#RIP #OTD in 1852 educator and inventor of the braille reading and writing system, Louis Braille died from tuberculosis in the infirmary at the Royal Institution, Paris, aged 43. His hands buried in Coupvray, remainer of his body in the Panthéon, Paris
On this day in 1919, author, politician, soldier, Colonel in the U.S. Army, 33rd Governor of New York, 25th Vice President of the United States, 26th President of the United States, Nobel Peace Prize and Medal of Honor recipient, Teddy Roosevelt, died in his sleep at his home, Sagamore Hill in Oyster Bay, New York from a pulmonary embolism at the age of 60. Born Theodore Roosevelt on 27 October 1858, in a four-story brownstone at 28 East 20th Street, in the modern-day Gramercy section of New York City. The Roosevelt family is of Dutch origin. His brother Elliott would be the father of future First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. He and Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd POTUS were cousins. Their grandfather was Nicholas Roosevelt. Roosevelt graduated from Harvard. He was an avid reader and a firm believer in physical fitness. The argument can be made that Roosevelt changed the nation’s political system by permanently placing the presidency at center stage and making character as important as the issues. History and legend have been kind to him. His friend, historian Henry Adams, proclaimed, “Roosevelt, more than any other living man ….showed the singular primitive quality that belongs to ultimate matter – the quality that mediaeval theology assigned to God – he was pure act.” Historians typically rank Roosevelt among the top presidents. Roosevelt was married twice; Alice Hathaway Lee (1880 – 1884 her death) and Edith Kermit Carow (1886 – 1919 his death). My favorite TR quote is; “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Those that know me recognize that as one of my defining traits. 
The Final Footprint – Upon receiving word of his death, his son Archie telegraphed his siblings simply, “The old lion is dead.” Woodrow Wilson‘s vice president, Thomas R. Marshall, said that “Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight.” In addition to sisters Corinne and Bamie and his wife Edith, Roosevelt was survived by five children and eight grandchildren at the time of his death. He is interred in the Roosevelt Private Estate in Youngs Memorial Cemetery, Oyster Bay with his second wife Edith. The estate is marked by a large upright granite marker inscribed with their names and birth and death dates. His grave is marked by a bronze on granite foot marker inscribed with his name and birth and death dates and; MEDAL OF HONOR LIEUT COLONEL US ARMY SPANISH AMERICAN WAR. Roosevelt was included with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln at the Mount Rushmore Memorial near Keystone, North Dakota, designed in 1927 with the approval of Republican President Calvin Coolidge. Roosevelt’s legacy includes several other important commemorations. The United States Navy named two ships for Roosevelt: the USS Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN-600), a submarine that was in commission from 1961 to 1982; and the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), an aircraft carrier that has been on active duty in the Atlantic Fleet since 1986. Hundreds of schools and streets have been named in Roosevelt’s honor. The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles is named after him, as is the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City. Perhaps Roosevelt’s most lasting popular legacy, however, is the stuffed toy bears—teddy bears—named after him following an incident on a hunting trip in Mississippi in 1902. Roosevelt famously ordered the mercy killing of a wounded black bear. After a national cartoonist illustrated the President with a bear, a toy maker heard the story and asked Roosevelt if he could use his name on a toy bear. Roosevelt approved and the teddy bear was born. Bears and later bear cubs became closely associated with Roosevelt in political cartoons thereafter.
#RIP #OTD in 1944 writer (The History of the Standard Oil Company), investigative journalist, biographer and lecturer, Ida Tarbell died of pneumonia at Bridgeport Hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut, aged 86. Woodlawn Cemetery, Titusville, Pennsylvania
#RIP #OTD in 1949 film director (Gone with the Winde, The Wizard of Oz), cinematographer, and producer, Victor Fleming died from a heart attack in Cottonwood, Arizona, aged 59. Hollywood Forever Cemetery
On this day in 1993, jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, Dizzy Gillespie died from pancreatic cancer in Englewood, New Jersey at the age of 75. Born John Birks Gillespie on 21 October 1917 in Cheraw, South Carolina. In my opinon Gillespie’s had an important influence on jazz and was one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time. Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser and added layers of harmonic complexity previously unknown in jazz. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his scat singing, his bent horn, pouched cheeks and his light-hearted personality were essential in popularizing bebop. In the 1940s Gillespie, together with Charlie Parker, became a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz. Gillespie was married to Lorraine Willis (1940 – 1993 his death). 
The Final Footprint – Gillespie is interred in an unmarked grave next to his mother in the Flushing Cemetery, Queens, New York. Gillespie had two funerals. One was a Bahá’í funeral at his request, at which his closest friends and colleagues attended. The second was at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York open to the public. Fellow jazz legend, Louis Armstrong is also interred at Flushing Cemetery.
On this day in 1993, ballet and contemporary dancer and choreographer, Lord of the Dance, Rudolf Nureyev died from AIDS complications at the hospital Notre Dame du Perpétuel Secours in Levallois-Perret, at the age of 54. Born Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev on 17 March 1938 on a Trans-Siberian train near Irkutsk, Siberia, Soviet Union. He was director of the Paris Opera Ballet from 1983 to 1989 and its chief choreographer until October 1992. In my opinion, Nureyev is the greatest male ballet dancer of his generation.
In addition, Nureyev was an accomplished choreographer. He produced his own interpretations of numerous classical works, including Swan Lake, Giselle, and La Bayadère.
Nureyev had his early career with the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg. He defected from the Soviet Union to the West in 1961, despite KGB efforts to stop him. This was the first defection of a Soviet artist during the Cold War and it created an international sensation.
He went on to dance with The Royal Ballet in London and from 1983 to 1989 served as director of the Paris Opera Ballet.
The Final Footprint
His funeral was held in the marble foyer of the Paris Garnier Opera House. Many paid tributes to his brilliance as a dancer. One such tribute came from Oleg Vinogradov of the Mariinsky Ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia, stating: “What Nureyev did in the west, he could never have done here.”
Nureyev’s grave, at a Russian cemetery in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois near Paris, features a tomb draped in a mosaic of an oriental carpet. Nureyev was an avid collector of beautiful carpets and antique textiles. As his coffin was lowered into the ground, music from the last act of Giselle was played and his ballet shoes were cast into the grave along with white lilies.
On this day in 2006, singer, songwriter, actor, voice actor, and record producer Lou Rawls died from lung cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 72. Born Louis Allen Rawls on December 1, 1933 in Rawls released more than 60 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably his song “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine”. He worked as a film, television, and voice actor. He was also a three-time Grammy-winner, all for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.
Rawls’s first marriage was in the spring of 1968, in Princeton, New Jersey. Sidney Poitier was his best man, and the reception was held at Westminster Choir College. In 2003 Rawls married Nina Inman.
The Final Footprint
Rawls is entombed at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (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, Brittany Murphy, Ricky Nelson, Bill Paxton, Brock Peters, Freddie Prinze, Debbie Reynolds, Telly Savalas, Lee Van Cleef, and Paul Walker.
#RIP #OTD in 2022 director (The Last Picture Show, What’s Up, Doc?, Paper Moon, Saint Jack, They All Laughed, Mask), writer, actor, Peter Bogdanovich died from complications of Parkinson’s disease at his home in Los Angeles, aged 82. Westwood Memorial Park, Westwood, California
#RIP #OTD in 2022 Bahamian and American actor (The Defiant Ones, Lilies of the Field, To Sir, with Love, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night), film director, diplomat Sidney Poitier died at his home in Beverly Hills, California, aged 94. Cremation
Have you planned yours yet? Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF
