn't just make decisions intuitively. He worked at it,'' Sparacino said. ``He asked what all our options are, what are the costs, what's at stake?''

The city eventually sold the theme park but kept the land. It paid off its debt last year and is now getting $5.3 million in annual rent from the park operators.

With the San Francisco 49ers' plan to propose a new stadium in Santa Clara early next year, Patricia Mahan will confront some of the same issues her father faced when the Giants wanted to build a ballpark in the city in the late 1980s.

``Considering what the Giants seem to want, and what I don't think we have, I'm trying to find out if it's worth our time to pursue this,'' Mr. Mahan told the Mercury News in 1988, his last year on the council. Two years later, voters in more than five cities in the county shot down a tax increase that would have helped pay for the park.

Patricia Mahan said that despite the time her father devoted to public life, he spent a lot of time at home, too. She remembers him making banana pancakes and German foods, like sauerbraten and rabbit. He also seemed to know something about almost every subject she studied.

``He could help me with anything except French -- math, geography, you name it,'' she said. In recent years, she said he was even more computer-savvy than she.

Mahan said her son, Colin, was a troublemaker when he was 3, but he seemed to mellow around his grandfather.

``Why are you such a good boy with Grandpa?'' she asked the toddler. ``He said something like, `Mommy, Grandpa just has a way about him that's kind and gentle.' ''

John Mahan

Born: April 30, 1924, in San Jose

Died: Dec. 4, 2006, in Palo Alto

Survived by: wife, Laura of Santa Clara; daughters, Regina Mahan Visger and Patricia Mahan of Santa Clara, and Bernadette Mahan White of Danville; and grandchildren, Nick and Teddy Visger, Colin Boyles, and Katherine and Allyson White.

Services: Pending

Memorial: VA Hospital in Palo Alto, 3801 Miranda Ave., Palo Alto, Calif., 94304.

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Thomas Edward Shimon


Thomas Edward Shimon, age 57, of 1326 N. 27th Street, Sheboygan, died at his home Wednesday morning, December 6, 2006, as a result of Amytropic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig's Disease.


A Mass of Christian Burial for Tom Shimon will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, December 9, 2006, at St. Dominic Catholic Church, 21st Street and Geele Avenue, Sheboygan. Visitation of family and friends will be held at the church from 9:00 a.m. until time of the Mass at 10:00 a.m. The Rite of Committal and interment will take place at 2:00 p.m., Sat. Dec. 9th, at St. Mary's Cemetery in Reedsville.


A complete obituary will be placed in Friday's edition of The Press.


The Sheboygan Press


December 7, 2006

Thomas Edward Shimon


Thomas Edward Shimon, age 57, of 1326 N. 27th Street, Sheboygan, died at his home Wednesday morning, December 6, 2006, as a result of Amytropic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.


Tom was born at Holy Family Memorial Hospital in Manitowoc on May 15, 1949, a son of Norbert E. and Irene M. (Vondrachek) Shimon. He attended Holy Rosary Catholic School in New Holstein and was a 1967 graduate of New Holstein High School.


Tom served in the U.S. Navy from Sep. 20, 1968 to Sep. 19, 1974. An Electronics Technician Second Class (ETR2), he was primarily assigned to the destroyer tender, USS Samuel Gompers (AD-37), known by her crew as "Fast Sam." The ship was homeported in San Diego, CA, and was deployed to the Philippine Islands, Taiwan, and Vietnam in the western Pacific (WESTPAC).


On May 1, 1971, Tom was united in marriage to Linda Lee Hauch at St. Dominic Catholic Church in Sheboygan. From 1975 until his retirement this year, Tom was the manager of Aladdin's Castle in Sheboygan.


Tom was a member of St. Dominic Catholic Church. He was an active member of the American Legion, Prescott-Bayens post 83, in Sheboygan. He served as post commander from 1989 to 1991, and he worked in Badger Boys State. In the early 1990s, Tom served as the coordinator for the Memorial Day parade and activities in Sheboygan.


An accomplished chess player, Tom was a true student of the game. He was an avid sports fan who thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of the game, especially the strategy of fantasy leagues. He also had a passion for creative and unique home renovation.


Tom is survived by his wife, Linda; his father, Norbert Shimon of New Holstein; a daughter and her husband, Heather Shimon and Brian Turany of Madison; a son and his wife, Keith and Jennifer Shimon of Grafton; a brother and his wife, William and Susan Shimon of Appleton; his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Robert and Shirley Hauch of Sheboygan; a brother-in-law and his wife, Robert and Marie Hauch of Sheboygan; and two sisters-in-law and husbands, Pamela and Peter Behrensprung of Sheboygan, and Cynthia and David Potter of New Jersey. He is also survived by loving aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, other relatives, as well as good friends, especially close friend, Ruth Neisius.


He was preceded in death by his mother, Irene Shimon on February 22, 1979, and a brother, Gary Charles Shimon on October 23, 2006.


A Mass of Christian Burial for Thomas Edward Shimon will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, December 9, 2006, at St. Dominic Catholic Church, 21st Street and Geele Avenue, Sheboygan. The mass will be celebrated by Rev. John Radetski, pastor of St. Dominic Catholic Church, and Rev. Daniel Lasecki, pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Elkhart Lake. Visitation of family and friends will be held at St. Dominic Catholic Church on Saturday, Dec. 9th, from 8:30 a.m. until time of mass at 10:00 a.m. The Rite of Committal and interment will take place at 2:00 p.m., Sat. Dec. 9th, at St. Mary's Cemetery in Reedsville.


Memorials are appreciated for the ALS Association Certified Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin/Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee or the Neurology Dept. at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee.


The family of Tom Shimon deeply appreciates the professional, kind and compassionate care he received from the nurses in the Intensive Care Unit at St. Nicholas Hospital and the nurses of Aurora Visiting Nurses Association, specifically Tonya Smith. They also wish to thank all the members of St. Dominic Catholic Church for their prayers and support.


Shimon Funeral Home of Hartford is directing services, and Novak-Ramm-Ziegler Funeral Home of Sheboygan is providing assistance.


The Sheboygan Press


December 8, 2006

Custodian remembered for love of racing


By JILLIAN COMPTON - jcompton@nwherald.com
Comments (1)
WOODSTOCK – Charles Kayse died slowly in the same room from the same disease that killed his mother four years ago.

For him, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also called ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, started in his hands and arms, bringing spasms that made holding a cigarette or cup of coffee impossible.

Kayse, 52, died Wednesday at home.

He knew what he faced before doctors diagnosed him in June 2005, but his father remembered a few jokes he used to make while the disease was still in the early stages.

“He said: ‘I’m going to live 10 years, because I got the long kind,’ ” John Kayse Sr. said.

Before the illness, he worked for a decade as a third-shift custodian at McHenry County College.

During the day, he worked in the yard, played with his children and delivered newspapers, often sleeping only two or three hours a day, his family said.

He loved NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon and Elvis Presley and insisted on wearing long sideburns and watching NASCAR races every Sunday. His daughter, Cammi, 17, taught him to play guitar, and he serenaded his wife, Betty, with “Love Me Tender” on her birthday last May.

As Kayse’s disease progressed, he needed 24-hour care, so his father sat with him during the day, and Cammi slept on a nearby couch at night. The family kept the same promise they made his mother: Neither of them ever spent time in a nursing home.

Health insurance didn’t cover all his medical expenses, so a McHenry County College union social committee organized two luncheons that raised about $6,200. The Illinois Federation of Teachers Local 1642 donated $500 this summer, and the college’s Harmony Committee is planning to set out a box for donations at the holiday party next week.

The response was overwhelming, even though few people at the college had ever met Charles Kayse, said Amy Carzoli, who organized most of the efforts.

“In fact, it’s been incredibly heart-warming to see how many people are willing to donate time and money,” she said, “to someone they don’t know but who they feel a connection to through MCC.”
http://www.nwherald.com/articles/200...e559322939.txt

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Oboe Master Gomberg Dies At 85
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Ralph Gomberg, one of the top oboists in the United States and a fixture of the Boston Symphony's woodwind section for 37 years, has died at 85.

Gomberg died last weekend at a hospice in Wayland, Mass., of primary lateral sclerosis, a neuromuscular disease better known as Lou Gehrig's disease, said his wife of 58 years, Sydelle Silver Gomberg.

Gomberg played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1950 to 1987.

He taught at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore; the New England Conservatory; Boston University and the Berkshire Music Center. Many of his former students are principal oboists of U.S. symphony orchestras, the Boston Globe said.

Gomberg was born in Boston's West End, the youngest of seven children. Several of them were as musically talented as he was and also played professionally.

He used to joke that it would be daunting to find a quiet room in which to practice.

Gombenrg is survived by his wife, three daughters and seven grandchildren.

Bluegrass legend Homer Ledford dies at 79
 

Tuesday December 12, 2006
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Homer Ledford dies at 79

By Mike Wynn

His instruments have graced the halls of the Smithsonian Institute and sold for more than $1,000 on eBay. The renowned bluegrass musician and craftsman won local immortality with many Winchester residents who couldn’t even play — they would buy his instruments simply because they wanted a “true Homer Ledford.”

But “a pretty instrument is worthless unless it plays pretty,” Ledford told the Sun in 1978.

After more than a half century of celebrated craft and showmanship, Ledford, 79, died Monday at his Winchester home, leaving behind a legacy that included more than 6,000 dulcimers and international acclaim as a bluegrass musician with his band, Homer Ledford and the Cabin Creek Band.

“I think he is best known as an instrument maker,” said Colista Ledford, his wife of 53 years.

Doctors could never say for certain whether he had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Colista said he had been sick for three years, his condition worsening in the final six months of his life. In the end, he may have suffered from a stroke, she said.

Friends and family remember him as a gentle husband and father.

“They all gathered around him and held his hand and told him how much they loved him as he died,” said Colista.

According to his band’s Web site, Ledford was born in the Appalachian Mountain region of Tennessee, where he constructed his first fiddle at an early age in 1941. He later received a scholarship to attend the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C., in 1946, and constructed his first dulcimer there while recuperating from rheumatic fever.

“As far as I can remember, I have always been interested in playing instruments. My uncle had a guitar I always wanted to just sit and strum,” he once said.

He attended Berea College and later received a Bachelor of Science degree in l954 from Eastern Kentucky University. He set up a woodworking shop in the basement of his Winchester home on Sunset Heights in 1955. For 10 years, he taught high school industrial arts in Jefferson and Clark counties, but resigned in 1963 to pursue a a full-time career as an instrument maker, according to the Web site.

Early in his career, Ledford was known for producing a dulcimer a day and was still creating about 50 instruments per year in 2005.

Ron Pen, a University of Kentucky associate professor of musicology and director of the John Jacob Niles Center for Appalachian Music, said in 2005 that Ledford’s life-long output was unparalleled.

“He’s something of an Edison,” Pen said. “It reflects a time in craftsmanship in which beauty and function were absolutely intertwined.”

Ledford’s proficiency in woodworking led him to invent the dulcitar, which is registered in the U.S. patent office and displayed in the Smithsonian along with two more of his creations, a fretless banjo and an Appalachian dulcimer.

By the time of his death, Ledford had completed 6014 dulcimers, 476 banjos, 27 mandolins, 26 guitars, 18 ukuleles, 13 dulcitars, 3 dulcijos, 3 dulcibros, 4 violins and one bowed dulcimer.

Many of the instruments were displayed on stage as he played to local and international audiences with his band, which was formed in 1976 and has still remained active. The group toured as far as Ireland and Ecuador, but performed mostly in Kentucky for the last few years.

Ledford also played solo concerts in Japan, opened for Alison Krauss, shared the stage with bluegrass legend Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys and entertained five Kentucky governors. He played 13 instruments and his ability to perform complex tunes with a saw was often a crowd favorite.

“Music is something for the soul,” Ledford said in 2005. “It will keep you sane in an otherwise insane world.”

His band maintained the longest-running radio show will all the same members for ten years and the city of Winchester held the Homer Ledford Bluegrass Festival in his honor for three years starting in 1986.

Among the honors he received are the 75th annual Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Highland Craft Guild and the 1996 Milner Award from the Governor’s Awards for the Arts. He also was nominated for the National Heritage Award and was named a “Star of Kentucky” in 2002.

In 2004, Ledford also released “See Ya’ Further Up The Creek,” an autobiographical book of short stories and poems. His craft also became fodder for other writers and filmmakers, who made Ledford the center subject in several documentaries, including the recent KET production, “The Dulcimer Maker.”

Ledford was a founder of the Bluegrass Heritage Committee and remained involved in numerous community events over the years.

“He was a very fortune man, a very hard worker,” Colista said.
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WUKY 91.3 F.M. is producing a one-hour show on the musician tonight on “Curtains @ 8” with guest Michael Jonathan, who will recount some of Ledford’s life.

Ledford is survived by his wife, four children and five grandchildren.

“He was a wonderful man, and I was very blessed to have him for almost 54 years,” Colista said.

Copyright:The Winchester Sun 2006



Bluegrass legend Homer Ledford dies at 79

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Homer Ledford and the Cabin Creek Band






Dec 12, 2006 : 10:28 am ET

WINCHESTER, Ky. -- Bluegrass legend Homer Ledford, an Appalachian band leader who crafted hundreds of banjos and guitars, has died from an apparent stroke. He was 79.

Ledford died Monday evening at his home in Winchester after battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, his wife, Colista Ledford, said on Tuesday. The disease causes progressive paralysis.

However, he wanted to string a fiddle up to his last day, his wife said.

"He was best known for the musical instruments he made," she said. "I'll miss his music."

The Tennessee native started making musical instruments as a youngster and earned a scholarship at 18 to attend John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C.

He later attended Berea College, where he met his wife. The two would have celebrated their 54th anniversary on Dec. 20.

Ledford graduated from Eastern Kentucky University in 1954 and taught industrial arts in Jefferson and Clark counties for the next 10 years, Colista Ledford said.

Eventually he devoted his career to instrument-making and the Cabin Creek Band, which performed for 20 years and recorded a half-dozen albums.

He completed an estimated 5,776 dulcimers, 475 banjos, 26 mandolins, 26 guitars, 18 ukuleles, and four violins, among other instruments, according to the band's Web site.

The Smithsonian Institution also houses a sample of his collection, including a fretless banjo, an Appalachian dulcimer, and a dulcitar -- an instrument of his own invention, which he patented.

The Homer Ledford Bluegrass Festival in Winchester was named after him in 1986 and he was one of the original inductees in the Kentucky Stars. A sidewalk plaque honoring him is in front of the Downtown Arts Center on Main Street in Lexington.
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The Rowlan Taylor Funeral Home in Winchester was handling funeral arrangements, which were tentatively scheduled for Thursday.
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Nancy Dee (Croninger) Fegenbush
Nancy Dee (Croninger) Fegenbush, died peacefully on Saturday, December 2, 2006 after a courageous and well fought eleven year battle with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS).

On September 13, 1951 in Wauseon, Ohio, Nancy was born to N.D. and Phyllis (Jo) Croninger. When she was 10, her family moved to Gila Bend, Arizona, where they lived until 1964 and the family moved on to Yuma. Nancy graduated from Yuma High School in 1969. During high school she was active in the theater and the Choralairs. At the age of 15, Nancy’s singing talent was discovered and nurtured by local Yuma entertainer and musician Joe Wehrle Sr. She and Joe performed together at the Yuma County Fair and other functions. At the age of 16, Nancy was performing on weekends at the Holiday Inn. She won various talent shows and in 1969 was crowned Miss Yuma County. In 1970, she was a runner up in the Miss Arizona Pageant. Nancy attended Arizona Western College for two years before transferring to Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, Arizona. In 1974, she graduated from NAU with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. She continued to live in Flagstaff and worked as a deputy clerk for the Coconino County Clerk of the Superior Court. Upon returning to Yuma, she worked for Kammann/Johnson Mortuaries for 15 years and then was an Administrative Secretary to Chief Robby Robinson of the Yuma Police Department. Well known for her singing talent, Nancy continued to entertain at various functions around the city. But her most favorite engagements were for her beloved Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

In 1992, Nancy met and married her one true love Doug Fegenbush. Doug, also a terrific singer, performed with Nancy on many occasions. In 1994, for the second time in her life, Nancy moved away from Yuma to live on Coronado Island in San Diego while Doug was stationed there with the U.S. Marine Corps. It was there in April of 1996 that she was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease) a terminal illness. In 1997, she and Doug returned home to Yuma to live until 2000 when they moved once again to Newport, Rhode Island. In 2004, Nancy and Doug moved to Ford Island in the middle of Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu in Hawaii where she lived until she quietly passed away at home, with Doug at her bedside. Now, Nancy is making her final trip home to Yuma, her favorite place on earth.

Nancy is survived by her husband Colonel Doug Fegenbush, USMC; her mother Phyllis (Jo) Croninger of Yuma, her sisters, Sue Stallworth and Joni (Steve) Meinhardt of Yuma; her stepchildren, Brandon Fegenbush (currently serving an LDS Mission in the Kenya-Nairobi mission), Amy and Nicky Fegenbush of Portland Oregon, and Chad Schreiber of San Diego. She is also survived by her nephews, Toby (Carli) Myers and Steven Seale of Yuma, Ryan Seale of Chandler, Arizona, two great-nephews, Trace Myers and Jace Seale; and great niece, Macy Myers. Nancy was preceded in death by her father, N.D. Croninger; and brother-in-law Richard Stallworth.

There will be a visitation from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Friday, December 15, 2006 at Johnson Mortuary and memorial services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, December 16, 2006 at the Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 4300 West 16th Street, Yuma. Gravesite services will follow at Desert Lawn Cemetery Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Nancy’s memory may be made to the LDS Missionary Fund (c/o LDS Stake Center, 4300 W. 16th Street, Yuma, AZ 85364), the ALS Association (27001 Agoura Road, Suite 150, Calabasas Hills, CA 91301-5104) or the Miss Yuma County Scholarship Pageant (c/o 770 S. 8th Avenue, Yuma, AZ 85364).

Robert V. Cordle





Feb. 22, 1952 — Dec. 12, 2006

Robert V. Cordle, 54, of Hillsboro died Tuesday at Tuality Community Hospital.

He was born in Albany, the son of Francis and Letta Mae (Stanley) Cordle.

He married Sherry Huggard on March 9, 1991, at Spring, Texas.

Survivors include wife Sherry; children Jennifer Thomas of Kirkland, Wash., Norma Cook of Beaverton, and Andrew Cordle of Silverdale, Wash.; sister Evelyn Rake of Albany; and grandchildren Gabriel, Sophie, Robbin, Cameron and Hailey.

Private interment will be held.

Remembrances can be made to the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association, Oregon and S.W. Washington Chapter, 310 S.W. Fourth Ave. #630, Portland, OR 97204, or www.alsa-or.org.

Tualatin Valley Funeral Alternatives is handling arrangements, (503) 693-7965.

Bo Busby passes away
Austin Business Journal - 3:03 PM CST Monday


Bo Busby, the chairman of Hill Partners Corporate Services Inc., passed away on Sunday evening after a long battle with Lou Gehrig's disease. He was 40.

Busby founded Hill Partners Corporate Services, a division of the company now known as HPI Real Estate Services & Investments Inc., in 2000. That same year he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. ALS destroys the body's neuromuscular system over time resulting in paralysis.


"Bo built up Corporate Services to what it is today, and it remains an evergreen operation," says Richard Hill, partner and co-founder of HPI. "Bo was a great partner and a great friend as well. He had a lot of loyalty around the community and the office as well."

"If I were cured tomorrow, I don't think I would change the way I approach life--as a precious gift," Busby said in a June 2005 interview. "Every day isn't earned, it's a gift."

"I'm dealing with the frustrations of not being able to do things I used to be able to do," Busby said. "I gave up golf, fishing, riding bikes with the kids, snow skiing..." He added that the diagnosis had led him to take stock of what matters most. "Today, I'm content with today."

Busby is survived by his wife, Kerri, and daughters, Madeline and Abigail.

"Bo faced his illness with a courage and selflessness I have never encountered elsewhere in my life," says Volney Campbell, co-managing partner of corporate services. "The example he put before us facing death is the example all of us should use to live our lives going forward. He did not let adversity weigh him down, and his charity towards others has inspired many, including me, to strive to emulate those qualities."

In April 2005 employees with Hill Partners launched The Busby Foundation, in honor of their colleague. The foundation held biannual crawfish boils to raise money for Central Texans coping with ALS and their families.

"Obviously, it's very flattering to have your peers and friends step up and form this in your name and carry forward my legacy, whatever that may be," Busby said in an interview at the time. "But even before this, the last five years, they've been behind me the whole way."

According to a Web site on ALS, about 13 cases of the disease are diagnosed each day nationwide. Most of those who develop the disease are between 40 and 70 years of age. The average expected survival time for those suffering from ALS is three to five years. At any given time, approximately 30,000 people in the United States are living with the disease.

Jail liaison, public housing advocate dies
By SETH SLABAUGH
seths@muncie.gannett.com


MUNCIE -- Longtime public servant Jerry Thornburg, 71, who had been suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease, died Sunday.

He was a union, neighborhood and Democratic activist, a three-term county auditor and a pipe fitter at Delco Battery, finishing his career as Community Development director for the city of Muncie until the disease forced him out of city hall several months ago. He lived in the historic East Central neighborhood.



As auditor in the late 1980s, he spearheaded efforts to build a new county jail after Democratic County Commissioners Doyle Bell and Lawrence (Sparky) Walsh and Republican Commissioner Ronald Quakenbush gave up responsibility.

"He kept the project on its feet after I resigned as liaison," Quakenbush recalled Monday. "I couldn't handle it. I couldn't get anywhere in the minority. Jerry picked it up and carried the ball."

Former Special Master Lee McNeely, who was appointed by U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker to complete the jail project, on Monday said of Thornburg, "He was a dedicated public servant who we found, in very difficult times, was a man of integrity and strength. I know the court appreciated his candor. Jerry could be pretty blunt at times. You didn't always like what he said, but you knew what he told you was from the heart and that it was the truth."

Kaye Nelson, the widow of former Democratic Party Chairman Ira (Rip) Nelson, recalled that when Thornburg was auditor, he removed the door to his office and had it stored in the basement of the county building because he believed in open government.

Thornburg's three siblings were all teachers, Nelson said. "Jerry didn't go to college, but he was smarter than all of them," she said. "He could've been anything he wanted."

Thornburg's involvement in the jail fiasco probably is what cost him a fourth term as auditor when he sought re-election in 1990.

But he became a public servant again in 1998 when Republican Mayor Dan Canan appointed him as CD director.

His legacy in that position includes Millennium Place, which replaces the barracks-style Munsyana Homes, the oldest public housing project in the state, with colorful Craftsman-style, New Urbanist public homes with gables, dormers, covered front porches, brick facades and old-fashioned street lights.

"As CD director, he was a real advocate for people in need," Canan said. "Millennium Place is a direct result of his perseverance and tenacity in sticking with that project."

Bill Smith, a city sanitary district commissioner, said, "Jerry probably bent a lot of rules, but he wanted to get a lot of things done. If anybody wants to see the true story of Jerry Thornburg, look at Munsyana Homes and what's happened down there and the improvement he made."

Last month, U.S. Rep. Mike Pence presented the ailing Thornburg with a Sagamore of the Wabash award from Gov. Mitch Daniels. That coincided with the dedication of a linear park at Millennium Place as "Jerry L. Thornburg Park."

Just because Thornburg went to work for a Republican mayor doesn't mean he quit being a Democrat.

"Absolutely not," Canan said. "I didn't make him a Republican. He was a very proud Democrat."

Reporters remember a sign that Thornburg used to have in his office when he was auditor. It read: "Democrat born, Democrat bred, and when they bury me I'll be Democrat dead."

'Sullivans' son loses disease fightFioana Byrne

December 24, 2006 12:00am



ACTOR Richard Morgan, who found fame as a youngster as Terry Sullivan on the much loved Australia drama series The Sullivans, has lost his battle with motor neurone disease.

Morgan, 48, died in Melbourne yesterday. He leaves his wife, Lisa, and two daughters, Ella and Zoe.
Morgan's last acting role was that of detective Reg Masters in the undercover cop drama Stingers in 2004.

He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease last June.

Morgan revealed his condition in an emotional radio interview a year later, stating that he knew his time was limited.

"The attitude I had to take was that tragedies occur everywhere, all the time," Morgan said.

"For a lot of people, the tragedy is sudden. My life hasn't stopped instantaneously.

"I may as well enjoy each day I have, because that's all I have.

"I have feeling in my legs but I have no control over them. The muscle has wasted.

"It's started moving to my chest, which is why my breathing sounds laboured, and it's moving to my arms."

Motor neurone disease is the name given to a group of diseases in which the nerve cells controlling the muscles that enable us to move, speak, breathe and swallow do not work normally.

With no nerves to activate them, muscles gradually weaken and waste.

Morgan followed his stint in The Sullivans with roles in the hit film Phar Lap and TV series Home and Away, A Country Practice and Sons and Daughters.

Despite his obvious talent and ready work opportunities, Morgan dropped out of acting for a decade during which he built a profitable computer business.

He sold the business and returned to acting, landing roles in quality shows including MDA, Blue Heelers and Something in the Air.

Businessman cruised Route 66 despite illness
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
By Kym Reinstadler
The Grand Rapids Press


GRAND RAPIDS -- A Grand Rapids businessman, who in May parlayed his dream of cruising U.S. Route 66 in a red Corvette into a benefit for Lou Gehrig's disease, died at home Friday of the disease.

Funeral services for John "JJ" Bouma Jr., 54, chairman of the board for Bouma Corp., are 11 a.m. Friday at Calvary Church, 707 East Beltline Ave. NE, with Jim Samra and the Rev. Edward Dobson officiating.

Dobson was Mr. Bouma's pastor at Calvary Church. The two became friends in September 2005, the month the disease forced Dobson to step down from the pulpit.

That was the same month Mr. Bouma was diagnosed with bulbar, an aggressive form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a neurodegenerative condition commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

"JJ wanted to share his faith with PALS (persons with ALS) who came out to meet our group in eight states along Route 66," said Doug Bouma, JJ's brother.

"By then, his voice was weak, but Pastor Dobson was there to help when he couldn't get the words out."

With organizational help from longtime friend Ross Luurtsema of ALTL Inc., a local trucking company, the entourage grew to include 42 friends in 13 Corvettes -- many bought specifically to make the trip -- and two motor homes.

The caravan's weeklong, 2,800-mile journey from Chicago to Los Angeles raised $318,000 for ALS research and was photographed for an exhibit and videographed for a documentary about the disease.

"The trip was both exhausting and exhilarating for him," said Pam Bouma, JJ's wife. "It was indicative of how he liked to do things. Nothing was ever just about him."

The couple spent their 1994 honeymoon in Albania, helping to build an orphanage for Bethany Christian Services.

He raised money and helped construct two orphanages in Albania in the 1990s, said JJ's father, John Bouma Sr.

"My brother was like a cheerleader without pompons," Doug Bouma said.

To keep alive his passion to make the world a better place, the Bouma family is setting up a JJ Bouma ALS Clinic Fund at Fifth Third Bank. Memorial contributions will be used to establish a clinic associated with a Grand Rapids hospital to treat West Michigan ALS patients.


Currently, all ALS patients in state go to the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor for treatment, family members said.

About 125 people in West Michigan are known to have ALS, but that's probably a third of the actual number, said Tom Farley, executive director of the ALS Association's West Michigan chapter.

ALS Association has named its cross-country cruise in May 2007 from Los Angeles to Washington in Bouma's honor, Bouma said.

Mr. Bouma graduated in 1970 from East Christian High School and worked in the family business 35 years, including 12 as president and chief executive officer. He was designated chairman of the board a year ago.

The company has two divisions and employs 250 people building commercial interiors and schools in several states, he said.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Bouma is survived by his children and their spouses, Aimee and Ian Mortensen, of Rockford, Jessica Carpenter, of Grand Rapids, Tyler and Melinda Carpenter, of Texas, Scott and Angie Bouma, of Marquette; parents John and Sharon Bouma of Holland and Betty Hall, of Grand Rapids; three grandchildren; and brothers and sisters, Pam and Bob Molenhouse, of Holland, Doug and Trish Bouma, of Ada, and Susan and Timothy Small, of Lancaster, S.C.

Visitation is 5 to 9 p.m. today and 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Matthysse-Kuiper-DeGraaf Funeral Home,

4145 Chicago Drive, Grandville.

To contribute to the ALS fund in Bouma's memory, contact the ALS Association's West Michigan chapter,

731 Front St., at 459-1900 or at mail@alsa-westmichigan.org.

Send e-mail to the author: kreinstadler@grpress.com

Investor-developer Zimet dies at 68
By Tony Davis
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.28.2006
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Michael Zimet, an investor and developer who helped make peace between Tucson's development and conservation communities, died Tuesday.
Zimet, a property-rights activist whose views moved closer to those of environmentalists over time, died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, at a Northwest Side hospice. He was 68.
He had been active in the Tucson area from the late 1970s until he was stricken with the disease in spring 2006.
Over the years, Zimet and his Vanguard Companies, where he was a principal partner and investor, worked on projects across Arizona: in Marana and the Sahuarita area near Tucson, in the town of Quartzsite near the California line and in Pomerene in Cochise County.
A New York City native, he worked as a developer and investor in Southern California before moving here in 1978.
His most recent project, Ocotillo Ranch in the Santa Rita Mountains foothills, was the first development to seek approval under Pima County's conservation subdivision ordinance. The law tries to regulate the layouts of developments so the maximum number of homes allowed by their zoning can be built with the least possible effects on the desert.
Zimet sat on the county advisory committee that drafted that ordinance. He spent nine years securing a wide range of government approvals for his project of 42 four-acre lots on 174 acres at the extreme south end of South Houghton Road. Vanguard hopes to start formal land-clearing next year.
He was most publicly visible as one of a handful of property-rights activists who sat on a county advisory committee on the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, the proposed land preservation plan spanning more than 500,000 acres of environmentally valuable land.
He started as a strong skeptic if not outright opponent of the plan. Later, he negotiated closely with his philosophical opposites at the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection and became a strong although still skeptical supporter of Pima County's land-saving efforts.
"He was a hard-driving businessman but he knew that you had to look at it from all sides," said Dennis Melin, one of his two partners at Vanguard.
Zimet grew and wasn't afraid to learn something new, said Christina McVie, a Northwest Side environmental activist.
"Michael wasn't your average-looking enviro. People listened to him when he spoke to the property-rights groups. He was very helpful in building a sense of trust and consensus in the community," McVie said.
Zimet is survived by his wife, Mona Hart of Tucson; his mother, Charlotte Zimet, and a sister, Beverly Sachs, both of Beverly Hills, Calif.; four sons: Jeffrey and Kenny, both of Tucson, Marc of Miami Beach, Fla., and Lynne of Miami, Fla.; and four grandchildren.
Services are at 11 a.m. Friday at East Lawn Palms Cemetery, 5801 E. Grant Road.
Obituary
● Contact reporter Tony Davis at 806-7746 or tdavis@azstarnet.com.
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Ted Cron, 76; Editor, Public Affairs Executive, Koop Speechwriter
Saturday, December 30, 2006; Page B05


Theodore O. "Ted" Cron, 76, who created three magazines during a 25-year career as a public affairs executive at six federal agencies, died Dec. 20 at his home in Somerset. He had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Mr. Cron came to Washington from New York City in 1964 to join the public affairs staff of the office of education in what was then the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.



He started the magazine American Education and revamped an outdated agency photo file that included only white children. He ran the press office at the White House Conference on Education in 1965.

When James L. Goddard became Food and Drug Administration commissioner in 1966, Mr. Cron served as assistant commissioner for education and information and as Goddard's principal speechwriter. He also established a consumer education program that was extended nationwide by consumer specialists in each of FDA's 18 district offices.

He started the monthly magazine FDA Papers and published it in color to help readers recognize pharmaceutical products and see how contaminants might affect foods.

He also spearheaded an affirmative action program that made the FDA one of the first federal agencies to actively promote more job opportunities for minorities.

After leaving the FDA in 1968, Mr. Cron joined a public relations firm in Washington, testified before congressional committees on health and consumer legislation and sued HEW to contest an announced Medicare premium increase. He contended that the department failed to provide an actuarial basis for the proposed increase and did not invite public comment on the issue.

Three years later, he returned to the federal government as publications director of HEW's Social and Rehabilitation Service, where he started Human Needs, a national magazine with inserts for each of the agency's 10 regions.

He served for a time as director of information of the Federal Trade Commission during the Carter administration.

In 1981, Mr. Cron became speechwriter for Surgeon General C. Everett Koop.

During the next eight years, he wrote 350 speeches for Koop, tackling such issues as AIDS, alcoholism, smoking, domestic violence and sudden infant death syndrome.

Mr. Cron left the Public Health Service in 1989 and joined the National Association of Elementary School Principals, where he set up pen-pal relationships between elementary schools in the United States and in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

A prolific freelance writer and editor, he completed a novel, "Assignment: Istanbul" (2005), and was working on a second when he was stricken with ALS. Earlier, he co-authored a picture-and-text history, "Portrait of Carnegie Hall" (1966).

A native of Newton, Mass., Mr. Cron received a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in teaching in 1953 from Harvard University. He joined the Army that same year and married soon afterward. He was on active duty in Japan, then worked for the Army as a civilian for two years.

In 1957, he and his wife returned to the United States and settled in New York.

He worked for Scholastic for three years, serving as managing editor of its weekly classroom publication Practical English and then became editor of the trade periodical Overview, later renamed American School & University.

In Washington, Mr. Cron and his wife, Lee H. Cron, were among the founding members of Southwest Hebrew Congregation, which later became Temple Micah and relocated to Wisconsin Avenue NW. His wife died in 1998.

Mr. Cron was a founding member of the Temple Micah choir and sang with the group for 40 years. He also enjoyed creating pencil and ink sketches, watercolors and whimsical statuary.

Survivors include his wife, Suzanne Harris, whom he married last year, of Somerset; two children from his first marriage, Elizabeth D. Koozmin of Reston and Adam D. Cron of Allentown, Pa.; a sister; and three grandchildren.

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Martha Alexander

Dec. 12, 1938-Dec. 17, 2006

Former Troutdale resident Martha Alexander, 68, died of ALS, which is more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, Sunday, Dec. 17, at her home in Tomball, Texas.

A funeral was held Tuesday, Dec. 26, at First Baptist Church in Tomball.

Martha was born Dec. 12, 1938, in Travis County, Texas, to Robert Wilburn and Bessie Vivian (O’Brien) Turner. She was raised and educated in Smithville, Texas, where she graduated from high school.

Martha married James Alexander. They were married for 46 years and lived in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Troutdale, before returning to Texas, where they retired.

She taught piano lessons.

Survivors include her husband of Tomball; two daughters; two sons; and 11 grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the ALS Association, Greater Houston Chapter, P.O. Box 271561, Houston, TX 77277-1561, or the First Baptist Church “Because We Believe” fund, 411 Oxford St., Tomball, TX 77375.

Legacy Memorial Inc. in Houston is handling arrangements.
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JAMIE GOLD'S FATHER PASSES


2006 WSOP Champ Jamie Gold's father passed away recently. Jamie had just landed in Las Vegas to play in the $15,000 Bellagio 5 Diamond Poker Classic when he got the call, and got right back on a plane home. Gold's father, a doctor, suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). WSOP viewers may remember tender moments during the ESPN telecast where Gold would talk to his father on the telephone, at a point when the disease had already taken many of his faculties away. Our condolences go out to the Gold family. Readers can find out more about ALS at alsa.org

Chase Bruns
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Chase Lane Bruns, of Alexandria, Va., and Castine, Maine, died on Thursday, Dec. 28, 2006, after a long struggle with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ) popularly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. At the time of her death, she was 73. She was one of the founders and a longtime member of the Hollin Hills Potters, an art-boutique /studio pottery, in the Old Towne, Alexandria, Va., Torpedo Factory Arts Center.

