#RIP #OTD in 1812 Lemhi Shoshone woman who helped the Lewis and Clark Expedition in exploring the Louisiana Territory, Sacagawea died; unknown illness in Fort Lisa Trading Post, Mobridge, South Dakota aged 24-25. Obelisk, Mobridge. A memorial marker of Sacajawea was placed at Fort Washakie, Wyoming
On this day in 1968, Pulitzer Prize and Noble Prize-winning writer, John Steinbeck, died of heart disease in New York City at the age of 66. Born John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. on 27 February 1902 in Salinas, California of German and Irish descent. Perhaps best remembered for his novels; The Grapes of Wrath (1939) which won the Pulitzer, East of Eden (1952) and the novella Of Mice and Men (1937). Most of Steinbeck’s work is set in southern and central California, particularly in the Salinas Valley and the California Coast Ranges region. His works frequently explored the themes of fate and injustice, especially as applied to downtrodden or everyman protagonists. The movie version of East of Eden, directed by Elia Kazan, marked the debut of James Dean. He attended Stanford University but did not graduate. Steinbeck married three times; Carol Henning (1930 – 1943 divorce), Gwyndolyn Conger (1943 – 1948 divorce), Elaine Scott (1950 – 1968 his death).
The Final Footprint – Steinbeck was cremated and his cremated remains were interred in the Hamilton Family Estate in Garden of Memories Memorial Park in Salinas with his parents and his maternal grand-parents. His mother’s maiden name was Hamilton. His third wife, Elaine, was later buried there as well. The estate is marked by an upright granite marker engraved with the Hamilton name.
#RIP #OTD in 1973 singer (“Mack the Knife”, “Beyond the Sea”), songwriter (“Splish Splash”, “Dream Lover”) musician, actor (Come September) Bobby Darin died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles following heart valve surgery, aged 37. Body donated to medical research
On this day in 1996, astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator in astronomy and other natural sciences, Carl Sagan died from complications of myelodysplasia at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, at the age of 62. Born Carl Edward Sagan on November 9, 1934 in Brooklyn. Perhaps best known for his work as a science popularizer and communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on extraterrestrial life. Sagan assembled the first physical messages sent into space: the Pioneer plaque and the Voyager Golden Record, universal messages that could potentially be understood by any extraterrestrial intelligence that might find them. Sagan argued the now accepted hypothesis that the high surface temperatures of Venus can be attributed to and calculated using the greenhouse effect.
Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books. He wrote many popular science books, such as The Dragons of Eden, Broca’s Brain and Pale Blue Dot, and narrated and co-wrote the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. The book Cosmos was published to accompany the series. He also wrote the science fiction novel Contact, the basis for a 1997 film of the same name. His papers, containing 595,000 items, are archived at The Library of Congress.
Sagan advocated scientific skeptical inquiry and the scientific method, pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). He spent most of his career as a professor of astronomy at Cornell University, where he directed the Laboratory for Planetary Studies. Sagan and his works received numerous awards and honors, including the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the National Academy of Sciences Public Welfare Medal, the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for his book The Dragons of Eden, and, regarding Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, two Emmy Awards, the Peabody Award, and the Hugo Award.
Sagan was married three times. In 1957, he married biologist Lynn Margulis. After Sagan and Margulis divorced, he married artist Linda Salzman in 1968. In 1981, Sagan married author Ann Druyan.
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Stone dedicated to Carl Sagan in the Celebrity Path of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Interment took place at Lakeview Cemetery in Ithaca, New York.
#RIP #OTD in 1999 songwriter (“I’m Moving On”, “The Rhumba Boogie”), singer (“I Don’t Hurt Anymore”, “Let Me Go, Lover!”, “I’ve Been Everywhere”, “Hello Love”) Hank Snow died from heart failure at his Rainbow Ranch in Madison, Tennessee, aged 85. Nashville’s Spring Hill Cemetery
On this day in 2009, actress and singer Brittany Murphy-Monjack died from pneumonia at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, at the age of 32. Born Brittany Anne Bertolotti on November 10, 1977 in Atlanta. Murphy moved to Los Angeles as a teenager and pursued a career in acting. Her breakthrough role was as Tai Frasier in Clueless (1995), followed by supporting roles in independent films such as Freeway (1996) and Bongwater (1998). She made her stage debut in a Broadway production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge in 1997, before appearing as Daisy Randone in Girl, Interrupted (1999) and as Lisa Swenson in Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999).
