Portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler
On this day in 1827, composer and pianist, Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna at the age of 56. Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, now in present-day Germany. Beethoven was likely born on 16 December 1770. He moved to Vienna in his early 20’s, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gained a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. His hearing began to deteriorate in the late 1790s, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming completely deaf. In my opinion, Beethoven is the crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music and he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time. My favorite Beethoven composition is his Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, the “Emperor Concerto”. Beethoven never married though he apparently had several loves. He met Giulietta Guicciardi in about 1800 and mentions his love for her in a letter to a friend. Beethoven dedicated to Giulietta his Sonata No. 14, popularly known as the “Moonlight” Sonata. Marriage plans were thwarted by Giulietta’s father and perhaps Beethoven’s common lineage. Perhaps Beethoven proposed to Josephine Deym, at least informally. While his feelings were apparently reciprocated, she turned him down possibly due to the fact that she was born of nobility and he was a commoner. It is also likely that he considered proposing (whether he actually did or not is unknown) to Therese Malfatti, the dedicatee of “Für Elise” in 1810; his common status may also have thwarted those plans. Apparently while staying in the Bohemian spa town of Teplitz, he wrote three love letters to an “Immortal Beloved.” While the identity of the intended recipient is the subject of ongoing debate, the most likely candidate, based on people’s movements and the contents of the letters, is Antonie Brentano, a married woman with whom he had begun a friendship in 1810.
The Final Footprint – Beethoven was initially interred in the Währing cemetery, north-west of Vienna, after a requiem mass at the church of the Holy Trinity (Dreifaltigkeitskirche). The funeral procession on 29 March 1827 was attended by an estimated 20,000 Viennese citizens. Franz Schubert, who would die the following year and would be buried next to Beethoven, was one of the torchbearers. Beethoven’s remains were exhumed for study in 1862, and moved in 1888 to Vienna’s Zentralfriedhof, the largest and most famous cemetery among Vienna’s nearly 50 cemeteries. His grave is marked by a large marble monument. Eddie Van Halen‘s middle name “Lodewijk” was derived from Beethoven (Lodewijk is the Dutch version of Ludwig). Other notable Final Footprints at Zentralfriedhof include; Johannes Brahms, Antonio Salieri, Schubert, Johann Strauss I, and Johann Strauss II. In addition, a cenotaph was erected there in honour of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
On this day in 1892, poet, essayist, journalist, teacher, government clerk, volunteer nurse during the Civil War, The Father of Free Verse, Walt Whitman died in Camden, New Jersey at the age of 72. Born Walter Whitman on 31 May 1819, in West Hills, Town of Huntington, Long Island. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. In my opinion, Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality. First published in 1855 with his own money, Leaves of Grass was an attempt at reaching out to the common person with an American epic. He continued expanding and revising it until his death in 1892. Whitman never married.
The Final Footprint – A public viewing of his body was held at his Camden home; over one thousand people visited in three hours. Apparently, Whitman’s oak coffin was barely visible because of all the flowers and wreaths left for him. Four days after his death, he was entombed in the private mausoleum he had built at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden. Another public ceremony was held at the cemetery, with friends giving speeches, live music, and refreshments. Whitman’s friend, the orator Robert Ingersoll, delivered the eulogy. Later, the remains of Whitman’s parents and two of his brothers and their families were moved to the mausoleum. Whitman has been claimed as America’s first “poet of democracy”, a title meant to reflect his ability to write in a singularly American character. A British friend of Walt Whitman, Mary Smith Whitall Costelloe, wrote: “You cannot really understand America without Walt Whitman, without Leaves of Grass… He has expressed that civilization, ‘up to date,’ as he would say, and no student of the philosophy of history can do without him.”. Poet Ezra Pound called Whitman “America’s poet… He is America.”. Andrew Carnegie called him “the great poet of America so far”. Whitman considered himself a messiah-like figure in poetry. William Sloane Kennedy, speculated that “people will be celebrating the birth of Walt Whitman as they are now the birth of Christ”. The literary critic, Harold Bloom wrote, as the introduction for the 150th anniversary of Leaves of Grass:
If you are American, then Walt Whitman is your imaginative father and mother, even if, like myself, you have never composed a line of verse. You can nominate a fair number of literary works as candidates for the secular Scripture of the United States. They might include Melville’s Moby-Dick, Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Emerson’s two series of Essays and The Conduct of Life. None of those, not even Emerson’s, are as central as the first edition of Leaves of Grass.