Mrs. Bruns was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Lane, of Lookout Mountain, Tenn.

She graduated in 1955 from Sweet Briar College, where she majored in psychology and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

In 1974, Chase joined with several artists to found Hollin Hills Pottery, one of first boutique workshops established in the revamped Torpedo Factory.

Throughout her life she supported a wide variety of artistic, social, political, medical and environmental social organizations, national as well as regional in scope, including service on the board of the United Community Ministries in Alexandria, as well as supporting, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Trinity Episcopal Church in Castine, the National Resources Defense Council of Maine, the ALS Society and the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance.

She is survived by her husband, Eugene; three children: a daughter, Jordan Richards; and two sons, Emerson and Lane; three grandchildren, Thorpe Richards and Gracie Lane and John Chase Bruns; and her brother, Joseph H. Lane, of Greeneville, Tenn.

Memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 2, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Alexandria.

Glen Curtis, noted philanthropist and 2002 Citizen of Year, dies

BY JEFFREY GAUTREAUX, SUN STAFF WRITER
Dec 31, 2006, 6:51 pm


Glen G. Curtis, one of Yuma’s most successful and generous business leaders, died Saturday at his home in Yuma. The noted citrus farmer, developer and philanthropist was 85 years old.

Glen T. “Spike” Curtis said his father had been suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease for the past few years and passed away at 6:20 p.m. Saturday. The elder Curtis was with his wife, Annette, his 12 children and their families at the time of his death.

“He was just a real charitable and giving person,” Spike Curtis said. “He gave a lot of money to the Yuma Community Food Bank, the Catholic Church, the University of Arizona, the Catholic school. But he gave a lot of money anonymously, too. He was just a very charitable person. That’s what he liked doing.”

Spike Curtis said the family is planning a private burial Thursday with a memorial service at 2 p.m. Friday and a wake to follow that service. Spike Curtis said the family is “getting by.”

“We’re doing good,” he said.

In a life filled with accolades thanks to his generosity, Glen Curtis was chosen as The Sun’s 2002 Citizen of the Year and the Benefactor of the Year and Philanthropist of the Year at the 2004 Yuma Community Foundation Heart of Yuma Awards. He came to Yuma in 1950, helping to grow 20,000 acres of citrus as well as to develop residential and commercial areas throughout the county.

The final project Glen Curtis worked on is still ongoing — the ambitious Coyote Wash development in Wellton. The development, now selling in stages three and four, has plans to add a championship golf course and more homes in the future.

Dunbar Norton, who worked for many years on economic development in Yuma, said Glen Curtis was always very supportive of those endeavors. “I have a great deal of respect for the man,” he said.

When asked why the man gave so generously, Norton recalled being among a group having coffee who asked Glen Curtis just that question. “He said it was based on the premise that you pay back,” Norton said. “You have earned, you owe, you pay back. If you can’t give back dollars, you give back time.”

Glen Curtis’ commitment to Yuma was honored in April 2006 with the naming of the Glen G. Curtis Agricultural Research Building at the Yuma Valley Experiment Farm, 6425 W. 8th St. The Curtis family pledged $250,000 to kick off the fundraising campaign to develop the 20,000-square-foot building.

Glen G. Curtis was born June 5, 1921, in San Diego. He served as a U.S. Air Force pilot in World War II and retired from the service as a major to San Diego with his first wife, the late Elena Orendain Curtis. In 1949, they moved to the Baja peninsula to farm, and it was the farmers there who introduced the Curtises to Yuma.

In 1950, Glen Curtis moved here and opened a real estate brokerage office focusing on agriculture properties. He and Elena would raise 12 children together.

Glen Curtis developed the citrus business as Curtis, Woodman and Roach. The development side of the business grew as well. Today, Glen Curtis Inc. sells commercial and residential properties throughout the county, and its sister company, Glen Curtis Development Inc., plans and develops those properties.

Glen Curtis donated $2 million to Yuma Catholic High School to help build an athletic complex that is named in honor of Elena Orendain Curtis, who passed away in 1987. In 1990, Glen Curtis married Annette Lux Fitzgerald. Between them, they had 15 children, 42 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

Father John Friel, the founding president of Yuma Catholic, said Glen Curtis was excited that the school and the city of Yuma could both use the athletic fields at the complex, so he gave $1 million to the project. Friel said that when Glen Curtis heard that the fields would be done on time, but the school may not be, he gave another million to get the school done as well.

Friel said Glen Curtis was aware that people had helped him, so he wanted to help others. “Glen was a good, good soul,” he said.

According to a letter written by one of his daughters to nominate him as the Citizen of the Year, Glen Curtis in 2002 alone gave $2.5 million to local charities, such as the Yuma Community Food Bank, Assistance League of Yuma, Crossroads Mission, Hospice of Yuma and Yuma Catholic.

Rocky Curtis said his father was one of the "good old timers" and as generous as they come. He said his father supported all kinds of groups including little league baseball, girls softball and the Catholic Church. "He loved this community, and he loved his family and friends," Rocky Curtis said.

Jeffrey Gautreaux can be reached at jgautreaux@yumasun.com or 539-6858.

Jerald 'Jerry' Francis Tifft

January 02, 2007


Jerald "Jerry" Francis Tifft, 63, Newell, died Thursday Dec. 28, 2006 at his residence following a courageous battle with Lou Gehrig's disease.
Funeral services were held Tuesday Jan. 2, 2007 at the Kinkade Funeral Chapel in Sturgis with Mr. Jim Chafee officiating. Burial follows at the Bear Butte Cemetery in Sturgis.
Memorials have been established to the Hospice of the Northern Hills and to the Ronald McDonald House in Honor of his Grandson, Conner, who is battling Leukemia.
Jerry was born Dec. 13, 1943 at Rapid City, to Glenn Lathrop and Inez (Chafee) Tifft. He was raised at Union Center, S.D. where he developed his loved of ranching. On Oct. 2, 1965, Jerry married Janet Miller at Newell. Together they ranched for 20 years at Stoneville, S.D. To this marriage four children were born.
In 1985 he sold his ranch and went to work for the Meade County Highway Department as the bridge foreman. He worked until his retirement in 2005.
His infectious humor and love for life attracted numerous friends. His honesty and abundant willingness to always be there to help his family, neighbors and friends is a legacy that will be forever remembered by all who knew him.
Survivors include his wife Janet, Newell; two sons, Vince (Collette) Tifft, Newell, Verl Tifft, Newell; two daughters, Velvaleah (John) Clauser, Spearfish, Vonda (Mike) Clausen, Newell; one sister, Twyla (Larry) Schraeder, Sturgis; one brother, Tom (Brenda) Tifft, Union Center; seven grandchildren, Chelsey, Kyle, Katelyn, Jacindah, John, Matt and Conner.
He was preceded in death by his parents.



©The Black Hills Pioneer, Newspapers, South Dakota, SD 2007
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Body of missing woman found
MARCIE YOUNG
myoung@charlotteobserver.com
Authorities in Burke County on Thursday found the body of a 75-year-old Morganton woman in a wooded area behind her mobile home -- two days after her family last spoke with her.

Veronica Hallyburton, who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, a pacemaker and was partially blind, hadn't been seen since Tuesday morning, according to a Burke County Sheriff's Office press release.

She was last seen when she wished her great-grandson goodbye as he headed to school after spending the night at her home, the release said.

Authorities said they found Hallyburton's body in the woods near her home Thursday afternoon and, because of her poor health, do not suspect foul play.

The family told authorities that Hallyburton had spoken with a daughter-in-law at about 10 a.m. Tuesday, according to the release.

The next afternoon, a neighbor found Hallyburton's dog, which generally stays inside the mobile home, with leaves and mud caked in its fur, authorities said.

The family told investigators that they found the door unlocked and slightly open when they brought the dog to Hallyburton's home but that her purse and cane were inside the house.

Wife of Clinton’s Gordon Graham dies

Native of England became deeply involved as parent, volunteer while in town

By Karen Nugent TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF






CLINTON— Most Clintonians know of the Rev. Gordon Graham, and many who knew him also recall the charming British woman who became his wife.

Sadly, Barbara Graham last week lost a long struggle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

She died Thursday in Newcastle, Northern Ireland, where the couple moved several years ago.


Mrs. Graham, 72, lived with Rev. Graham in his hometown of Clinton from 1970 through 1986, according to her daughter, Rachel Evans, who lives in Somerville.

During that time, Rev. Graham, who became an Anglican priest in the Church of Ireland in 1997, worked as an environmental regulator for the state Department of Environmental Management, and for the Metropolitan District Commission.

He was also a teacher, served on the School Committee, and founded Clinton High School’s first Irish student exchange program.

A few years later, in 1985, Rev. Graham established the Lillian and George Graham Trust in honor of his parents. The trust funds the popular exchange program.

The program was Rev. Graham’s endeavor to bring together students from British Northern Ireland, where his father’s roots were, and the Republic of Ireland, his mother’s home country.

His mother took the path of many other new Clintonians, leaving County Mayo in the west of Ireland for her new home.

The exchange program stipulates that students from both countries come to town.

Narrowing the divide between England and Ireland was already demonstrated in his own life, when he married Mrs. Graham — who started life as Barbara Sutton in Southampton, England.

Leading as colorful a life as her husband — perhaps more so — she served in Vienna with the British high commissioner, Lord Harold Caccia, and then accompanied him as his personal secretary in his next post as British ambassador to the U.S., Ms. Evans said.

Ms. Evans said her parents met at an Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C.

After marrying Rev. Graham and moving to Clinton, Mrs. Graham, according to her daughter, raised three children here and participated in church and civic activities.

She was a trustee of the Weeks Fund, an educational foundation that brings lectures and music to town, and was in the choir and vestry of the Church of the Good Shepherd.

She continued to work, and retired from Harvard Medical School, where she was an administrator in the social medicine department and an editor of an international journal on medical anthropology.

After moving to Northern Ireland, she remained active and served on the Boards of Age Concern (similar to Councils on Aging in the U.S.) and with a group called Protestants and Catholics Encounter, and sang in three chorale groups.

Mrs. Graham had a degree in languages from Royal Holloway College in London, her daughter said.

Nancy J. Gerlach of Clinton, who worked with Rev. Graham on the exchange program, described Mrs. Graham as a “lovely, lovely woman.”

Mrs. Graham’s funeral will be held Jan. 13 in St. John’s Church in Newcastle.

Contact Karen Nugent by e-mail at knugent@telegram.com.

Martha Graeber
Article Launched: 01/03/2007 02:29:31 PM PST


Martha V. Graeber, a 57-year resident of Redlands, died of Lou Gehrig's disease Dec. 30 at her home in Redlands. She was 82.
She was born Nov. 23, 1924, in Tempe, Ariz., and graduated from Sacred Heart Academy in Los Angeles.

She earned in art from the University of Southern California and was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.

In 1947 she married Charles C. Graeber at Christ the King in North Hollywood.

She was involved in many organizations, and served as a docent at Kimberly Crest House and Gardens in Redlands.

Survivors include her husband, Charles C. Graeber of Redlands; sons Charles C. Graeber Jr. of Fallbrook and Arthur Graeber of Yucaipa; daughters Ann King of Yucaipa and Erin Graeber Bougie of Highland; and six grandchildren.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 4, at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, 115 W. Olive Ave., Redlands. A reception will follow at 3 p.m. at Redlands Country Club, 1749 Garden St., Redlands. Emmerson-Bartlett Memorial Chapel in Redlands is handling arrangements.

Memorial donations may be made to ALS Foundation, Redlands Hospice or Redlands Community Hospital.