In the 2000s Murphy appeared in Don’t Say a Word (2001) alongside Michael Douglas, and alongside Eminem in 8 Mile (2002), for which she gained critical recognition. Her later roles included Riding in Cars with Boys(2001), Spun (2002), Uptown Girls (2003), Sin City (2005), and Happy Feet (2006). Her final film, Something Wicked, was released in April 2014.
In May 2007, Murphy married British screenwriter Simon Monjack (who would die in their Hollywood Hills home from pneumonia on 23 May 2010) in a private Jewish ceremony in Los Angeles.
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On December 24, 2009, Murphy was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills. Other notable final footprints at Hollywood Hills include; Gene Autry, Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, David Carradine, Scatman Crothers, Bette Davis, Sandra Dee, Ronnie James Dio, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carrie Fisher, Bobby Fuller, Andy Gibb, Michael Hutchence, Jill Ireland, Al Jarreau, Buster Keaton, Lemmy Kilmister, Jack LaLanne, Nicolette Larson, Liberace, Strother Martin, Jayne Meadows, Ricky Nelson, Bill Paxton, Brock Peters, Freddie Prinze, Lou Rawls, Debbie Reynolds, Telly Savalas, Lee Van Cleef, and Paul Walker.
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On this day in 1848, novelist Emily Brontë died from tuberculosis at the Brontë family home in Haworth Parsonage, Haworth, England at the age of 30. Born Emily Jane Brontë on 30 July 1818 in the village of Thornton, Yorkshire, in the North of England, to Maria Branwell and Patrick Bronte. She was the younger sister of Charlotte Brontë. Perhaps best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. She never married.
On this day in 1996, Academy Award-nominated actor, Marcello Mastroianni, died from pancreatic cancer in Paris at the age of 72. Born Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni on 28 September 1924 in Fontana Liri, Italy. A man who worked with and loved some of the most beautiful women in the world. His prominent films include La dolce vita (1960), La Notte (1961), 
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On this day in 1971, amateur golfer, designer of Augusta National Golf Club and co-founder of the Masters Tournament, Bobby Jones, died from complications of syringomyelia in Atlanta, Georgia at the age of 69. Born Robert Tyre Jones, Jr. on 17 March 1901 in Altanta. He earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 1922. He then earned a B.A. in English Literature from Harvard College in 1924. After only one year in law school at Emory University, he passed the Georgia bar exam. Jones was the most successful amateur golfer ever to compete on a national and international level. Jones won the the U.S Open four times, The Open Championship three times, the U.S. Amateur five times and the British Amateur once. In 1930, he won the Grand Slam, all four tournaments. In total, he won 13 major championships. In my opinion, he is the greatest golfer of all-time. Jones was married in 1924 to the former Mary Rice Malone.
On this day in 2008, actress and producer Majel Barrett died at her home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, as a result of leukemia. She was 76 years old. Born Majel Leigh Hudec on February 23, 1932 in Cleveland.
On this day in 2016 actress Zsa Zsa Gabor died of cardiac arrest at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, aged 99. Born Sári Gábor on February 6, 1917, in Budapest.
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On this day in 1273, 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic, Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī (
The Final Footprint – Rumi predicted his own death and composed the well-known ghazal, which begins with the verse:
On this day in 1962, actor, playwright and screenwriter, Thomas Mitchell, died from peritoneal mesothelioma in Beverly Hills, California at the age of 70. Born to Irish immigrants on 11 July 1892 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Perhaps best remembered for appearing alongside Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable and Hattie McDaniel in Gone with the Wind as Gerald O’Hara, the father of Scarlett O’Hara. Other memoralbe roles inlcude the drunken doctor Doc Boone in John Ford’s Stagecoach, and Uncle Billy in It’s a Wonderful Life. Mitchell was the first person to win an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony Award.
On this day in 2009, actress and mental health advocate Jennifer Jones died in Malibu, California at the age of 90. Born Phylis Lee Isley on March 2, 1919 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Over the course of her career that spanned more five decades, she was nominated for the Oscar five times, including one win for Best Actress, as well as a Golden Globe Award win for Best Actress in a Drama. Jones is among the youngest actresses to receive an Academy Award, having won on her 25th birthday.
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On this day in 1965 playwright, novelist, short story writer W. Somerset Maugham died in Nice, France at the age of 91. Born William Somerset Maugham on 25 January 1874 in the U. K. Embassy in Paris. Among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly one of the highest paid authors during the 1930s. Maugham trained and qualified as a doctor. The first run of his first novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897), sold out so rapidly that Maugham gave up medicine to write full-time. During the First World War, he served with the Red Cross and in the ambulance corps, before being recruited in 1916 into the British Secret Intelligence Service, for which he worked in Switzerland and Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. During and after the war, he traveled in India and Southeast Asia; all of these experiences were reflected in later short stories and novels. Maugham married Gwendoline Maud Syrie Barnardo Wellcome (1917 – 1928 divorce). Maugham’s love life apparently was almost never smooth. He once confessed: “I have most loved people who cared little or nothing for me and when people have loved me I have been embarrassed… In order not to hurt their feelings, I have often acted a passion I did not feel.”
The Final Footprint – Maugham was cremated and his cremains were scattered near the Maughan Library, The King’s School, Canterbury.
On this day in 1980, U. S. Army veteran, entrepreneur, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, philanthropist, Colonel Sanders, died in Louisville, Kentucky at the age of 90. Born Harland David Sanders on 9 September 1890 in Henryville, Indiana. He opened his first restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky in 1930 when he was 40. Sanders began developing his distinctive appearance in 1950, growing his trademark mustache and goatee and donning a white suit and string tie. He never wore anything else in public during the last 20 years of his life, using a heavy wool suit in the winter and a light cotton suit in the summer. At age 65, Sanders’ restaurant failed due to the new Interstate 75 reducing his customer traffic. He took $105 from his first Social Security check and began visiting potential franchisees. Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s was offered a chance to turn around a failing Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. He helped save the restaurant, and revolutionized the fast food industry. Sanders was married twice; Josephine King (divorced) and Claudia Price.
On this day in 1989, United States Navy Veteran, actor Lee Van Cleef died from a heart attack at his home in Oxnard, California, at the age of 64. Throat cancer was listed as a secondary cause of death.
On this day in 1997, singer Nicolette Larson died 
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On this day in 2013, Grammy award winning singer, songwriter, guitarist, The Cherokee Cowboy, Ray Price died from complications of pancreatic cancer at his home in Mt. Pleasant, Texas at the age of 87. Born Noble Ray Price on 12 January 1926 Perryville, Texas.
On this day in 1675, artist Johannes Vermeer died after a short illness in Delft, Dutch Republic, at the age of 43. Baptized On 31 October 1632 in the Reformed Church in Delft. Perhaps best known for his painting, 
The Final Footprint – Vermeer is entombed in the Oude Kerk (Old Church), nicknamed Oude Jan (“Old John”), a Gothic Protestant church in the old city center of Delft. Its most recognizable feature is a 75-meter-high brick tower that leans about two meters from the vertical. Tracy Chevalier‘s novel Girl with a Pearl Earring and the film of the same name (2003) are named after the painting; they present a fictional account of its creation by Vermeer and his relationship with the (equally fictional) model. The film was nominated for Oscars in cinematography, art direction, and costume design
On this day in 1890, a Hunkpapa Lakota holy man, tribal chief, Sitting Bull was killed by Indian agency police on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in South Dakota, during an attempt to arrest him, at a time when authorities feared that he would join the Ghost Dance movement, at the age of 58 or 59. Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake in Standard Lakota Orthography Jumping Badger, also nicknamed Slon-he or “Slow”, in the Dakota Territory c. 1831. In 2007, Sitting Bull’s great-grandson asserted from family oral tradition that Sitting Bull was born along the Yellowstone River, south of present-day Miles City, Montana. Sitting Bull led his people as a tribal chief during years of resistance to United States government policies. Before the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull had a vision in which he saw the defeat of the 7th Cavalry under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer on 25 June 25 1876. Sitting Bull’s leadership inspired his people to a major victory. Months after their victory at the battle, Sitting Bull and his group left the United States for Wood Mountain, North-West Territories (now Saskatchewan), where he remained until 1881, at which time he and most of his band returned to US territory and surrendered to U.S. forces. After working as a performer with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, Sitting Bull returned to the Standing Rock Agency in South Dakota.
On this day in 1943, influential jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, Fats Waller died from pneumonia on a cross-country train trip near Kansas City, Missouri at the age of 39. Born Thomas Wright Waller in New York City on 21 May 1904. Waller’s innovations to the Harlem stride style laid the groundwork for modern jazz piano, and his best-known compositions, “Ain’t Misbehavin'” and “Honeysuckle Rose”, were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame posthumously, in 1984 and 1999.
On this day in 1944, 
On this day in 1966, film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, philanthropist, co-founder (with his brother Roy) of Walt Disney Productions, Walt Disney, died in Burbank, California at the age of 65. Born Walter Elias Disney on 5 December 1901 in Hermosa, Chicago, Illinois. His father, Elias, was of Irish-Canadian descent. His mother, Flora Call, was of German-American descent. Disney married once, Lillian Bounds (1925 – 1966 his death). Disney holds the record for most Academy Award nominations (with 59) and most Oscars awarded (with 22). The first movie I remember watching was Disney’s animated production of The Jungle Book (1967) based on the book by Rudyard Kipling.
The Final Footprint – Disney was cremated and his cremated remains reside in the Disney Family Private Garden, Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California. Shortly before his death, he apparently wrote down the name of actor Kurt Russell. No one seems to know why. Before Disney died he made a short film for the Disney Company executive board in which he addressed each board member and ended the film by saying, “I’ll be seeing you.” In 2009, the Walt Disney Family Museum opened in the Presidio of San Francisco. Disney has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for movies and one for television. Other notable Final Footprints at Forest Lawn Glendale include; L. Frank Baum, Humphrey Bogart, Lon Chaney, Natalie Cole, Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Michael Jackson, Jennifer Jones, Carole Lombard, Tom Mix, Casey Stengel, Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, and Spencer Tracy.
n this day in 1978 actor Chill Wills died from cancer in Encino, California, aged 76. Born Theodore Childress Wills in Seagoville, Texas, on July 18, 1902.
On this day in 2010 actor, film director, producer and screenwriter, Blake Edwards died of complications of pneumonia at the Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, aged 88. Born William Blake Crump July 22, 1922, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
On this day in 2011 author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature, Christopher Hitchens died of complications from esophageal cancer at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, aged 62. Born Christopher Eric Hitchens in Portsmouth, Hampshire on 13 April 1949.
On this day in 1944, 
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On this day in 1963, singer, pianist, Grammy winner, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer inductee, Queen of the Blues, Dinah Washington died in Detroit, Michigan from a combination of secobarbital and amobarbital, at the age of 39. Born Ruth Lee Jones was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on 29 August 1924. She and her family moved to Chicago as a child. In my opinion, on of the best recording artists of the ’50s. Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a wide variety of styles including blues, R&B, and traditional pop music. Washington married seven times, including NFL Hall of Famer Dick “Night Train” Lane.
The Final Footprint – Washington is interred in Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. In 1964, Aretha Franklin recorded a tribute album, Unforgettable: A Tribute to Dinah Washington. In 1993, the U.S. Post Office issued a Dinah Washington 29 cent commemorative postage stamp. In 2005, the Board of Commissioners renamed a park, near where Washington had lived in Chicago in the 1950s, Dinah Washington Park in her honor. In 2008, the city of Tuscaloosa renamed the section of 30th Avenue between 15th Street and Kaulton Park “Dinah Washington Avenue.” On 29 August 2013, the city of Tuscaloosa dedicated the old Allen Jemison Hardware building, on the northwest corner of Greensboro Avenue and 7th Street (620 Greensboro Avenue) as the newly renovated Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center. Other notable final footprints at Burr Oak Cemetery include Willie Dixon and Emmett Till.