Whitman’s vagabond lifestyle was adopted by the Beat movement and its leaders such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac in the 1950s and 1960s as well as anti-war poets like Adrienne Rich and Gary Snyder. Lawrence Ferlinghetti numbered himself among Whitman’s “wild children”, and the title of his 1961 collection Starting from San Francisco is a deliberate reference to Whitman’s Starting from Paumanok. Whitman also influenced Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, and was the model for the character of Dracula. Stoker said in his notes that Dracula represented the quintessential male which, to Stoker, was Whitman, with whom he corresponded until Whitman’s death. Other admirers included the Eagle Street College, an informal group established in 1885 at the home of James William Wallace in Eagle Street, Bolton, to read and discuss the poetry of Whitman. The group subsequently became known as the Bolton Whitman Fellowship or Whitmanites. Its members held an annual ‘Whitman Day’ celebration around the poet’s birthday. Whitman’s poetry has been set to music by a large number of composers including: Kurt Weill, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frederick Delius, Paul Hindemith, Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Benjamin Britten, Leonard Bernstein, Ned Rorem, Ronald Corp, George Crumb, Roger Sessions and John Adams. The Walt Whitman Bridge crosses the Delaware River near his home in Camden.
#RIP #OTD in 1923 French stage actress (La Dame Aux Camelias, Ruy Blas, Fédora, La Tosca, L’Aiglon) Sarah Bernhardt died from kidney failure at home in Paris, aged 78. Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
#RIP #OTD in 1959 novelist (The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, The Little Sister, The Long Goodbye), screenwriter Raymond Chandler died at Scripps Memorial Hospital, La Jolla CA of pneumonial peripheral vascular shock and prerenal uremia, aged 70. Mount Hope Cemetery, in San Diego
On this day in 1969, novelist John Kennedy Toole died by suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in Biloxi, Mississippi at the age of 31. Born on December 17, 1937 in New Orleans. His posthumously published novel A Confederacy of Dunces won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981. He also wrote The Neon Bible. Although several people in the literary world felt his writing skills were praiseworthy, Toole’s novels were rejected during his lifetime.
Toole received an academic scholarship to Tulane University in New Orleans. After graduating from Tulane, he studied English at Columbia University in New York while teaching simultaneously at Hunter College. He also taught at various Louisiana colleges, and during his early career as an academic he was valued on the faculty party circuit for his wit and gift for mimicry. His studies were interrupted when he was drafted into the army, where he taught English to Spanish-speaking recruits in San Juan, Puerto Rico. After receiving a promotion, he used his private office to begin writing A Confederacy of Dunces, which he finished at his parents’ home after his discharge.
Dunces is a picaresque novel featuring the misadventures of protagonist Ignatius J. Reilly, a lazy, obese, misanthropic, self-styled scholar who lives at home with his mother. It is hailed for its accurate depictions of New Orleans dialects. Toole based Reilly in part on his college professor friend Bob Byrne. Byrne’s slovenly, eccentric behavior was anything but professorial, and Reilly mirrored him in these respects. The character was also based on Toole himself, and several personal experiences served as inspiration for passages in the novel. While at Tulane, Toole filled in for a friend at a job as a hot tamale cart vendor, and worked at a family owned and operated clothing factory. Both of these experiences were later adopted into his fiction.
Toole submitted Dunces to publisher Simon & Schuster, where it reached noted editor Robert Gottlieb. Gottlieb considered Toole talented but felt his comic novel was essentially pointless. Despite several revisions, Gottlieb remained unsatisfied, and after the book was rejected by another literary figure, Hodding Carter Jr., Toole shelved the novel. Suffering from depression and feelings of persecution, Toole left home on a journey around the country. A journey that ended in Biloxi. Some years later, his mother brought the manuscript of Dunces to the attention of novelist Walker Percy, who ushered the book into print.
The Final Footprint
Toole died by suicide by running a garden hose from the exhaust pipe in through the window of his car on March 26, 1969. His car and person were immaculately clean, and the police officers who found him reported that his face showed no signs of distress. An envelope discovered in the car was marked “to my parents”. The suicide note inside the envelope was destroyed by his mother. He was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in New Orleans. Toole’s funeral service was private and only attended by his parents and his childhood nursemaid Beulah Matthews. The students and faculty at Dominican College were grief-stricken over Toole’s death, and the school held a memorial service for him in the college courtyard. The head of Dominican gave a brief eulogy; however, as the institution was Catholic, his suicide was never mentioned.