Robert M. Hearin

Funeral services for Robert M. Hearin, 48, of Cullman, will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 6, 2007, at the First United Methodist Church, the Rev. Bob Alford and the Rev. Bob Murray officiating, with burial in the Cullman City Cemetery.

Cullman Heritage Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Hearin died Wednesday, Jan. 3, following a long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was born on March 1, 1958, to the Rev. Gerry and June Hearin in Montgomery.

He was preceded in death by his grandparents, G.M. and Alma Hearin, and Robert and Matilda Fitzpatrick.

Survivors include his wife of 24 years, Marsha Brock Hearin of Cullman; two sons, Robert Tyler and Preston Brock of Cullman; a daughter, Carissa Michelle of Cullman; parents Rev. Gerry and June Hearin; a sister, Lisa (Steve) Alexander; his mother-in-law, Genneli (Jim) Barrs; his father-in-law, Moody (Margie) Brock; a sister-in-law, Sherry (Pete) Moore; a brother-in-law, Jimmy (Heather) Brock; nieces and nephews, Kyle, Keith and Kirk Wingard, Christopher Moore, Hunter and Clay Brock, Blaire and Reese Alexander, and Duck, the family’s special dog.

Mr. Hearin came to Cullman in 1973 when his father was named minister at First United Methodist Church. He was president of his senior class in 1976 and graduated from Cullman High School where he was a basketball star, earning most valuable player honors in the Tennessee Valley Conference tournament and establishing a scoring record for tournament play. He earned a scholarship to Huntingdon College in Montgomery.

He was a successful entrepreneur, helping start Computer Network Inc., Computer Network Link Inc., Cullman Logistics Inc., Cullman Bonded Inc. and Cullman Oil Inc. after working for the Blount County and purchasing Ben Prickett’s China and Gift Store.

Mr. Hearin was actively involved in local sports programs. He coached boys and girls youth AYSO and AYSA soccer teams, basketball teams, softball teams and baseball teams.

While president of the Cullman Quarterback Club in 2003, the football field was resurfaced. During his tenure as president of the Cullman Tip-Off Boosters Club in 2001, the gymnasium floor was resurfaced for the first time in 20 years and a court divider curtain for Cullman Middle School’s gymnasium was purchased. And as vice president of the Cullman High School Baseball Boosters in 2002, he organized and oversaw the construction of the baseball field house at Cullman High School.

Three times as a Republican candidate, he ran for positions in the state Senate and the state House of Representatives.

Mr. Hearin was named Kiwanian of the Year in 1991-92 and was a past officer of the Cullman Historical Society.

First United Methodist’s fellowship hall was named Hearin Hall in honor of contributions by Mr. Hearin and his family. He served as chairman of the Board of Stewards and chairman of the Pastor Parish Relations Committee. He was a Sunday School teacher for both the senior high class and the adult Enthusiasts’ class, drove the church bus, served as an usher and was a frequent volunteer in virtually all aspects of church life.

For the past six months, he wrote a weekly column in The Cullman Times.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the First United Methodist Church Building Fund or the Cullman High School Athletic Department.

Pallbearers will be Phil Anderson, Mike Arnold, Tim Binkowski, Wilson Blaylock, Rusty Buster, Neal Culpepper, Tim Culpepper, Ed Darling, J.J. Guthrie, Doug Harris, Clayton Ingram, Mike McConatha, Joe McElroy, Mike Roden, Fess St. John, Keith Scott, Bill Shields, Allen Stricklin, Steve Sweat, Cody Sweetland, Craig Villar, Rodney Whittle and Stan Wood.

Honorary pallbearers will be Michael Chandler and Cody Green.

Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. today in Hearin Hall at First United Methodist Church.

Richard “****” Reiling



http://www.dhonline.com/content/arti...05_reiling.jpg

June 10, 1942 — Dec. 27, 2006

On Dec. 27, 2006, Richard “****” Reiling lost his long battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) in Gresham.

Richard was born June 10, 1942, in Klamath Falls to Wilbur and Charlene Reiling. He was raised on a dairy farm in South Poe Valley, where he was a member of the Olene Dairy club for 10 years and attended Henley schools for 12 years, graduating in 1960.

He went on to attend school at Southern Oregon University on a football scholarship, graduating with a bachelor of science in secondary education in 1965. This is where he met his beloved wife of 43 years, Yvonne Bailie (Klamath Union, class of 1960). They married in June of 1963. **** went on to receive his master’s degree from Texas A&M in 1969 on a National Science Foundation grant. In 1984 he attended the University of Oregon and earned his administrative degree.

****’s 34 year career in teaching and coaching included: Vandenberg Air Base Junior High in Lompoc, Calif.; Klamath Union High School and Mazama High School in Klamath Falls; Lost River High School in Merrill, and Henley High School, also in Klamath Falls.

In 1980 **** moved into administration and became vice principal at Henley High School. In 1984 he moved to Scio to accept the position as principal of Scio High School.

In 1986 **** became principal at Lebanon High School, retiring from there in 1997. His coaching throughout the years included football, basketball (boys and girls), baseball, wrestling and golf.

**** loved coaching and found great joy in many of his teams achievements some of the highlights were winning the baseball state championship in 1973 while coaching at Lost River High School and the girls basketball state championship in 1980 while coaching at Henley High School.

In 1980, **** was named high school coach of the year for the state of Oregon. That same year he was named girls basketball coach of the Year. In 1973, **** was named baseball coach of the year. All of these accomplishments meant so much to **** as did each of the players he had the privilege of coaching.

He was an avid golfer and loved running. He ran in the Hood to Coast Relay two consecutive years. He spent many enjoyable years as an assistant 4-H leader for the Olene Buckaroos. He had a passion for fishing, hunting, camping and traveling, but his greatest joy in life was for his wife and family.

Survivors include wife Yvonne of Gresham; daughter and son-in-law Chuck and Rhonda Fletcher, Boring; son Scott Reiling, Gresham; grandchildren Rick and Cheri Fletcher and Rob and Jeff Reiling; father Wilbur Reiling, North Bend; brother and sister-in-law Steve and Jeanine Reiling of Maine; sister and brother-in-law Diane and Don Boyer, North Bend; sister and brother-in-law Joe and Linda Corbin of Oakland; numerous cousins, nieces and nephews and cherished friends Mary Thomas and Bobbe Jones.

A celebration of ****’s life will be held in both Lebanon and Klamath Falls. The Lebanon service will be at 2 p.m. Jan. 20 in the Lebanon High School auditorium. The Klamath Falls service will be at 2 p.m. Feb. 3 in the Henley High School gymnasium.

The family has requested memorial donations be made to any Key Bank branch to the Richard Reiling Memorial Fund. These donations will be used to build memorial benches at both Lebanon and Henley high schools and the remaining funds will be donated to the ALS Research Foundation.

Family members may be reached at: Reiling5360@comcast.net

Investor-Developer Zimet Dies at 68
By Tony Davis, Arizona Daily Star

OBITUARY

Michael Zimet, an investor and developer who helped make peace between Tucson's development and conservation communities, died Tuesday.

Zimet, a property-rights activist whose views moved closer to those of environmentalists over time, died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, at a Northwest Side hospice. He was 68.

He had been active in the Tucson area from the late 1970s until he was stricken with the disease in spring 2006.

Over the years, Zimet and his Vanguard Companies, where he was a principal partner and investor, worked on projects across Arizona: in Marana and the Sahuarita area near Tucson, in the town of Quartzsite near the California line and in Pomerene in Cochise County.

A New York City native, he worked as a developer and investor in Southern California before moving here in 1978.

His most recent project, Ocotillo Ranch in the Santa Rita Mountains foothills, was the first development to seek approval under Pima County's conservation subdivision ordinance. The law tries to regulate the layouts of developments so the maximum number of homes allowed by their zoning can be built with the least possible effects on the desert.

Zimet sat on the county advisory committee that drafted that ordinance. He spent nine years securing a wide range of government approvals for his project of 42 four-acre lots on 174 acres at the extreme south end of South Houghton Road. Vanguard hopes to start formal land-clearing next year.

He was most publicly visible as one of a handful of property- rights activists who sat on a county advisory committee on the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, the proposed land preservation plan spanning more than 500,000 acres of environmentally valuable land.

He started as a strong skeptic if not outright opponent of the plan. Later, he negotiated closely with his philosophical opposites at the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection and became a strong although still skeptical supporter of Pima County's land-saving efforts.

"He was a hard-driving businessman but he knew that you had to look at it from all sides," said Dennis Melin, one of his two partners at Vanguard.

Zimet grew and wasn't afraid to learn something new, said Christina McVie, a Northwest Side environmental activist.

"Michael wasn't your average-looking enviro. People listened to him when he spoke to the property-rights groups. He was very helpful in building a sense of trust and consensus in the community," McVie said.

Zimet is survived by his wife, Mona Hart of Tucson; his mother, Charlotte Zimet, and a sister, Beverly Sachs, both of Beverly Hills, Calif.; four sons: Jeffrey and Kenny, both of Tucson, Marc of Miami Beach, Fla., and Lynne of Miami, Fla.; and four grandchildren.

Services are at 11 a.m. Friday at East Lawn Palms Cemetery, 5801 E. Grant Road.

* Contact reporter Tony Davis at 806-7746 or tdavis@azstarnet.com.

Former Angleton ISD leader dies

By Jason Smith
The Facts

Published January 9, 2007

ANGLETON — Lynne Perryman is considered a prime example of what an educator is supposed to be.

Perryman, who rose from a classroom teacher to superintendent in her 29 years with Angleton ISD, died early Monday after a 31?2-year battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease. She was 55.

“She was the ultimate example of an educator,” said Pat Montgomery, executive director of instruction at Angleton ISD. “She was involved in everything and loved helping everyone.”

Montgomery remembered Perryman helping a teacher who was in need of money to pay her bills while waiting for her first paycheck. It was going to be several weeks before she would get a paycheck, so Perryman gave her money out of her own pocket, Montgomery said.

Montgomery also credits Perryman with helping her get her doctorate.

“One of the best things she did was mentor to other people,” Montgomery said. “There is not an administrator in the district who didn’t receive support from her.”

Perryman grew up in Angleton and graduated from Angleton High School in 1969, the same year she helped the girls basketball team go to the state finals, Montgomery said. She went on to receive her bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas. She also received master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Houston.

She began her teaching career in 1973 with Brazosport ISD, but went back to her roots twoyears later and taught seventh-grade science at Angleton ISD. She would go on to be the director of gifted and talented education, then assistant superintendent in 1993 under Superintendent Herman Smith.

When Smith retired in 2002, she took his place, guiding the district through the transition from the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills to the tougher Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, on which the third-graders achieved exemplary status. She also helped balance the district’s budget in 2002 when state funding was cut by $1.1 million.

“She was very well respected in AISD,” said Linda Winder, a former teacher of Perryman and now an Angleton ISD trustee. “Lynne was a wonderful person.”

Perryman stepped down from her position as superintendent in 2004 for medical reasons.

“People in education have an incredible opportunity to teach people and that is what she was about,” said Dr. Mark Bonnen, a close friend.

Perryman taught Bonnen in her seventh-grade science class and also was a close friend to his wife, Bonnen said.

“It was difficult to go places with her where she didn’t run into someone she knew,” Bonnen said.

Funeral services will be at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at Holy Comforter Episcopal Church, 227 S. Chenango in Angleton. Perryman asked that memorial donations be made to the A-Team Scholarship, in memory of Lynne B. Perryman, 1900 N Downing Road, Angleton, TX 77515.

Fort Lauderdale Firefighter Led Battle Against Disease To The End
January 10, 2007


Florida - During 14 years as a Fort Lauderdale firefighter, John W. Bruce always collected donations for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, a charity supported by firefighters nationwide. He never thought he would call on the organization for help.
But three years ago, Bruce was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, a degenerative muscular condition. What started as a numbness in his hand eventually left him unable to walk or speak.

Still, Bruce continued to raise money for the MDA, inspiring firefighters around Florida to do the same.

Bruce died of the disease Friday. He was 42.

"John touched so many lives, fighting fires and fighting the disease," said Assistant Chief Stephen McInerny. "He was an amazing man."

Bruce had two great loves in life: his wife, Michelle, and the Fort Lauderdale Fire Department.

The son of a Fort Lauderdale police officer who was killed in the line of duty, he began fighting fires in January 1992.

"John wasn't afraid of anything," said Battalion Chief Bob Simac, who worked with Bruce for more than a decade. "He was always the first to respond to any emergency."

Bruce's colleagues still talk about a blaze that ripped through a home in February 2000. That morning, Bruce and Lt. Josef Majer rescued an 82-year-old disabled man from the kitchen. They escaped moments before the concrete roof collapsed.

Off duty, Bruce enjoyed preparing pulled pork and barbecue chicken sandwiches at department events, friends said. And each Labor Day, he helped the department collect for the Muscular Dystrophy Association -- a tradition among firefighters nationwide.

"He was our unsung hero," said Kim Van Sant, a firefighter and close friend. "He never wanted to take any of the credit. He just served others."

Three years ago, Bruce was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the condition known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The disorder is in the same family as muscular dystrophy.

He began to rely on the MDA, which provided him with clinical care, therapy and support, friends said.

As his body withered, Bruce visited firehouses across the country to raise awareness about the disease. He urged firefighters nationwide to participate in the Labor Day drive.

Last summer, he set a lofty goal for his own department: He wanted Fort Lauderdale to raise more money for the MDA than any other department in country.

In years past, the department had raised between $10,000 and $20,000. This summer, Fort Lauderdale firefighters raised about $102,000, Van Sant said.

It was enough to win them the top honor.

After almost two years on disability leave, Bruce retired on Nov. 8, 2006. By then, the disease had rendered him unable to walk or speak.

During his final months, firefighters went to Bruce's Oakland Park home for regular visits. The firefighters kept him company and told him what was going on in the department.

Most of the time, Bruce already knew. He kept a fire department radio at his house so he could listen to calls.

"People thought we visited John to make him feel better," Simac said. "But truth is, we visited John to benefit ourselves, too. We were lucky to know him."

The funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at the Amaturo Theatre at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Written by The Miami Herald
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Andrew C. Olson
RINDGE, N.H. — Andrew C. Olson, 45, of Butternut Lane, Rindge, N.H., died January 2, 2007, after a long and courageous battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease).

He was born on May 18, 1961, in Winchendon Mass., a son of Michael and Elaine (Seppala) Olson. He attended Conant High School and lived in Rindge all of his life.

A self-employed construction worker, he operated heavy equipment.

Members of his family include his wife of 27 years, Sandra (Holombo) Olson; two sons, Bryce and Chaz Olson of Rindge; three daughters, Rochelle and Joel Blanton of South Carolina, Heidi and Josiah Blanton of Washington, and Cheyanne Olson of Rindge; three brothers; seven sisters; a grandson, Liam Blanton; and his mother, Elaine Olson.

Services were held January 7, 2007, in New Hampshire.
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EDWARD ELSENER

Edward J. Elsener, 79, died Jan. 8. He was a sheet metal worker.

He was a Marine Corps veteran.

Survived by wife Joan Elsener; children Marilyn Stemann, Marsha Martini, Mark Elsener, Mary Kay Sunderhaus; grandchildren Curt, Sandy, Michelle, Scott, Thea, Seth, Ben, Abby, Alex; Charles Elsener, Bert Schamer; siblings seven great-grandchildren; many nieces and nephews. Preceded in death by brother Gus Elsener.

Services are 10:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 12, at St. Teresa of Avila. Arrangements by B.J. Meyer Sons Funeral Home. Memorials to: St. Vincent de Paul Pantry, 1125 Bank St., Cincinnati, OH 45214 or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Western Ohio Chapter, 1810 MacKenzie Drive, Suite 120, Columbus, OH 43220.

Local teacher 'free at last'
Click-2-Listen
By By Rick McCrabb

Staff Writer

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

WEST CHESTER TWP. — Her obituary wasn't the final chapter in Lois "Tot" Schultz Ashworth's life.

Ashworth, 12 days shy of her 62nd birthday, died Saturday after a 31/2-year battle against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease.


During her Monday afternoon memorial service — fittingly called "My Life In Song" – her contributions to Middletown, where she lived, and West Chester Twp., where she worked, were celebrated through music, memories and an emotional slide show.

The pews at West Chester Church of the Nazarene were packed with family, friends and former students.

One person said after the service: "I'm going to put the program with my will. I want something like this when I die."

Music filled the church before the service, and, nearly an hour later, as pallbearers wheeled Ashworth's casket up the aisle, her family members continued to sing.

The Rev. Virgil Applegate, who called himself Ashworth's "spiritual daddy," said she always helped others, and through her fight against the incurable ALS, showed "courage and inspiration."

Later, he referred to Ashworth as "a shining star that will never quit shining."

Ann Mincey, one of Ashworth's three sisters, carried a basket of stones to the podium. Each stone, she said, represented a part of her sister's life: faith, family and fun. But when paying tribute to Ashworth, there was no way to separate the three.

That's when Mincey displayed one large rock.

"She is very much alive," Mincey said. "She has taken her first heavenly breath."

And once in heaven, Mincey knew the first person her sister would seek.

"She's up there right now talking to Dr. Martin Luther King," Mincey said. "She's saying, 'Free at last. Free at last.'"

Ashworth taught in the Lakota Local School District for 30 years, retiring in 2000. Paul Carpenter, now an adult, represented all of Ashworth's former students.

He said Ashworth was his second-grade teacher at Adena Elementary School. He remembered a day when a bully threatened to beat him up — at the red monkey bars — but before the confrontation, he was comforted by Ashworth.

She hugged Paul and assured him of his safety.

"My confidence started that day," he said.

As Sam Ashworth, Lois' companion for 21 years and her husband for 10 years, stepped to the podium, he asked the overflow crowd to "take a deep breath, please."

He pulled out a tissue, and said his wife promised to give him strength at her memorial service.

"She's not helping me at all," Ashworth said.

He broke down again, then before walking away, said, "She will never stop singing."

He was greeted with a standing ovation. Lois Virginia "Tot" Schultz Ashworth, the woman with a personality to match her many names, probably put down her heavenly hymn book, and joined the congregation.


Contact this

columnist

at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.

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Eugene Nelson


ARVADA, Colo. — Eugene Nelson, 86, formerly of Anderson, died Jan. 16, 2007 of Lou Gehrig’s disease.

He worked at Delco Remy and served in the Merchant Marines during World War II. He worked for Kiebler Bakery in Denver until he retired.

Survivors include his wife, Benarda; son, Dan; two daughters, Barbara and Carla; and his sister, Virginia Thomason.

Services will be held at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Visitation will be Monday at Olinger Crown Hill, 7777 W. 29th Ave., Wheat Ridge, Colo.

Brel's muse Madeleine dies
22/01/2007 15:47 - (SA)



Paris - A former model who inspired one of Belgian singer Jacques Brel's best-loved songs, Madeleine, has died by assisted suicide to escape the ravages of a neurological disease, French newspapers reported on Monday.

The 69 year-old woman - whose name was only given a Madeleine Z - swallowed a cocktail of drugs on January 12 at her home in Alicante, Spain, after taking advice from the Spanish association Right to Die with Dignity (DMD), newspapers said.

Brel wrote his classic song in 1962 about waiting with a bunch of lilies for a cinema date with a girl who fails to turn up.

Half-Jewish, Madeleine Z narrowly escaped deportation during World War II and afterwards frequented Paris's thriving jazz-club scene, where she met Brel and sang with him when he performed in prisons and hospitals.

She later said that an occasion when she stood him up for a date was the inspiration for his song.

Jason M. Dedrick
By Herald staff
Monday, January 22, 2007

Jason M. Dedrick of Cambridge, a retired youth hockey coach, died Friday at home after a lengthy battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was 35.

Born in Somerville, he lived in Cambridge all his life. He graduated from Matignon High School in 1990, where he played baseball, football and hockey.

He also graduated from Curry College, where he was named MIA rookie of the year in hockey.

Mr. Dedrick was a retired youth hockey coach in Wayland and Revere.

He is survived by his parents, Shirley (Lavalle) and Michael of Cambridge; two sisters, Lauren of Medford and Kristen Kelley of Saugus; his grandfather, Francis of Sandwich; one niece; and many aunts, uncles and friends.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. tomorrow at St. John’s Church, Cambridge.

Burial will be in Cambridge Cemetery.

Arrangements by Keefe Funeral Home, Cambridge.

Cornelius Van Leuven Stewart, a retired attorney, died Jan. 16 of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, while on a vacation in Belize. The Stevenson resident was 70.
Born and raised in the Eccleston section of Baltimore County, he was a 1954 graduate of Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., and captain of its wrestling team. He earned a bachelor of arts from Yale University and a law degree from the University of Virginia.

After teaching legal writing at the University of California at Berkeley, he moved to Baltimore and practiced law at the firm of Venable Baetjer and Howard for nearly 30 years. In 1991, he founded the firm of Stewart, Plant and Blumenthal. He retired about four years ago.

Mr. Stewart, known as Van, was a past president and board member of the Irvine Nature Center. He was a former president of the Metropolitan Baltimore Association for Mental Health and Maryland Ballet Company.

He was on the boards of the Baltimore Symphony, Baltimore School for the Arts, Parks and People Foundation and Roland Park Country School.

Services were held Monday at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, where Mr. Stewart was a communicant.

Survivors include his wife of nearly 47 years, the former Clare Horsley; two daughters, Clare Winston Stewart Perry and Lillie Elliotte Stewart, both of Baltimore; two brothers, Cary McHenry Stewart of Baltimore and Warren Emerson Stewart of Fort Collins, Colo.; and five grandchildren. A daughter, Jenett Ten Eyck Stewart, died in 1977.

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Obituary: Rivera, 40, flew Marine planes around world before ALS struck

Web Posted: 01/23/2007 09:12 PM CST

Nancy Martinez
Express-News

Jimmy Rene Rivera, who as a boy stood on a T-ball field and showed more interest in the Air Force planes taking off and landing than the game, died Saturday.
Rivera, who grew up on the West Side with dreams of flying airplanes, died of ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He was 40.


A graduate of Jefferson High School and the University of Texas at Austin, he was a Marine pilot who also did a two-year stint at United Airlines before joining the Marines again.

"He should have written a book about his life," said his wife, Tammy. "He was such an amazing person. He was an ambitious person and a character on top of that, just a total comedian."

She said Rivera worked on secret missions with the Marines, flying to Israel, Australia and Africa, among other places.

The couple married in 2000 on Pensacola Beach in Florida, where they met two years earlier. He was a flight instructor and had two children from a previous marriage, as did Tammy.

Jimmy Rene Rivera
Born: April 16, 1966, in San Antonio
Died: Jan. 20, 2007, in San Antonio

Military: U.S. Marine Corps

Survived by: His wife, Tammy Rivera; children Natasha, Casey, Victoria, India and Sydney; his mother, Mary Alice Rivera; sisters Ernestine Campos and husband George, and Patricia Rivera; brothers Jesse Rivera and Jacob Rivera; two granddaughters; and many nieces and nephews.

Services: Today at 9:30 a.m. at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Little Flower at 824 Kentucky Ave. Committal services will follow at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery with full military honors.



ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, according to an ALS association Web site. There is no cure.

It was in Africa in December 2004 that Rivera first told his wife about his symptoms. He fell on New Year's Eve and didn't understand why, she said. Then he began to lose his balance, and his legs began feeling heavy.

Rivera was medically retired from the Marines on Dec. 31, 2005, having attained the rank of lieutenant colonel.

"The disease was so aggressive. Some people will have it for 10, 15 years, but he wasn't even diagnosed for two years," Tammy Rivera said. "It takes everything. All of your muscles fail."

She said it wasn't long before her husband, who once ran 6 miles a day, was completely paralyzed.

With a computer from his wheelchair, he tried to keep in touch with military friends across the world and worked out a financial plan for his family for after his death.

