On this day 16 February – Octave Mirbeau – Texas John Slaughter – Doris Troy – Lesley Gore

#RIP #OTD in 1917, novelist (Le Jardin des supplices, Le Journal d’une femme de chambre, Les Vingt et un Jours d’un neurasthénique), art critic, travel writer, journalist, and playwright, Octave Mirbeau died in Paris, age 69. Passy Cemetery, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.

On this day in 1922, rancher, gambler, Texas Ranger, Texas John Slaughter, died in Douglas, Arizona at the age of 80.  Born John Horton Slaughter on 2 October 1841 in Sabine Parish, Arizona.  Noted for carrying a pearl handled .44 pistol.  The Wonderful World of Disney television series, Texas John Slaughter ran from 1958 to 1961 and starred Tom Tryon in the title role.  The beginning theme song for the series included the lines: “Texas John Slaughter made ’em do what they oughta, and if they didn’t, they died.”  Slaughter married two times; Eliza Adeline Harris (1871 – 1877 her death) and Cora Viola Howell, a great-granddaughter of Daniel Boone (1878 – 1922 his death).

The Final Footprint – Slaughter is interred in Calvary Cemetery, Douglas, Arizona.  His wife Cora was interred next to him following her death in 1941.  Their graves are marked by a large upright granite monument.

#RIP #OTD in 2004 R&B singer, songwriter, (“Just One Look”), “Mama Soul”, Doris Troy died from emphysema at her home in Las Vegas, Nevada, aged 67. Bunkers Memory Gardens Cemetery, Las Vegas

Lesley Gore

Leslie Gore Batman 1967.JPG

Gore as a Batman guest star, 1967

On this day in 2015, singer, songwriter, actress, and activist Lesley Gore died from lung cancer in at the NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan at the age of 68. Born Lesley Sue Goldstein on May 2, 1946 in Brooklyn. At the age of 16 she recorded the pop hit “It’s My Party”, and followed it up with other hits including “Judy’s Turn to Cry”, “She’s a Fool”, “You Don’t Own Me”, “Maybe I Know” and “California Nights”.

Gore also worked as an actress and composed songs with her brother, Michael Gore, for the 1980 film Fame, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. She hosted an LGBT-oriented public television show, In the Life, on American TV in the 2000s, and was active until 2014.

In a 2005 interview with After Ellen, she stated she had been in a relationship with luxury jewelry designer Lois Sasson since 1982. She stated that although the music business was “totally homophobic,” she never felt she had to pretend she was straight. “I just kind of lived my life naturally and did what I wanted to do,” she said. “I didn’t avoid anything, I didn’t put it in anybody’s face.”

The Final Footprint 

Gore had been working on a memoir and a Broadway show based on her life at the time of her death. At the time of her death, Gore and Sasson had been together for 33 years.

Her New York Times obituary stated that with her songs, all recorded before she was 18, such as “the indelibly defiant” 1964 hit “You Don’t Own Me,” Lesley Gore made herself “the voice of teenage girls aggrieved by fickle boyfriends, moving quickly from tearful self-pity to fierce self-assertion.”

Her funeral was held on February 19, 2015, in Manhattan and she was cremated.

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

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One Response to On this day 16 February – Octave Mirbeau – Texas John Slaughter – Doris Troy – Lesley Gore

  1. Gordon says:

    Hi, great site you have here.
    I’m compiling an online profile for Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing and was wondering if I could use your photo of John Horton Slaughter? Or if you could tell me where you found the photo originally as I need to ensure the image is not copyrighted or get the owner’s permission first. The photo would be attributed and a link provided back to your site.
    Thanks

    Thanks for any help you can give me

    Kind regards
    Gordon
    knoxville1982@hotmail.com

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