#RIP #OTD in 1973 playwright (Hay Fever, Private Lives, Design for Living, Present Laughter, Blithe Spirit, composer, director, actor, singer/songwriter (“Mad Dogs and Englishmen”) Noël Coward died at his home, Firefly Estate, in Jamaica of heart failure, aged 73. Firefly Estate
#RIP #OTD in 1979 short story writer, novelist (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Collected Stories of Jean Stafford), Jean Stafford died of cardiac arrest in White Plains, New York. Green River Cemetery, East Hampton, New York
On this day in 2016, poet, novelist, and essayist Jim Harrison died from a heart attack in Patagonia, Arizona at the age of 78. Born James Harrison on December 11, 1937 in Grayling, Michigan. He was a prolific and versatile writer publishing over three dozen books in several genres including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature. He wrote screenplays, book reviews, literary criticism, and published essays on food, travel, and sport. Harrison indicated that, of all his writing, his poetry meant the most to him. He published 24 novellas during his lifetime and is considered “America’s foremost master” of that form. His first commercial success came with the 1979 publication of the trilogy of novellas, Legends of the Fall, two of which were made into movies. He was the recipient of multiple awards and honors including a Guggenheim Fellowship (1969), the Mark Twain Award for distinguished contributions to Midwestern literature (1990), and induction into the American Academy of Arts & Letters (2007). Harrison wrote that “The dream that I could write a good poem, a good novel, or even a good movie for that matter, has devoured my life.”
The Final Footprint
Unknown at this time.
Have you planned yours yet?
Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF
On this day in 1918, composer Claude Debussy died from cancer at his home in Paris at the age of 55. Born Achille-Claude Debussy on 22 August 1862 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he rejected the term. In my opinion, he was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Final Footprint
On this day in 2006, singer and songwriter, Buck Owens died in his sleep at his ranch in Bakersfield, California at the age of 76. Born Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. on 12 August 1929 in Sherman, Texas. Evidently Buck was a donkey on the Owens farm and one day Alvis, Jr. announced that his name was also Buck and it stuck. Owens settled in Bakersfield in 1951 and pioneered what came to be known as the Bakersfield sound. From 1969 to 1986, Owens co-hosted the TV series Hee Haw with Roy Clark. My favorite Owens’ songs are “Together Again” and “Love’s Gonna Live Here.”
The Final Footprint – Elizabeth’s coffin was carried downriver at night to Whitehall, on a barge lit with torches. At her funeral on 28 April, the coffin was taken to Westminster Abbey on a hearse drawn by four horses hung with black velvet, where she was entombed. Her death marked the end of the Tudor dynasty. Many books and movies have featured Elizabeth, including Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), both starring Cate Blanchett in the title role. She was nominated for an Academy Award for both films. The first film was nominated for best picture. Other notable Final Footprints at Westminster include; Robert Browning, Lord Byron, Geoffrey Chaucer, Oliver Cromwell, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Edward The Confessor, 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.
On this day in 1882, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow died from peritonitis at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the age of 75. Born on February 27, 1807 in Portland, Maine. His works include “Paul Revere’s Ride”, The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. He was the first American to translate Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy and was one of the Fireside Poets from New England.
On this day in 2008 actor Richard Widmark died at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, at the age of 93. Born Richard Weedt Widmark on December 26, 1914 in Sunrise Township, Minnesota.
On this day in 2016, stand-up comedian, actor, director, writer, and producer Garry Shandling died in his home in Los Angeles, California at age 66 from a pulmonary embolism. Born Garry Emmanuel Shandling on November 29, 1949 in Chicago. Perhaps best known for his work in It’s Garry Shandling’s Show and The Larry Sanders Show.
On this day in 1842, writer Stendhal died in Paris at the age of 59. Born Marie-Henri Beyle on 23 January 1783 in Grenoble. Perhaps best known for the novels Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black, 1830) and La Chartreuse de Parme (The Charterhouse of Parma, 1839), he is highly regarded for the acute analysis of his characters’ psychology and considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism.
The Final Footprint
On this day in 2006, singer and songwriter Cindy Walker died at the Parkview Regional Hospital in Mexia, Texas at the age of 87. Born July 20, 1918 in Mart, Texas. As a songwriter Walker was responsible for a large number of popular and enduring songs recorded by many different artists.
The Final Footprint
On this day in 2011, multiple Academy Award nominated actress and two-time winner, social activist, champion of AIDS awareness, Liz, Elizabeth Taylor, died from congestive heart failure in Los Angeles at the age of 79. Born Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor on 27 February 1932 in Hampstead Garden Suburb, London. My all-time favorite movie in which she appeared was George Steven‘s epic Giant (1956) based on the Edna Ferber novel and starring Rock Hudson and James Dean. My other favorites include; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) based on the Tennesse Williams play and co-starring Paul Newman; Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) based on the Williams play and co-starring Katharine Hepburn and Montgomery Clift; Cleopatra (1963) co-starring Richard Burton; Relections in a Golden Eye (1967) based on the novel by Carson McCullers and co-starring Marlon Brando. In 1959, Taylor converted from Christian Science to Judaism. Taylor was married eight times to seven men; Conrad Hilton, Jr. (1950-1951 divorce), Michael Wilding (1952-1957 divorce), Mike Todd (1957-1958 his death), Eddie Fisher (1959-1964 divorce), Richard Burton (1964-1974 divorce, 1975-1976 divorce), John Warner (1976-1982 divorce) and Larry Fortensky (1991-1996 divorce). Taylor married Fortensky at Michal Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. Taylor attended Jackson’s private funeral. Long Live Liz!
The Final Footprint – Taylor was entombed in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, the day after her death in accordance with Jewish custom. The Great Mausoleum was fashioned after Campo Santo in Genoa, Italy and contains many of the most highly sought after final resting spaces within Forest Lawn Glendale. Within the Great Mausoleum is the Court of Honor where individuals are inducted as “Immortals” by Forest Lawn’s Council of Regents and the structure is protected by guards and is not accessible by the public. Time Magazine described it as the “New World’s Westminster Abbey”. Other notable Final Footprints at Forest Lawn Glendale include; L. Frank Baum, Humphrey Bogart, Lon Chaney, Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole, Sam Cooke, Dorothy Dandridge, Walt, Disney, Don Drysdale, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Michael Jackson, Louis L’Amour, Lash LaRue, Carole Lombard, Ida Lupino, Tom Mix, Merle Oberon, Red Skelton, Casey Stengel, Jimmy Stewart, Spencer Tracy, and Bobby Womack.
The Final Footprint – Goethe is entombed in the Ducal Vault in Weimar’s Historical Cemetery. Friedrich Schiller is entombed there as well. A bronze statue of Goethe and Schiller was erected in Weimar. The Goethe Monument was erected in Chicago’s Lincoln Park.
On this day in 2018, jazz singer and actress Morgana King died, aged 87, of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Palm Springs, California. Born Maria Grazia Morgana Messina on June 4, 1930 in Pleasantville, New York. She began singing at a young age and a professional singing career at sixteen years old. In her twenties, she was singing at a Greenwich Village nightclub when she was recognized for her unique phrasing and vocal range, described as a four-octave contralto range.
On this day in 1617, Native American woman, Pocahontas died in Gravesend, Kent, England at the approximate age of 21. Born about 1595 in what is now Virginia. She was the daughter of Powhatan, the paramount chief of Tsenacommacah, an alliance of about thirty Algonquian-speaking groups and chiefdoms in Tidewater Virginia. Pocahontas was known for having assisted colonial settlers at Jamestown and for reportedly saving Captain John Smith‘s life. She converted to Christianity and married the English settler John Rolfe. They had a son, Thomas Rolfe and her many descendants include; Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, wife of Woodrow Wilson; Admiral Richard Byrd; Virginia Governor Harry Flood Byrd; fashion-designer and socialite Pauline de Rothschild; former First Lady Nancy Reagan. The Rolfes left Virginia for England in 1616. She died just as they were beginning a return trip to Virginia.
On this day in 1974, transgender actress Candy Darling died of lymphoma, aged 29, at the Columbia University Medical Center division of the Cabrini Health Center in New York City. Born James Lawrence Slattery on November 24, 1944 in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. Perhaps best known as a Warhol Superstar. She starred in Andy Warhol’s films Flesh (1968) and Women in Revolt (1971), and was a muse of the protopunk band The Velvet Underground. She appeared in Klute with Jane Fonda and Lady Liberty with Sophia Loren. Her theatre credits include two Jackie Curtis plays, Glamour, Glory and Gold (1967) and Vain Victory: The Vicissitudes of the Damned (1971). She was also in Tennessee Williams‘ play Small Craft Warnings, at the invitation of Williams himself. Darling and friend Taffy are paid tribute to in the chorus of The Rolling Stones’ 1967 song “Citadel”. Darling is the subject of the song “Candy Says”, the opening track on The Velvet Underground’s third, self-titled album in 1969. The second verse of Lou Reed’s 1972 hit “Walk on the Wild Side” is devoted to Darling.