On this day in 1985, 7 time All-Star, 3 time World Series Champion, 2 time AL MVP, Gold Glove winner, 
New York Yankee and single season home run king, Roger Maris, died from 
The Final Footprint – Maris is interred in Holy Cross Cemetery, Fargo, North Dakota. His grave is marked by a large upright granite marker in the shape of a baseball diamond. The Yankees placed a plaque in Monument Park in Yankee Stadium in honor of Maris. Monument Park is an open-air museum containing a collection of monuments, plaques, and retired numbers honoring distinguished members of the Yankees. Other notable Yankees whose final footprints include memorialization in Monument Park; Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, George Steinbrenner, Thurman Munson, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Phil Rizzuto, Billy Martin, Mel Allen, Bob Sheppard, and Casey Stengel.
On this day in 1993 dancer, film, television and stage actress Myrna Loy died at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, aged 88. Born Myrna Adele Williams in Helena, Montana on 2 August 1905.
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On this day in 2013, stage and film actor Peter O’Toole died from stomach cancer at Wellington Hospital in St John’s Wood, London, aged 81. Born Peter Seamus O’Toole on 2 August 1932 
On this day in 1466, acclaimed Italian sculptor, Donatello, died in Florence, Italy at the age of 80. Born Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi c. 1386 in Florence, Italy. One of the most important Renaissance sculptors, known for his work in bas-relief, a form of shallow relief sculpture that, in Donatello’s case, incorporated significant 15th century developments in perspectival illusionism. His main works include:
The Final Footprint – Donatello is entombed next to Cosimo de’ Medici the Elder in the Basilica di San Lorenzo (Basilica of St Lawrence), one of the largest churches of Florence, Italy, situated at the centre of the city’s main market district, and the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III.
On this day in 1784, poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer, Dr. Johnson, Samuel Johnson died at a friends house in Islington, London at the age of 75. Possibly the most distinguished man of letters in English history. He is also the subject of one of the most famous single works of biographical art in the whole of literature: James Boswell‘s Life of Samuel Johnson. Johnson married Elizabeth “Tetty” or “Testsey” Jervis Porter (1735 – 1752 her death). They married on 9 July 1735 at St. Werburgh’s Church, Derby, where the event is reenacted annually. Johnson called the marriage “a love-match on both sides,” and always recalled her affectionately and with grief, especially on the anniversary of her death. Born on 18 September 1709 in the family home above his father’s bookshop in Lichfield, Staffordshire.
The Final Footprint – Johnson was buried on 20 December 1784 at Westminster Abbey. 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), 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, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Dylan Thomas, and William III.
On this day in 1944 painter and art theorist Wassily Kandinsky died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, aged 77. Born Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky in Moscow on 16 December 1866.
On this day in 1961 folk artist Grandma Moses died at the Health Center in Hoosick Falls, New York, aged 101. Born Anna Mary Robertson in Greenwich, New York on September 7, 1860.
On this day in 2007, Sioux musician, political activist, and actor, Kanghi Duta (Red Crow in Dakota), Floyd Westerman died from complications of leukemia at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with his family, at the age of 71. Born on August 17, 1936 on the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, home of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, one of the tribes of the Eastern Dakota subgroup of the Great Sioux Nation, living within South Dakota. After establishing a career as a country music singer, he became a leading actor depicting Native Americans in American films and television. He worked as a political activist for Native American causes.
On this day in 1889, poet and playwright, one of the foremost Victorian poets, Robert Browning died at his son’s home Ca’ Rezzonico in Venice at the age of 77. Born on 7 May 1812 in Camberwell, a district now forming part of the borough of Southwark in South London, England. Perhaps as well known for his poetry as for his famously romantic marriage to the poet Elizabeth Barrett. Their love letters to each other are among the most romantic letters ever written.
The Final Footprint – Browning was buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey; his grave now lies immediately adjacent to that of Alfred Tennyson. Other notable Final Footprints at Westminster include; 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, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Dylan Thomas, and William III.
On this day in 1929, Texas Ranger, cattle rancher, The Father of the Texas Panhandle, Charles Goodnight, died in Tucson, Arizona at the age of 93. Born on 5 March 1836 in Macoupin County, Illinois. In 1846 his family moved to Texas. At the age of 20, Goodnight began cowboyin’ and joined the Texas Rangers a year later in 1857. Following the Civil War, he became involved in the herding of feral Texas Longhorn cattle, “making the gather”, a wide ranging round-up of cattle that had roamed near state-wide during the four years of war, northward from West Texas to railroads. In 1866, he and Oliver Loving drove their first herd of cattle northward along what would become known as the Goodnight-Loving Trail. Goodnight invented the chuckwagon, which was first used on the initial cattle drive. Upon arriving in New Mexico, they formed a partnership with New Mexico cattleman John Chisum for future contracts to supply the United States Army with cattle. After Loving’s death, Goodnight and Chisum extended the trail from New Mexico to Colorado, and eventually to Wyoming. Goodnight is reported to have kept a photograph of Loving in his pocket for a long time after his death. As requested by the dying Loving, Goodnight carried the body from New Mexico to Weatherford, the seat of Parker County, Texas, for burial. I have crossed and recrossed and walked and hiked various stretches of the Goodnight-Loving Trail in New Mexico and Colorado.
The Final Footprint – Goodnight and his first wife Molly are interred next to each other in Goodnight Cemetery, Goodnight, Texas. Their graves are marked by a large upright granite marker inscribed with their names and the following: “TOGETHER THEY CONQUERED A NEW LAND AND PERFORMED A DUTY TO MAN AND GOD. HE WAS A TRAIL BLAZER AND INDIAN SCOUT. SHE WAS A QUIET HOME-LOVING WOMAN. TOGETHER THEY BUILT A HOME IN THE PALO DURO CANYON IN 1876. THEY DEVELOPED THE CATTLE INDUSTRY. THEY FATHERED HIGHER EDUCATION AND CIVIC ENTERPRISES. TO THEM THE PANHANDLE PAYS REVERENT AND GRATEFUL TRIBUTE.
On this day in 2006, actor Peter Boyle died from multiple myeloma and heart disease in New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City , at the age of 71. Born Peter Lawrence Boyle on October 18, 1935 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Primarily known as a character actor, he played the comical monster in Mel Brooks’ film spoof Young Frankenstein (1974). He also starred in The Candidate. Boyle, who won an Emmy Award in 1996 for a guest-starring role on the science-fiction drama The X-Files, won praise in both comedic and dramatic parts following his breakthrough performance in the 1970 film Joe.
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On this day in 1964, gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, a pioneer and founder of soul music, The King of Soul, Sam Cooke, died at the Hacienda Motel at 9137 South Figueroa Street in Los Angeles, California at the age of 33, from a gunshot wound to the torso. The motel’s manager said that she shot Cooke in self-defense after he broke into her office residence and attacked her. However, the details of the case involving Cooke’s death are still in dispute. Born Samuel Cook on 22 January 1931 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. In my opinion, his contribution in pioneering Soul music helped pave the way for others. He had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, plus three more posthumously. Cooke was also among the first modern black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the Civil Rights Movement. My favorite songs of his are “You Send Me”, “A Change Is Gonna Come”, “Chain Gang”, “Wonderful World”, and “Bring It on Home to Me”.
The Final Footprint – Cooke’s funeral was held in Chicago at A.R. Leak Funeral Home, where thousands of fans had lined up for over four city blocks to view his body. Cooke is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California. His grave is marked with a bronze individual marker with his name, year of birth and death, the phrase “I LOVE YOU” and the inscription “UNTIL THE DAY BREAK, AND THE SHADOWS FLEE AWAY”. Other notable Final Footprints at Forest Lawn Glendale include; L. Frank Baum, Humphrey Bogart, Lon Chaney, Nat King Cole, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., Walt Disney, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Michael Jackson, Carole Lombard, Tom Mix, Casey Stengel, Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, and Spencer Tracy.
On this day in 2008, model, the Queen of Pinups, Bettie Page died in Los Angeles at the age of 85. Born Bettie Mae Page on April 22, 1923 in Nashville. She gained a significant profile in the 1950s for her pin-up photos. Her jet-black hair, blue eyes, and trademark fringe outfits have influenced artists for generations.
On this day in 2021 author of gothic fiction and erotic literature, Anne Rice died from complications of a stroke at a hospital in Rancho Mirage, California, aged 80. Born in New Orleans on 4 October 1941.
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