On this day in 1400, author, philosopher, alchemist, astronomer, diplomat, the Father of English literature, the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages, and the first poet to have been buried in Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey, Geoffrey Chaucer died of unknown causes at the probable age of 56 or 57. His many works include; The Book of the Duchess, the House of Fame, the Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde. He is perhaps best known today for The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer is a crucial figure in developing the legitimacy of the vernacular, Middle English, at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were French and Latin. Born in London sometime around 1343, though the precise date and location of his birth remain unknown.
The Final Footprint – Chaucer is entombed in in Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey. Other notable Final Footprints at Westminster include; Robert Browning, Lord Byron, Oliver Cromwell, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Edward The Confessor, Elizabeth I, George II, George Friederic Handel, Stephen Hawking, James I (James VI of Scotland), Samuel Johnson, Ben Jonson, Charles II, Edward III, Edward VI, Henry III, Henry V, Henry VII, Richard II, Rudyard Kipling, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Milton, Sir Isaac Newton, Laurence Olivier, Henry Purcell, Mary I, Mary II, Mary Queen of Scots, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Dylan Thomas, and William III.
On this day in 1921, buffalo hunter, U.S. Marshal and Army scout, avid fisherman, gambler, frontier lawman, and sports editor and columnist, brother of James and Ed Masterson, friend of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson died from a heart attack at his desk in New York City at the age of 67. Born Bartholomew Masterson on 26 November 1853, at Henryville, Canada East, in the Eastern Townships of what is Quebec today. He later used the name William Barclay Masterson. Masterson took part in the Second Battle of Adobe Walls, in what is now Hutchinson County, Texas, against Comanche forces led by Chief Quanah Parker.
The Final Footprint – Masterson’s body was taken to Campbell’s Funeral Parlor and later buried after a simple service in Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York. Other notable funerals at Frank E. Campbell include; Aaliyah, Irving Berlin, Lord Buckley, James Cagney, Oleg Cassini, Montgomery Clift, Frank Costello, Joan Crawford, Malcolm Forbes, Greta Garbo, Judy Garland, George Gershwin, Jim Henson, Peter Jennings, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Heath Ledger, John Lennon, Norman Mailer, Notorious B.I.G., Les Paul, Ayn Rand, Igor Stravinsky, Ed Sullivan, Arturo Toscanini, Rudolf Valentino, Luther Vandross and Tennessee Williams. Other notable Final Footprints at Woodlawn include; Irving Berlin, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Fiorello La Guardia, Rowland Macy, Herman Melville, J. C. Penney, Otto Preminger, and Joseph Pulitzer.
On this day in 1992 singer-songwriter, widely known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs and his chart-topping country and pop hits “King of the Road”, “Dang Me”, and “England Swings”, all from the mid-1960s Nashville sound era, Roger Miller died of lung and throat cancer in Los Angeles, aged 56. Born Roger Dean Miller on 2 January 1936 in Fort Worth, Texas.
After growing up in Oklahoma and serving in the United States Army, Miller began his musical career as a songwriter in the late 1950s, writing such hits as “Billy Bayou” and “Home” for Jim Reeves and “Invitation to the Blues” for Ray Price. He later began a recording career and reached the peak of his fame in the mid-1960s, continuing to record and tour into the 1990s, charting his final top 20 country hit “Old Friends” with Price and Willie Nelson in 1982. He also wrote and performed several of the songs for the 1973 Disney animated film Robin Hood. Later in his life, he wrote the music and lyrics for the 1985 Tony Award−winning Broadway musical Big River, in which he acted.
Miller was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame three years after his death. His songs continued to be recorded by other singers, with covers of “Tall, Tall Trees” by Alan Jackson and “Husbands and Wives” by Brooks & Dunn; both reached the number one spot on country charts in the 1990s. The Roger Miller Museum — now closed — in his home town of Erick, Oklahoma was a tribute to Miller.
The Final Footprint – cremation
On this day in 1993 actor Vincent Price died in Los Angeles, California at the age of 82. Born Vincent Leonard Price II on 27 May 1911 in Saint Louis, Missouri. Although a fine actor, known for his various roles in horror movies, he is perhaps best remembered for his voice over work in two songs; one for the King of Shock Rock and one for the King of Pop. In 1975 he appeared in Alice Cooper‘s song The Black Widow from his first solo album, Welcome to My Nightmare, one of my all-time favorite albums. I am a big time unabashed Alice Cooper fan. Then in 1982, he performed a monologue on Michael Jackson‘s Thriller. The album, the song and the video are among the most popular and culturally significant recordings ever made. Price was married three times: actress Edith Barrett (1938 – 1948 divorce), Mary Grant (1949 – 1973 divorce), and actress Coral Browne (1974 – 1991 her death).
The Final Footprint – Price was cremated and his cremated remains were scattered off Point Dume in Malibu, California.
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On this day in 1999 golfer, 3x major championship winner, Payne Stewart died of hypoxia aboard a Learjet 35 somewhere between Gainesville, Florida and Mina, South Dakota, age 42. Born William Payne in Springfield, Missouri on 30 January 1957.
The Final Footprint – A month after the American team rallied to win the Ryder Cup and four months after his U.S. Open victory, Stewart was killed in the crash of a Learjet flying from his home in Orlando, Florida, to Texas for the year-ending tournament, The Tour Championship, held at Champions Golf Club in Houston. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators concluded that the aircraft failed to pressurize and that all on board were incapacitated by hypoxia as the aircraft passed to the west of Gainesville, Florida. The aircraft continued flying on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed into a field near Mina, South Dakota.
At that week’s tournament, The Tour Championship, Stewart’s good friend, Stuart Appleby, organized a tribute to his friend. With Stewart’s wife’s permission, he wore one of Payne’s own signature outfits for the final round of the tournament on Sunday, and most of the rest of the golfers in the field wore “short pants” that day, as well.
The tournament had been delayed in order to allow those who would be competing in it to attend Stewart’s memorial service at the First Baptist Church of Orlando on October 30. Speakers included Tracey Stewart and Paul Azinger, both a fellow professional and one of Stewart’s close friends, while attendees included Woods, Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Davis Love III, Hal Sutton, Justin Leonard and Fred Couples, along with MLB pitcher Orel Hershiser, another friend of Stewart’s.
The segment of Interstate 44 passing through Springfield, Missouri, was designated the “Payne Stewart Memorial Highway” in his memory. Payne Stewart Drive in Fullerton, California, and Payne Stewart Drive in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, leading into Northview golf course designed by Arnold Palmer, were named after him. Finally, Payne Stewart Drive in Jacksonville, Florida, houses The First Tee along with a Job Corps center
The communities of Mina and Aberdeen created their own memorial. Jon Hoffman, the owner of the property where the aircraft crashed, contacted Stewart’s widow and several family members of other crash victims. All agreed that the memorial would be a rock from the crash site, engraved with the victims’ names and a Bible passage. Hoffman fenced in about an acre (4,000 m2) of the property surrounding the memorial.
In 2000, the PGA Tour established the Payne Stewart Award, given each year to a player who shows respect for the traditions of the game, commitment to uphold the game’s heritage of charitable support and professional and meticulous presentation of himself and the sport through his dress and conduct.[41] At Pinehurst No. 2, a bronze statue of Stewart celebrating his winning putt in the 1999 U.S. Open there overlooks the 18th green. On the first day of the 2014 U.S. Open, the second time that Pinehurst No. 2 had hosted the tournament since 1999, Rickie Fowler wore plus fours and argyle socks in tribute to Stewart.
Also, at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where Stewart would have been the defending champion, further tributes were paid. Firstly, on the eve of the tournament, there was another memorial at the 18th hole where speakers again included Tracey Stewart and Azinger. This time, the attendees included Stewart’s old caddy Mike Hicks plus other professionals due to compete in the tournament such as Mickelson, Love, David Duval, Tom Lehman, Lee Janzen and Sergio García, and it concluded with shots being hit into Stillwater Cove in a golf version of a 21-gun salute. The next day, when Stewart’s defending champion spot in the traditional initial pairings alongside the Open Championship winner (Paul Lawrie) and U.S. Amateur winner (David Gossett) was given to Nicklaus playing in his 44th consecutive and final U.S. Open, Nicklaus asked for a moment of silence before his opening tee shot. García also wore Stewart’s trademark navy plus fours in his honor during his first round.
Final resting place, Doctor Phillips Cemetery, Orlando.
In tribute to Stewart, as well as his southwestern Missouri roots, the Payne Stewart Golf Club was opened in Branson, Missouri, in June 2009 with the approval of Stewart’s widow.[citation needed] Ground-breaking on the $31 million layout took place on July 24, 2006. The 7,319-yard, 18-hole course was designed by Bobby Clampett and Chuck Smith. Each hole on the course is named for some aspect or notable moment in Stewart’s life. The fifth hole, for example, named “Road Hole”, recounts the par Stewart made in the first round of the 1990 Open Championship at Old Course at St Andrews when he was forced to knock his third shot against the wall behind the green at the Old Course’s treacherous 17th. His ball finished just on the back fringe from where he chipped in. Later in 2020, Woods christened the first public course by him and his company TGR Design at Big Cedar Lodge near Branson as Payne’s Valley in Stewart’s honor.
On this day in 2002, actor and singer Richard Harris died from Hodgkin’s disease at University College Hospital in Fitzrovia, London at the age of 72. Born Richard St. John Harris on 1 October 1930 in Limerick, Ireland. He appeared as Frank Machin in This Sporting Life, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, King Arthur in the 1967 film Camelot and the subsequent 1981 revival of the show. He played an aristocrat captured by Native Americans in A Man Called Horse (1970), a gunfighter in Clint Eastwood’s Western film Unforgiven (1992), Emperor Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator (2000), and Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), the latter of which was his final film role. Harris had a number-one hit in Australia and Canada and a top ten hit in the United Kingdom, Ireland and United States with his 1968 recording of Jimmy Webb’s song “MacArthur Park”.
In 1957, Harris married Elizabeth Rees-Williams. Harris and Rees-Williams divorced in 1969, after which Elizabeth married Rex Harrison. Harris’ second marriage was to the American actress Ann Turkel. In 1982, they divorced.
The Final Footprint
Harris’ body was cremated, and his cremated remains were scattered in the Bahamas.
#RIP #OTD in 2013 actress (The Bob Newhart Show, Full House, The Simpsons), comedian, Marcia Wallace died in Los Angeles from breast cancer complications aged 70. Cremated remains scattered in the Pacific
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