The Final Footprint
The Final Footprint – Newton is entombed in Westminster Abbey. His monument is north of the entrance to the choir against the choir screen, near his tomb. Executed by the sculptor Michael Rysbrack (1694–1770) in white and grey marble with design by the architect William Kent. The monument features a figure of Newton reclining on top of a sarcophagus, his right elbow resting on several of his great books and his left hand pointing to a scroll with a mathematical design. Above him is a pyramid and a celestial globe showing the signs of the Zodiac and the path of the comet of 1680. The Latin inscription on the base translates as: “Here is buried Isaac Newton, Knight, who by a strength of mind almost divine, and mathematical principles peculiarly his own, explored the course and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, the tides of the sea, the dissimilarities in rays of light, and, what no other scholar has previously imagined, the properties of the colours thus produced. Diligent, sagacious and faithful, in his expositions of nature, antiquity and the holy Scriptures, he vindicated by his philosophy the majesty of God mighty and good, and expressed the simplicity of the Gospel in his manners. Mortals rejoice that there has existed such and so great an ornament of the human race!” Other notable Final Footprints at Westminster include; Robert Browning, Lord Byron, Charles II, Geoffrey Chaucer, Oliver Cromwell, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Edward III, Edward VI, Edward The Confessor, Elizabeth I, George II, George Friederic Handel, Stephen Hawking, Henry III, Henry V, Henry VII, James I (James VI of Scotland), Samuel Johnson, Ben Jonson, Rudyard Kipling, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Mary I, Mary II, Mary Queen of Scots, John Milton, Laurence Olivier, Henry Purcell, Thomas Shadwell, Edmund Spenser, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Dylan Thomas, and William III.
On this day in 1964, 
He was given a full IRA guard of honour, which escorted his coffin. It was described by several newspapers as the biggest Irish funeral of all time after those of Michael Collins and Charles Stewart Parnell. He is interred at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin. Other notable final footprints at Glasnevin include; Michael Collins, Maud Gonne, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Seán MacBride.
On this day in 1982, heavy metal guitarist Randy Rhoads died in a plane accident in Leesburg, Florida, at the age of 25. Born Randall William Rhoads on December 6, 1956 in Santa Monica, California. Rhoads played with Quiet Riot and Ozzy Osbourne. A devoted student of classical guitar, Rhoads combined his classical music influences with his own heavy metal style. Despite his short career, Rhoads, who was a major influence on neoclassical metal, is cited as an influence by many guitarists.
On this day in 1997, artist Willem de Kooning died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 92 in East Hampton, New York. Born April 24, 1904 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He moved to the United States in 1926, and became an American citizen in 1962. On December 9, 1943, he married painter Elaine Fried.
On this day in 2007, actor and comedian, Larry Bud Melman, died at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip, New York at the age of 85. Born Calvert Grant DeForest on 23 July 1921 in Brooklyn. Perhaps best known for his appearances on Late Night with David Letterman and the Late Show with David Letterman. He was the cousin of actor DeForest Kelley of Star Trek fame. His appearances on Letterman were so funny. I used to watch Letterman back in the day when I could stay awake past 2300 hours.
On this day in 2008, science fiction writer, science writer and futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host Arthur C. Clarke died in Colombo, Sri Lanka from respiratory failure at the age of 90. Born Arthur Charles Clarke on 16 December 1917 in Minehead, Somerset, England, UK.
On this day in 1980 artist Tamara de Łempicka died in Cuernavaca, Mexico at the age of 81. Born Tamara Rozalia Gurwik-Górska on 16 May 1898 in Warsaw, Poland. She spent her working life in France and the United States. Perhaps best known for her polished Art Deco portraits of aristocrats and the wealthy, and for her highly stylized paintings of nudes.
The Final Footprint
On this day in 2009, actress Natasha Richardson died at the age of 45 at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan from an epidural hematoma, after hitting her head in a skiing accident at the Mont Tremblant Resort in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada. Born Natasha Jane Richardson on 11 May 1963 in Marylebone, London. Richardson was a member of the Redgrave family, being the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson, and the granddaughter of Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson.
