On this day in 1704 philosopher and physician, the Father of Classical Liberalism, John Locke died at the age of 72 in Essex, England. Born on 29 August 1632, in a small thatched cottage by the church in Wrington, Somerset, about twelve miles from Bristol. In my opinion, he is one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the United States Declaration of Independence. Locke’s theory of mind can be cited as the origin of modern conceptions of identity and the self. Locke may have been the first to define the self through a continuity of consciousness. He postulated that the mind was a blank slate or tabula rasa. Contrary to pre-existing Cartesian philosophy, he maintained that we are born without innate ideas, and that knowledge is instead determined only by experience derived from sense perception. Locke never married.
The Final Footprint – Locke is interred in the churchyard of the village of High Laver, east of Harlow in Essex.
#RIP #OTD in 1969 model, actress (Knickerbocker Holiday, Black Angel, Gog), lover of Elia Kazan and Cesare Pavese, Constance Dowling died of a heart attack at UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, aged 49. Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California
On this day in 1993, heiress, art collector, philanthropist and socialite, Doris Duke died at her Falcon’s Lair home in Beverly Hills, California at the age of 80. Born on 22 November 1912 in New York City. Duke was the only child of tobacco and electric energy tycoon James Buchanan Duke and his second wife, Nanaline Holt Inman. She was not yet 13 when her father died in 1925. She married twice; James Henry Roberts Cromwell and Porfirio Rubirosa.
The Final Footprint – Duke was cremated and her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii.
On this day in 1998, poet, husband of Sylvia Plath, British Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes died at the age of 68 from a myocardial infarction while undergoing hospital treatment for colon cancer in Southwark, London. Born Edward James Hughes on 17 August 1930 at 1 Aspinall Street, in Mytholmroyd, West Riding of Yorkshire. Hughes has been ranked as one of the best poets of his generation. He was British Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death. Hughes was married to American poet Sylvia Plath, from 1956 until her suicide in 1963 at the age of 30. His part in the relationship became controversial. His last poetic work, Birthday Letters (1998), explored their complex relationship. These poems make reference to Plath’s suicide, but none of them addresses directly the circumstances of her death. A poem discovered in October 2010, Last letter, describes what happened during the three days leading up to Plath’s suicide. In 2008 The Times ranked Hughes fourth on their list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Hughes apparently had an affair with Assia Wevill, which began in 1962. Wevill died by suicide, and killed her four-year-old daughter, in a similar fashion to Plath, by use of a gas oven, just over six years after Plath’s death. Hughes later married Carol Orchard (1970 – 1998 his death).
The Final Footprint – His funeral was held on 3 November 1998, at North Tawton church, and he was cremated in Exeter. His cremated remains scattered in Dartmoor, close to the source of the River Taw.
And on this day in 2007 singer (“A Satisfied Mind”, “Please Don’t Stop Loving Me” duet with Dolly Parton), Porter Wagoner died from lung cancer in Nashville with his family and Dolly at his side, aged 80. Born Porter Wayne Wagoner in West Plains, Missouri on 12 August 1927.
Known for his flashy Nudie and Manuel suits and blond pompadour, he introduced singer Dolly Parton on his television show, The Porter Wagoner Show in 1967. She became part of a well-known vocal duo with him from the late 1960s to the early 1970s.
Known as Mr. Grand Ole Opry, Wagoner charted 81 singles from 1954 to 1983. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002.
Wagoner was married twice, to Velma Johnson for less than a year in 1943, and Ruth Olive Williams from 1946 to 1986, though they separated 20 years before the divorce.
The Final Footprint – Wagoner’s funeral was held November 1, 2007, at the Grand Ole Opry House. He is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville
#RIP #OTD in 2020 singer, songwriter (Honky Tonk Heroes, Georgia on a Fast Train, Old Five and Dimers Like Me, Live Forever), actor, Billy Joe Shaver died from a stroke in Waco, Texas at the age of 81. Waco Memorial Park, Robinson, Texas
#RIP #OTD 2022 pianist, singer (“Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”, “Great Balls of Fire”, “Breathless”), songwriter (“High School Confidential”), “The Killer”, Jerry Lee Lewis died at his home in Nesbit, Mississippi aged 87. Herron Family Cemetery, Clayton, Louisiana
#RIP #OTD in 2023 actor (Friends, The Whole Nine Yards, The Whole Ten Yards), Matthew Perry died from the acute effects of ketamine use at his home in Pacific Palisades, California aged 54. Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills. (Bottom middle crypt)
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