On this day in 1936, poet, writer, Nobel Prized recipient, Rudyard Kipling, died in Middlesex Hospital, London, England at the age of 70 of a perforated duodenal ulcer. Born Joseph Rudyard Kipling on 30 December 1865 in Bombay, British India. He was named after Rudyard Lake in Rudyard, Staffordshire, England where his parents met. Kipling is best known for his works of fiction, including The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), many short stories including “The Man Who Would Be King” (1888); and his poems, including Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), and If— (1910). The Jungle Book is one of my favorite books from childhood. Memorizing If is a rite of passage for the children of one of my friends. Kipling was married to Carrie Balestier. On marriage, he wrote that marriage principally taught “the tougher virtues—such as humility, restraint, order, and forethought“. Partly in response to the tragic death of his only son, John in 1915 in the Battle of Loos, Kipling joined Sir Fabian Ware’s Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission), the group responsible for the garden-like British war graves that can be found to this day dotted along the former Western Front and all the other locations around the world where troops of the British Empire lie buried. His most significant contribution to the project was his selection of the biblical phrase “Their Name Liveth For Evermore” (Sirach 44.14, KJV) found on the Stones of Remembrance in larger war graves and his suggestion of the phrase “Known unto God” for the gravestones of unidentified servicemen. Kipling chose the inscription “The Glorious Dead” on the Cenotaph, Whitehall, London.
Poet’s Corner
The Final Footprint – Kipling was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium and his cremains were inurned in Poets’ Corner, part of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey. Other notable cremations at GGC include; Kingsley Amis, Neville Chamberlain, T. S. Eliot, Sigmund Freud, Henry James, Vivien Leigh, Keith Moon, Peter Sellers, Bram Stoker, H. G. Wells and Amy Winehouse. Other notable Final Footprints at Westminster include; Robert Browning, Lord Byron, Geoffrey Chaucer, 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, Thomas Shadwell, Edmund Spenser, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Dylan Thomas, and William III.
#RIP #OTD in 1952 vaudevillian actor and comedian, one of the Three Stooges, Curly Howard died from stroke complications in San Gabriel, California, aged 48. Western Jewish Institute section of Home of Peace Cemetery in East Los Angeles
| Glenn Frey | |
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 performing with the Eagles in 2008 |
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On this day in 2016, singer, songwriter and actor Glenn Frey died while recovering from gastrointestinal tract surgery at Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan at the age of 67. Born Glenn Lewis Frey on November 6, 1948 in Detroit, Michigan. Perhaps best known as a founding member of the rock band Eagles. Frey was the lead singer and frontman for the Eagles, roles he came to share with fellow member Don Henley, with whom he wrote most of the Eagles’ material. Frey played guitar and keyboards as well as singing lead vocals on songs such as “Take It Easy”, “Peaceful Easy Feeling”, “Tequila Sunrise”, “Already Gone”, “James Dean”, “Lyin’ Eyes”, “New Kid in Town”, and “Heartache Tonight”.
After the breakup of the Eagles in 1980, Frey embarked on a successful solo career. He released his debut album, No Fun Aloud, in 1982 and went on to record Top 40 hits “The One You Love”, “Smuggler’s Blues”, “Sexy Girl”, “The Heat Is On”, “You Belong to the City”, “True Love”, “Soul Searchin'” and “Livin’ Right”. As a member of the Eagles, Frey won six Grammy Awards. The Eagles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, the first year they were nominated.
Frey was married twice. From 1983 to 1988, he was married to artist Janie Beggs. He married dancer and choreographer Cindy Millican in 1990 and they remained together until his death.
The Final Footprint
At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, the remaining members of the Eagles and Jackson Browne performed “Take It Easy” in his honor. A life-sized statue of Frey was unveiled at the Standin’ on the Corner Park in Winslow, Arizona, on September 24, 2016. Frey was cremated.
in 1974
On this day in 2017, coloratura soprano Roberta Peters died of Parkinson’s disease at the age of 87. Born Roberta Peterman in The Bronx on May 4, 1930. In my opinion, one of the most prominent singers to achieve lasting fame and success in opera. Peters is noted for her 35-year association with the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York, among the longest such associations between a singer and a company in opera. She was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1998.
Peters made her debut on 17 November 1950 as Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Peters who knew the role, but had not yet ever performed on stage, or even sung with a full orchestra, accepted. Her performance was received with great enthusiasm, and her career was established.
Combining an attractive voice with sparkling coloratura agility and good looks, Peters became a favorite of American audiences and a great proponent of opera for the masses. She quickly established herself in the standard soubrette and coloratura repertoire. Her roles at the Met included Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro; Despina in Così fan tutte; The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute; Amore in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice; Marzeline in Beethoven’s Fidelio; Rosina in The Barber of Seville; Adina in L’elisir d’amore; Norina in Don Pasquale; Oscar in Un ballo in maschera; Nanetta in Falstaff; Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann; Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier; Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos; and Adele in Die Fledermaus. She later added lyric-coloratura roles such as Amina in La sonnambula, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoorand Gilda in Rigoletto, the last being her farewell role at the Met in 1985.
Peters was briefly married to baritone Robert Merrill in 1952, later admitting she had fallen in love with the voice and not the man. The two divorced amicably, remained friends and continued to perform together in opera and recitals. She remarried in 1955, to Bertram Fields.
The Final Footprint 
Peters is interred in Westchester Hills Cemetery Hastings-on-Hudson, Westchester County, New York. Other notable final footprints at Westchester Hills include; George and Ira Gershwin and Lee Strasberg.
#RIP #OTD in 2022 actress (The Time Machine, Platinum High School, The Most Deadly Game, Where the Boys Are, Jackson County Jail, The Black Hole), Yvette Mimieux died at her home in Los Angeles aged 80. Cremated remains scattered off the coast of Los Angeles County
#RIP #OTD in 2023 singer, songwriter, guitarist, member of the Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash, David Crosby died at his home in Santa Ynez, California, aged 81. Cremation
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