On this day in 1400, author, philosopher, alchemist, astronomer, diplomat, the Father of English literature, the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages, and the first poet to have been buried in Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey, Geoffrey Chaucer died of unknown causes at the probable age of 56 or 57. His many works include; The Book of the Duchess, the House of Fame, the Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde. He is perhaps best known today for The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer is a crucial figure in developing the legitimacy of the vernacular, Middle English, at a time when the dominant literary languages in England were French and Latin. Born in London sometime around 1343, though the precise date and location of his birth remain unknown.
The Final Footprint – Chaucer is entombed in in Poet’s Corner of Westminster Abbey. Other notable Final Footprints at Westminster include; Robert Browning, Lord Byron, 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, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Dylan Thomas, and William III.
On this day in 1921, buffalo hunter, U.S. Marshal and Army scout, avid fisherman, gambler, frontier lawman, and sports editor and columnist, brother of James and Ed Masterson, friend of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson died from a heart attack at his desk in New York City at the age of 67. Born Bartholomew Masterson on 26 November 1853, at Henryville, Canada East, in the Eastern Townships of what is Quebec today. He later used the name William Barclay Masterson. Masterson took part in the Second Battle of Adobe Walls, in what is now Hutchinson County, Texas, against Comanche forces led by Chief Quanah Parker.
The Final Footprint – Masterson’s body was taken to Campbell’s Funeral Parlor and later buried after a simple service in Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York. Other notable funerals at Frank E. Campbell include; Aaliyah, Irving Berlin, Lord Buckley, James Cagney, Oleg Cassini, Montgomery Clift, Frank Costello, Joan Crawford, Malcolm Forbes, Greta Garbo, Judy Garland, George Gershwin, Jim Henson, Peter Jennings, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Heath Ledger, John Lennon, Norman Mailer, Notorious B.I.G., Les Paul, Ayn Rand, Igor Stravinsky, Ed Sullivan, Arturo Toscanini, Rudolf Valentino, Luther Vandross and Tennessee Williams. Other notable Final Footprints at Woodlawn include; Irving Berlin, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, Fiorello La Guardia, Rowland Macy, Herman Melville, J. C. Penney, Otto Preminger, and Joseph Pulitzer.
On this day in 1992 singer-songwriter, widely known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs and his chart-topping country and pop hits “King of the Road”, “Dang Me”, and “England Swings”, all from the mid-1960s Nashville sound era, Roger Miller died of lung and throat cancer in Los Angeles, aged 56. Born Roger Dean Miller on 2 January 1936 in Fort Worth, Texas.
After growing up in Oklahoma and serving in the United States Army, Miller began his musical career as a songwriter in the late 1950s, writing such hits as “Billy Bayou” and “Home” for Jim Reeves and “Invitation to the Blues” for Ray Price. He later began a recording career and reached the peak of his fame in the mid-1960s, continuing to record and tour into the 1990s, charting his final top 20 country hit “Old Friends” with Price and Willie Nelson in 1982. He also wrote and performed several of the songs for the 1973 Disney animated film Robin Hood. Later in his life, he wrote the music and lyrics for the 1985 Tony Award−winning Broadway musical Big River, in which he acted.
Miller was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame three years after his death. His songs continued to be recorded by other singers, with covers of “Tall, Tall Trees” by Alan Jackson and “Husbands and Wives” by Brooks & Dunn; both reached the number one spot on country charts in the 1990s. The Roger Miller Museum — now closed — in his home town of Erick, Oklahoma was a tribute to Miller.
The Final Footprint – cremation
On this day in 1993 actor Vincent Price died in Los Angeles, California at the age of 82. Born Vincent Leonard Price II on 27 May 1911 in Saint Louis, Missouri. Although a fine actor, known for his various roles in horror movies, he is perhaps best remembered for his voice over work in two songs; one for the King of Shock Rock and one for the King of Pop. In 1975 he appeared in Alice Cooper‘s song The Black Widow from his first solo album, Welcome to My Nightmare, one of my all-time favorite albums. I am a big time unabashed Alice Cooper fan. Then in 1982, he performed a monologue on Michael Jackson‘s Thriller. The album, the song and the video are among the most popular and culturally significant recordings ever made. Price was married three times: actress Edith Barrett (1938 – 1948 divorce), Mary Grant (1949 – 1973 divorce), and actress Coral Browne (1974 – 1991 her death).
The Final Footprint – Price was cremated and his cremated remains were scattered off Point Dume in Malibu, California
On this day in 1999 golfer, 3x major championship winner, Payne Stewart died of hypoxia aboard a Learjet 35 somewhere between Gainesville, Florida and Mina, South Dakota, age 42. Born William Payne in Springfield, Missouri on 30 January 1957.
The Final Footprint – A month after the American team rallied to win the Ryder Cup and four months after his U.S. Open victory, Stewart was killed in the crash of a Learjet flying from his home in Orlando, Florida, to Texas for the year-ending tournament, The Tour Championship, held at Champions Golf Club in Houston. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators concluded that the aircraft failed to pressurize and that all on board were incapacitated by hypoxia as the aircraft passed to the west of Gainesville, Florida. The aircraft continued flying on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed into a field near Mina, South Dakota.
At that week’s tournament, The Tour Championship, Stewart’s good friend, Stuart Appleby, organized a tribute to his friend. With Stewart’s wife’s permission, he wore one of Payne’s own signature outfits for the final round of the tournament on Sunday, and most of the rest of the golfers in the field wore “short pants” that day, as well.
The tournament had been delayed in order to allow those who would be competing in it to attend Stewart’s memorial service at the First Baptist Church of Orlando on October 30. Speakers included Tracey Stewart and Paul Azinger, both a fellow professional and one of Stewart’s close friends, while attendees included Woods, Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Davis Love III, Hal Sutton, Justin Leonard and Fred Couples, along with MLB pitcher Orel Hershiser, another friend of Stewart’s.
The segment of Interstate 44 passing through Springfield, Missouri, was designated the “Payne Stewart Memorial Highway” in his memory. Payne Stewart Drive in Fullerton, California, and Payne Stewart Drive in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, leading into Northview golf course designed by Arnold Palmer, were named after him. Finally, Payne Stewart Drive in Jacksonville, Florida, houses The First Tee along with a Job Corps center
The communities of Mina and Aberdeen created their own memorial. Jon Hoffman, the owner of the property where the aircraft crashed, contacted Stewart’s widow and several family members of other crash victims. All agreed that the memorial would be a rock from the crash site, engraved with the victims’ names and a Bible passage. Hoffman fenced in about an acre (4,000 m2) of the property surrounding the memorial.
In 2000, the PGA Tour established the Payne Stewart Award, given each year to a player who shows respect for the traditions of the game, commitment to uphold the game’s heritage of charitable support and professional and meticulous presentation of himself and the sport through his dress and conduct.[41] At Pinehurst No. 2, a bronze statue of Stewart celebrating his winning putt in the 1999 U.S. Open there overlooks the 18th green. On the first day of the 2014 U.S. Open, the second time that Pinehurst No. 2 had hosted the tournament since 1999, Rickie Fowler wore plus fours and argyle socks in tribute to Stewart.
Also, at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where Stewart would have been the defending champion, further tributes were paid. Firstly, on the eve of the tournament, there was another memorial at the 18th hole where speakers again included Tracey Stewart and Azinger. This time, the attendees included Stewart’s old caddy Mike Hicks plus other professionals due to compete in the tournament such as Mickelson, Love, David Duval, Tom Lehman, Lee Janzen and Sergio García, and it concluded with shots being hit into Stillwater Cove in a golf version of a 21-gun salute. The next day, when Stewart’s defending champion spot in the traditional initial pairings alongside the Open Championship winner (Paul Lawrie) and U.S. Amateur winner (David Gossett) was given to Nicklaus playing in his 44th consecutive and final U.S. Open, Nicklaus asked for a moment of silence before his opening tee shot. García also wore Stewart’s trademark navy plus fours in his honor during his first round.
Final resting place, Doctor Phillips Cemetery, Orlando.
In tribute to Stewart, as well as his southwestern Missouri roots, the Payne Stewart Golf Club was opened in Branson, Missouri, in June 2009 with the approval of Stewart’s widow.[citation needed] Ground-breaking on the $31 million layout took place on July 24, 2006. The 7,319-yard, 18-hole course was designed by Bobby Clampett and Chuck Smith. Each hole on the course is named for some aspect or notable moment in Stewart’s life. The fifth hole, for example, named “Road Hole”, recounts the par Stewart made in the first round of the 1990 Open Championship at Old Course at St Andrews when he was forced to knock his third shot against the wall behind the green at the Old Course’s treacherous 17th. His ball finished just on the back fringe from where he chipped in. Later in 2020, Woods christened the first public course by him and his company TGR Design at Big Cedar Lodge near Branson as Payne’s Valley in Stewart’s honor.