The Final Footprint
On this day in 2010, U. S. Navy and Marine
Corp veteran, Texas Longhorn, actor and wine maker, Fess Parker, died at his home in Santa Ynez, California at the age of 85. Born Fess Elisha Parker, Jr. on 16 August 1924 in Fort Worth, Texas. Parker graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in history in 1950. Perhaps best known for his portrayals of Davy Crockett in the Walt Disney 1955 – 1956 television mini-series and as television’s Daniel Boone from 1964 – 1970. Parker founded and operated the Fess Parker Family Winery and Vineyards in Los Olivos, California. The wine labels have a logo of a golden coonskin cap and the winery sells coonskin caps. Parker was married once to Marcella Belle Rinehart (1960 – 2010 his death).
The Final Footprint – Parker is interred with is parents in Santa Barbara Cemetery in Santa Barbara, California. His grave is marked by and individual bronze marker with a coonskin emblem and the term of endearment; IN LOVING MEMORY. Other notable Final Footprints at Santa Barbara include; Laurence Harvey, Suzy Parker (no relation) and Kenneth Rexroth.
On this day in 2017, musician, singer, songwriter, rock and roll pioneer, Chuck Berry died at his home in St. Charles County, Missouri at the age of 90. Born Charles Edward Anderson Berry on October 18, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri. With songs such as “Maybellene” (1955), “Roll Over Beethoven” (1956), “Rock and Roll Music” (1957) and “Johnny B. Goode” (1958), Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into major elements that made rock and roll distinctive. Writing lyrics that focused on teen life and consumerism, and developing a music style that included guitar solos and showmanship, Berry was a major influence on subsequent rock music.
On this day in 180 AD, Joint 16th Emperor of the Roman Empire, Philosopher King, Marcus Aurelius died in the city of Vindobona (modern Vienna) or in Sirmium, Serbia, the age of 58. Born Marcus Annius Catilius Severus on 26 April 121 in Rome. He ruled with Lucius Verus as co-emperor from 161 until Verus’ death in 169. Aurelius was the last of the Five Good Emperors, and is also considered one of the most important Stoic philosophers. During his reign, the Empire defeated a revitalized Parthian Empire in the East; Aurelius’ general Avidius Cassius sacked the capital Ctesiphon in 164. In central Europe, Aurelius fought the Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatians with success during the Marcomannic Wars, with the threat of the Germanic tribes beginning to represent a troubling reality for the Empire. A revolt in the East led by Cassius failed to gain momentum and was suppressed immediately. Aurelius’ Stoic tome Meditations, written in Greek while on campaign between 170 and 180, is still revered as a literary monument to a philosophy of service and duty, describing how to find and preserve equanimity in the midst of conflict by following nature as a source of guidance and inspiration. Aurelius married his first cousin Faustina the Younger in 145. During their 30-year marriage Faustina bore 13 children.
The Final Footprint – Aurelius was cremated and immediately deified and his cremated remains were returned to Rome, and rested in Hadrian’s mausoleum (modern Castel Sant’Angelo) until the Visigoth sack of the city in 410. His campaigns against Germans and Sarmatians were also commemorated by a column and a temple built in Rome. In the 1964 movie The Fall of the Roman Empire he was portrayed by Alec Guinness and in the 2000 movie Gladiator he was portrayed by Richard Harris. Both movie plots posited that Aurelius was assassinated because he intended to pass down power to Aurelius’s adopted son, a Roman general, instead of his biological son Commodus.
On this day; the traditional death date of fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland, Saint Patrick. Known as the “Apostle of Ireland”, he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints being Brigit of Kildare and Columba. He is venerated in the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran Churches, the Old Catholic Church, and in the Eastern Orthodox Church as equal-to-the-apostles and Enlightener of Ireland.
The Final Footprint
On this day in 1990, French actress and fashion model, Capucine jumped to her death from her eighth-floor apartment in Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland, where she had lived for 28 years, at the age of 57. Born Germaine Lefebvre on 6 January 1933 in Toulon, France. Capucine is best known for her comedic roles in North to Alaska (1960) starring John Wayne, Stewart Granger and Fabian; The Pink Panther (1963) starring David Niven and Peter Sellers; What’s New Pussycat? (1965) starring Sellers and Peter O’Toole.