"It's the worst disease you can have because the mind stays normal but you are trapped in a paralyzed body. But he never complained," Tammy Rivera said.

He told his wife the most beautiful place he flew over was the Kakadu National Park in Australia. He named his 4-year-old daughter Sydney and asked that his ashes rest at the park.

Rivera's friend Albert Urrabazo, 40, played T-ball with him when they were 6. He remembers Rivera staring at the planes and that his friend was always motivated to meet his goals, even encouraging him to pursue his own.

"At a very young age, he knew he wanted to be a pilot, and he knew the first step was education. I wasn't college-bound and he convinced me to take a look at going to college," said Urrabazo, now an electrical engineer.

"He went with me to take a four-hour entrance test. He didn't even need to take it, but he did it to encourage me."



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nmartinez@express-news.net

Cornelius Van Leuven Stewart,

a retired attorney, died Jan. 16 of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, while on a vacation in Belize.
The Stevenson resident was 70.
Born and raised in the Eccleston section of Baltimore County, he was a 1954 graduate of Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., and captain of its wrestling team. He earned a bachelor of arts from Yale University and a law degree from the University of Virginia.

After teaching legal writing at the University of California at Berkeley, he moved to Baltimore and practiced law at the firm of Venable Baetjer and Howard for nearly 30 years. In 1991, he founded the firm of Stewart, Plant and Blumenthal. He retired about four years ago.

Mr. Stewart, known as Van, was a past president and board member of the Irvine Nature Center. He was a former president of the Metropolitan Baltimore Association for Mental Health and Maryland Ballet Company.

He was on the boards of the Baltimore Symphony, Baltimore School for the Arts, Parks and People Foundation and Roland Park Country School.

Services were held Monday at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, where Mr. Stewart was a communicant.

Survivors include his wife of nearly 47 years, the former Clare Horsley; two daughters, Clare Winston Stewart Perry and Lillie Elliotte Stewart, both of Baltimore; two brothers, Cary McHenry Stewart of Baltimore and Warren Emerson Stewart of Fort Collins, Colo.; and five grandchildren. A daughter, Jenett Ten Eyck Stewart, died in 1977.

Fayetteville lost one of its biggest theater supporters on Tuesday.

Sarah Burnside, 76, passed away after a two-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Robert James, a fellow board member of TheatreSquared, the local theater group Burnside help start, summed up the city’s loss.

“ It was definitely a great loss of someone who truly loved theater, ” James said.

Burnside had a wellknown passion for theater, and she had a desire to see a strong theater scene in the Fayetteville area. That desire was rewarded on Oct. 20 when she received the firstever Premier Award from TheatreSquared.

Burnside was born Jan. 26, 1930, in what is now Bibanga, Congo. She grew up there and moved to Georgia and in 1951 earned a Bachelor of Arts from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga. She married Wade W. Burnside of Mountain Home in 1953. They had one daughter, Carole Bustard-Burnside, and twin sons, Kirk McMillan Burnside and Allen McKee Burnside. She ended up in Seattle, where she had her first stint with the arts.

Burnside enrolled in some drama classes at the University of Washington in 1980 to help fill the extra time after her children left the house. Her husband later decided to move the family back to Northwest Arkansas, and Burnside started working on her Master of Fine Arts in drama at the University of Arkansas, which she finished in 1987.

She worked heavily in the arts during that time. In 1978 she was named the vice president of a theater group called the Kaleidoscope Players. She helped the group set up and perform six showings of “ The Diary of Anne Frank. ”

The group disbanded five years later, and Burnside fed her passion by seeing plays in New York City and London.

Burnside became eventually a big player in the drama scene in Fayetteville. She produced the first-ever locally written theater performance at the Walton Arts Center and worked as the president of the Ozark Stage-Works, helping the group go from one performance a year to three performances a year in 1992.

In 2004, Burnside had her first experience with TheatreSquared. James said her vision and dedication helped the organization get off the ground.

“ She introduced TheatreSquared to the board and its directors, and she even personally hosted a fund-raising dinner at her own house to help it out, ” James said.

James said that involvement was one of the reason she got the Premier Award, and her passion was one of the reasons TheatreSquared survived.

“ She was willing to stand up and fight for what she believed in, ” James said. “ It was a great loss of someone who truly loved theater. ”

There will be a memorial service at 2 p. m. Saturday at First United Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville.

Honors for a veteran


Article Launched: 01/26/2007 08:30:13 AM EST


Disabled United States Marine veteran David Paradis of Townsend lost his battle with Lou Gehrig's disease this month. He was laid to rest in a private Pepperell cemetery plot last Saturday with military honors.

He had asked that the service be kept simple. Nevertheless a sizable crowd gathered reflecting a cross section of the community, from family members to Townsend firefighters in dress uniform.

Paradis was a member of Pepperell VFW Post 3291, whose firing team and chaplain took part in services.

Particularly important to David was the presence of the flag and Marines. His son, Bret, a Marine Corps lieutenant, made sure that happened. Three senior enlisted members of the 25th Marine Regiment from Devens, all Iraqi war veterans, did the honors.

Standing in uniform beside Paradis's wife, Patty, and his brother, Michael (a Townsend firefighter), Bret had the heartbreaking task of standing tall and saluting as the flag that draped his father's coffin was carefully folded and "Taps" was played. David's father and


a brother are veterans as well.
As he had when he was a severely-wounded "tunnel rat" in Vietnam, Paradis continued his struggle to live as his body began shutting down last year. An avid outdoorsman, his quiet request to be able to travel outside his home in a wheelchair became, once discovered, a well-publicized effort by Townsend and Pepperell VFWs to build him a long, wooden access ramp.

Paradis was too sick to fully enjoy the ramp, although it reportedly aided EMTs who were often called to his home.

Patty told Pepperell VFW past commander and fellow Marine, Tony Saboliauskas, that hours before her husband died, he had asked her to take him outside on the wooden ramp so he could see the stars.

Veterans who were involved in the ramp project can take at least some comfort in knowing that David knew people cared.

Bret said one of his father's last words was "Marines."

Semper Fi, David.

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Mildred E. "Randy" Riggs, a retired public health nurse, died Tuesday of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, at her Odenton home. She was 76.
Born Mildred Marando in New York City, she was raised in Delmar, Del., where her parents ran a motel.

She was a 1948 Delmar High School graduate and its class valedictorian. She then moved to Baltimore, where she attended Union Memorial Hospital's School of Nursing and earned her diploma in 1951.

She was a public health nurse who traveled throughout the city from a base in West Baltimore. She treated and identified cases of tuberculosis, among other illnesses.

From 1980 to 1995, she served as a clinic staff director for the Anne Arundel County Health Department, first at the Meade Village Center and then at the Odenton Health Center.

Services will be held at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Epiphany Episcopal Church, 1419 Odenton Road, Odenton.

Survivors include a son, Robert R. Riggs of Berkeley, Calif.; a daughter, Laura Riggs of Odenton; and three grandchildren. Her huband of nearly 30 years, Joe R. Riggs, who owned a roof truss business, died in 1985.

Carlsbad company president dies
http://www.icsc.org/srch/sct/images/5FredricaThode.jpg
By: PATRICK WRIGHT - Staff Writer

CARLSBAD ---- Fredrica Thode, Hot Dog on a Stick's president and chief executive officer known for her commitment to employees, died recently. She was 64.

Thode (pronounced Toad-ee) died Jan. 13 after battling an advanced case of Lou Gehrig's disease, or Amyothophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Thode, a Vista resident, spent 27 years with Hot Dog on a Stick, based in Carlsbad. Often referred to as Freddie, she became president of the 61-year-old company in 2001. The company has more than 100 locations that serve lemonade and hot dogs on a stick dipped in cornbread batter.


One company employee said Thode believed that taking care of employees was the key to taking care of customers. She was also known for her garden containing 400 roses. In Thode's honor, Hot Dog on a Stick made a $10,000 donation to the San Diego chapter of the ALS association.

Dan Smith, the company's chief operating officer, becomes the company's new president. No one has been named chief executive officer, according to a release.

Contact staff writer Patrick Wright at (760) 739-6675 or pwright@nctimes.com.
:grouphug:

http://lh5.google.com/_MCEvZdbHMX8/R...ike_joanna.jpg

My dear friend Mike

0 comments | Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Last week, a wonderful man named Mike Andrews passed away. He was young, only 45, and had been suffering from ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, for the last four years. His wife Jana was holding his hand when he died. I hope he is at peace now, his rugged, powerful spirit freed from a body that had failed him.
Mike and Jana were my neighbors on Alexander Road in Raleigh, North Carolina, where I lived for six years. Raleigh is the place I still consider more like home than anywhere else I've lived, and Mike and Jana were two big reasons why this otherwise low-key southern American city felt so comfortable. I met them when I interviewed them for a transportation story. Both Sierra Club members and ardent environmentalists, they told me about the short-sightedness of building more major highways instead of public transportation. We ate pizza at Lilly's and, after the policy talk was over, I pelted them with so many personal questions that Mike was taken aback.
"I don't usually talk about that," he said when I, in a particularly undiplomatic and baldly stupid act, asked him about his divorce from his first wife. I had, after all, just met the guy.
"He doesn't," echoed Jana, looking as startled as Mike.
Still, he didn't shove me off and ignore me forever. Instead, we talked again and again, about Bob Mould and Texas and hiking the Linville Gorge and the beauty of the Outer Banks. I loved his sense of humor -- he had the most finely tuned sense of comic timing -- and his devotion to his two lovely, offbeat and grown-up children, Shane and Sarah. I envied him and Jana, both so compatible and full of optimism, but I did not linger on the jealousy. Instead, I was happy to know that love could be something both stable and precious, so incandescent that you marveled it, yet so real that you believed you could have it someday too.
Mike and Jana invited me to dinners and shows and camping trips, brought me Chilean bean stew (Mike's special recipe) when I was too tired to cook, and included me as family on Thanksgiving Day. Mike showed me how to kayak and anonymously mowed my lawn. Good-looking and funny, with a dynamic heart and an athletic sense of life, he was the perfect guy. I secretly wished there was a way to clone him so I, too, could have a handsome husband who kayaked and cooked and practiced environmentalism and told great jokes and said that I was beautiful, as I often heard him telling Jana.
****
The photo above was taken on Halloween 2002. Mike didn't know he was sick yet, and he had shown up to the party dressed as George Bush, complete with a scary plastic mask that so resembled our evil and dumb president. But the mask got too hot and when Mike took it off and wasn't costumed anymore, Jana came up with a plan to make him a "black-eyed pea." (See the black eye? See the P?) I came dressed as my Cretan grandfather, which nobody got, especially because, as Mike pointed out, my Cretan grandpa likely never wore a see-through blouse that showed off his leopard skin bra.
Touche.
A few months later, when we were on the remote Outer Banks island of Cape Lookout for a camping trip, Mike started noticing something was wrong with his speech. He thought the slurring had come from the copious drinking on the trip -- God knows, we all drank a lot and at least one of us, a real southern cowboy of a dude, had ended up shirtless and dancing around the campfire, singing "Beth" by Kiss at the top of his lungs -- but then he noticed that it persisted long after the flippy camping trip was over.
After numerous tests, doctors told him that he had ALS, or Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal neurogenerative disease that eventually atrophies the entire body. Those who have ALS remain very sound of mind, but they are trapped in their frozen bodies.
ALS trapped Mike, one of the most physically active people I have ever known, quickly. Within a couple of years, he was in a wheelchair and could not talk. He used a special computer program to type out his thoughts, which included both the serious (about his Sierra Club work, for instance) and the hilarious, such as his amusement over one of his daughter's boyfriends, who made art that consisted of drawing facial hair on tools (think a saw with a mustache and beard, for instance).
"Is he a fruitcake?" he typed the first year I visited Raleigh from my new and uncomfortable home in Greece.
I laughed. "Maybe he is the next big thing," I said.
"Whatever," he typed in response.
The last time I saw him, in early January of last year, we were recounting the fun wedding of our friends Dan and Andrea, who got married over New Year's in a fancy remodeled barn outside of Chapel Hill. Dan and Andrea were overwhelmed when Mike showed up with Jana, who wore a sexy red dress and looked, as Mike typed later, "really hot." Mike was in a wheelchair and he was clearly tired, but he wanted to come. Andrea, not an easily emotional person by any stretch of the imagination, teared up when she saw him.
"We're so happy you came," she told him, as Dan clasped his hand.
And later, he typed: "She looked beautiful. You tell Andrea that she looked beautiful."
I was on a nervous talking spree that last day I saw him, recounting a ridiculous two-CD audio travelogue my friend Alisa and I had made for him the previous year. We had spent a week traveling around Greece, recording everything from waterfalls to old ladies to Canadian tourists to ourselves singing Stevie Wonder songs. We called our microphone "the Mikeaphone" and we tried to invoke the sense of spontaneous fun that lit all our time together in Raleigh.
I missed North Carolina very much, but I also specifically longed for Mike and Jana, and what they represented -- the bond that only friends who truly love you can offer.
In my avalanched words, I tried to tell him so, but it was coming out incoherently. But he picked up on my sentiment, if not my warbled sentences.
"We miss you Joanna," Mike typed in his last message to me that day. "Come back home."
Surprising myself -- because I tried to act all happy around Mike when I saw him -- I started to weep and tried to cover it up by laughing, to mixed success. I had this strange and unsettling feeling that I would never see him again.
****
And I did not.
When I visited again in September, he was too weak to visit. And when Jana sent me an email last week telling me he was gone, I fell into the warmth of the past, not wanting to believe that Mike was dead. When I read his obituary in my old newspaper -- he and Jana were devoted readers -- and saw a particularly gorgeous photo of him in scuba gear, I started to smile then cracked into tears. It was 2 a.m. in Athens at the time, and I was sitting in my room, wishing so much that I could whip myself back in time to that camping trip on Cape Lookout, when we made scary jack-o-lanterns and laughed in glee with dear David the drunk cowboy, who eventually switched from Kiss to Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" in his free-form serenade.
Over the last few days, I've been thinking a lot about Mike. I made his Chilean bean stew, recalled the Nick Drake song "From the Morning" that I had dedicated to him and Jana when they got married on Ocracoke island in the Outer Banks, and remembered how I made him dance with me once at a party, much to his chagrin. ("Is this music?" he wondered as I played a truly ridiculous Greek techno song and flailed around like an epileptic cowgirl.)
And I remembered the evening in Ocracoke just before the wedding, when a group of us were eating grilled fish and white trash sushi (filled with something like fish sticks and potato chips), as Jana's best friend Roommate and Roommate's man Fritz, playing guitar, sang funny songs. Mike laughed so heartily and looked so handsome, a Robert Redford from Texas, and he would not take his eyes off Jana. She was tan and her hair was that golden blond of the outdoorswoman, her eyes glittering as she sang and laughed with Roommate.
Some days before, he had proposed to her at the home they shared on Alexander Road, dropping on one knee and holding a rose. Of course, she said yes.
"You're beautiful," he told her that night, and then again and again.
And you're beautiful, too, Mike. May you rest in peace.

Labels: Friends



KARMA

http://karmacanyon.blogspot.com/2007...iend-mike.html




:grouphug:

Teacher's legacy lives again for 100th day


Mitchell Elementary School third-graders from left, Erik Martinez, 9, Roman Munoz, 9, Samantha Montoya, 8, and Annessa Henderson, 8, react to a display of 100 earth-worms during a celebration of the 100th day of school in the Atwater School District.

By Abby Souza
ASOUZA@MERCEDSUN-STAR.COM


Last Updated: January 31, 2007, 12:30:51 AM PST

ATWATER -- One hundred discarded socks, macaroni shells, candles on a cake and live worms were just some of the items exhibited at Mitchell K-6 Elementary School on Tuesday.
In honor of its 100th day of school, each class at the Atwater campus collected 100 of something to put on display.

The celebration also was held to celebrate the life of Barbara Smith, a teacher in the Atwater Elementary School District for 17 years who died Jan. 20 of Lou Gehrig's disease.

A kindergarten teacher for 15 years there, the 54-year-old Smith always made a big deal of the 100th day of school.

"This is her kind of thing," said Shelley Bowen, a sixth-grade teacher at Mitchell. "(The celebration) really incorporates her spirit."

Every class got involved in the celebration, both collecting items and touring the campus to view the displays in front of each classroom.

Students took special interest in all the food exhibits. Doughnuts, candy bars, soda cans, and Fruit Loops caught many students' eyes and stomachs.

But the favorite display was undoubtedly the night crawlers that second-grade teacher Mike Powell had sitting in front of his classroom.

Sixth-grader Tim Janz, 11, said those worms were his favorite.

"They're cool," he said, watching the night crawlers move through the mud in their plastic jar.

Bowen said while the 100th day celebration is usually a kindergarten and first-grade activity, many teachers have found ways to incorporate it into their curriculum.

"My students will be writing about this later," she said.

The assignment will be to describe their favorite collection on display at school Tuesday and what they would suggest for a 100-piece collection of their own.

"How about 100 gallons of battery acid," said Bowen's student, 11-year-old Cody Baron.

Baron said he liked the marshmallows the best.

"They should collect 100 more," Janz chimed in.

Bowen said conversations about the collections continued in her classroom after the tour.

"Students were amazed that 100 macaroni shells were so minute compared to other things," she said.

Activities like this that make learning fun were right up Smith's alley, Bowen said.

"If we had any event, Barbara was there," Bowen said, remembering Smith's bunny and clown costumes she would wear to school.

She also enjoyed dressing up as a queen when her class was studying the letter Q, Bowen said.

"Kindergarten was her life," she said.

Third-grade Mitchell Elementary School teacher Gina Peters said Smith took a medical retirement last year when her disease made it too difficult to teach.

"She wouldn't have retired yet," if not for her health, Peters said.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis -- or Lou Gehrig's disease -- attacks motor neurons throughout the body, destroying the brain and spinal cord.

A memorial service was held for Smith on Thursday afternoon, but Tuesday's event was just as much of a memorial as anything else, Bowen said.

"This is a wonderful way for the kids to remember her," she said.

Reporter Abby Souza can be reached at 385-2407 or asouza@mercedsun-star.com.

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Inspired by ex-head's sporting prowess
A MAN whose sporting prowess and exceptional leadership skills encouraged hundreds of people to push themselves to the limit, whether walking, playing badminton or cross country ski-ing, has died.
Ralph Bailey (77), a former teacher and headmaster, died peacefully surrounded by his family in Clitheroe Hospital on Saturday.
Mr Bailey was dealt a huge blow two years ago when he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
Despite the rapid onset of the illness, he remained resolutely determined to fight it until the end, continuing with his regular bridge playing sessions until just a few weeks ago.
Born and raised in Accrington, he grew to love the Ribble Valley as a young man, enjoying frequent camping expeditions into the area as a King's Scout and exploring the narrow country lanes on his bicycle.
He attended Accrington Grammar School and Cambridge University where he obtained a degree in geography. His first post was at ICI prior to embarking on a career in teaching. He taught in Stockport, then at Whitefield School during which time his family lived in Mellor, on the Cheshire and Derbyshire border.
He was delighted to be offered the post as head of his old school, Accrington Grammar and to be able to move to Clitheroe. He continued his headship of the school, leading it into a new era as a comprehensive at which time it was renamed Moorhead High School.
He retired in 1983 having spent 28 years in teaching and embarked on a new life travelling abroad as a walk leader and ski instructor with local company Alpine Overland, Waymark and with Guide Dogs for the Blind.
He thoroughly enjoyed all three, but particularly the latter and, although he was held in great regard by all his customers, it was the blind and partially sighted skiers whose lives were especially enriched by Mr Bailey's teaching and ski-ing skills. 0He was passionate about the outdoors and in particular the garden he created at his Barrow home.
A member of Mellor and then Clitheroe Golf Club, he achieved his ambition to have a single figure handicap by the age of 65. He was a former member of Empress Squash Club and a former chairman of the Lancashire Schools' Badminton Association.
During Army National Service he played football for Wrexham and gained a half blue at university for football. Tennis was another of his loves, along with bird-watching.
A long-time member of Clitheroe Concerts Society, he appreciated classical music and was particularly pleased to be able to attend Clitheroe's Last Night of the Proms again with his family in 2006. A member of Clitheroe and Great Harwood Bridge Clubs, he played several times a week until recently.
A private family burial on Tuesday will be followed by a service of thanksgiving at Trinity Methodist Church, Clitheroe at 2 p.m.

01 February 2007

Dolores M. Kuehl


Dolores M. Kuehl, 81, formerly of Reeseville, passed away on February 4th in her new home at Charleston House Assisted Living Apartments, Beaver Dam, after a sudden and brief battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), surrounded by her immediate family.


She enjoyed good health through her 80th birthday party, which she celebrated with nearly 200 family and friends in May 2005.


Dolores was born on July 13, 1925 in the Town of Lowell, the daughter of Edward and Adeline (Vick) Lau. She graduated from Reeseville High School in 1942. On June 23, 1945 she married Carl A. Kuehl at Trinity Lutheran Church, Reeseville.


Following their marriage the couple resided briefly in rural Reeseville, and then lived the rest of their lives in the Village of Reeseville.


She was a cook for Dodgeland School District for over 30 years, cooking and baking at the old Reeseville Middle School on the southern village limits, then at Clyman Elementary, and finally at the Dodgeland Middle School on the northern city limits of Reeseville. Dolores was a devoted member of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Reeseville and served in many of its organizations including Choir, Ladies Aid, Altar Guild, and as a Sunday School and Vacation Bible School teacher. She was a member of Reeseville's American Legion Auxiliary Unit #190. Dolores enjoyed cooking and baking and was well known for her yeast breads and rolls. She was an avid bowler both on a women's league in Reeseville and on a mixed couples' league in Watertown with her husband, Carl, and many friends. She was a very loving, caring person and a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend. She will be sadly missed and mourned by many.


She is survived by two daughters, Bonnie (Howard) Kulke of Waterloo and Connie (Al) Mintzlaff of Reeseville; one son, Greg (Anne) Kuehl of Kiel; eight grandchildren, Stephanie (Jackson Wilson) Kulke of Evanston, IL, Christopher Kulke of Necedah, WI, Erik Kulke of Milwaukee, WI, Matthew (Kira) Weier of Minneapolis, MN, Vanessa Kuehl of Madison, WI, Adam Kuehl of Milwaukee, WI, and Christina and Alexandra Kuehl of Kiel, WI. She had three great-grandchildren, Alice Wilson of Evanston, IL and Logan and Ian Weier of Minneapolis, MN. Dolores is also survived by one brother, Edward (Pat) Lau of Bellingham, WA, one sister-in-law, Ione (Gilbert) Kuehl of Madison, WI as well as many nieces, nephews, and friends. She also made many brand new friends with the residents at Charleston House in Beaver Dam.


Special thanks to daughter-in-law, Anne Kuehl, for her compassionate nursing, and to Gail and staff of Charleston House for their exceptional daily care and support of Dolores as well as her family.


Carl Kuehl, her loving husband, preceded Dolores in death in May 1989. Also preceding her in death were two brothers, Alfred (Mary Lou) Lau in June 1980 and Henry (Marie) Lau in December 1993, and two sisters, Anita (Howard) Miller, in August 1989 and Marie (M.J.) Straseske, in November 2001.


Friends and relatives may call on the family at Murray Funeral Home in Reeseville on Thursday, February 8, 2007 from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM. They may also pay their respects at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 210 Lincoln Avenue in Reeseville from 10:00 AM until the time of the funeral service at 11:00 AM. with Rev. Donald Steinberg officiating. Burial will follow at Reeseville Cemetery.


In lieu of flowers, memorials would be appreciated.


The Murray Funeral Home of Reeseville is serving the family.


Murray Funeral Home 214 S. Main St. Reeseville, WI 53579, 920-927-5502, www.MurrayFH.com


The Sheboygan Press


February 6, 2007