On this day in 2002, actor and singer Richard Harris died from Hodgkin’s disease at University College Hospital in Fitzrovia, London at the age of 72. Born Richard St. John Harris on 1 October 1930 in Limerick, Ireland. He appeared as Frank Machin in This Sporting Life, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, King Arthur in the 1967 film Camelot and the subsequent 1981 revival of the show. He played an aristocrat captured by Native Americans in A Man Called Horse (1970), a gunfighter in Clint Eastwood’s Western film Unforgiven (1992), Emperor Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator (2000), and Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), the latter of which was his final film role. Harris had a number-one hit in Australia and Canada and a top ten hit in the United Kingdom, Ireland and United States with his 1968 recording of Jimmy Webb’s song “MacArthur Park”.
In 1957, Harris married Elizabeth Rees-Williams. Harris and Rees-Williams divorced in 1969, after which Elizabeth married Rex Harrison. Harris’ second marriage was to the American actress Ann Turkel. In 1982, they divorced.
The Final Footprint
Harris’ body was cremated, and his cremated remains were scattered in the Bahamas.
#RIP #OTD in 2013 actress (The Bob Newhart Show, Full House, The Simpsons), comedian, Marcia Wallace died in Los Angeles from breast cancer complications aged 70. Cremated remains scattered in the Pacific
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On this day in 1972, Baseball Hall of Famer, a man of courage, the man who broke baseball’s color line, Jackie Robinson died in Stamford, Connecticut at the age of 53. Born Jack Roosevelt Robinson on 31 January 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. He made his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. World Series Champion 1955, recipient of the inaugural MLB Rookie of the Year Award, six-time All-Star, National League MVP 1949, posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. A hero for all people. I own a number 42 replica Dodger’s jersey.
On this day in 1991 United States Army Air Forces veteran, screenwriter, producer, futurist, Gene Roddenberry died from cardiopulmonary arrest in Santa Monica, California at the age of 70. Born Eugene Wesley Roddenberry on 19 August 1921 in El Paso, Texas. Perhaps best known for creating the original Star Trek television series and thus the Star Trek science fiction franchise. In 1964, Roddenberry created Star Trek, which premiered in 1966 and ran for three seasons before being canceled. Syndication of Star Trek led to increasing popularity, and Roddenberry continued to create, produce and consult on the Star Trek films and the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation until his death. In 1985 he became the first TV writer with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and he was later inducted by both the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. The Star Trek franchise created has produced story material for almost five decades; resulting in six television series consisting of 726 episodes, and twelve feature films, so far. Additionally, the popularity of the Star Trek universe and films inspired the parody/homage/cult film Galaxy Quest in 1999, as well as many books, video games and fan films set in the various “eras” of the Star Trek universe. Roddenberry married Eileen Rexroat (1942 – 1969 divorce). During the 1960s, Roddenberry reportedly had affairs with Nichelle Nichols (who played Lt. Uhura on the original series) and Majel Barrett (who played Nurse Christine Chapel in the original series, Lwaxana Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and the voice of most onboard computer interfaces throughout the series). Roddenberry married Barrett in Japan in a traditional Shinto ceremony on 6 August 1969. They remained married until his death.
On this day in 1994 actor Raul Julia died from complications of a stroke at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, Long Island, aged 54. Born Raúl Rafael Juliá Arcelay on March 9, 1940 in Floral Park, San Juan, Puerto Rico, he took an interest in acting while still in school and pursued the career upon completion of his studies. After performing locally for some time, he was convinced by actor and entertainment personality Orson Bean to move and work in New York City. Juliá, who had been bilingual since his childhood, soon gained interest in Broadway and Off-Broadway plays. He took over the role of Orson in the Off-Broadway hit Your Own Thing, a rock musical update of Twelfth Night. He performed in mobile projects, including the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater.
The Final Footprint – In accordance with Juliá’s instructions, his body was transported to Puerto Rico. A state funeral was held in San Juan on October 27, 1994, with Juliá’s remains being escorted to the building of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, where a funeral ceremony was held. The service was attended by thousands of Puerto Ricans, with native plena music being played in the background. The burial ceremony was also attended by thousands, with “La Borinqueña” being sung by Lucecita Benítez prior to the procession. After stopping at San Ignacio de Loyola Church, the procession advanced to Buxeda Cemetery, where politician and activist Rubén Berríos offered the final words. As Juliá’s coffin was lowered, a load of carnations was dropped from a helicopter while the crowd shouted “¡Viva Puerto Rico Libre!” Juliá was a lifelong supporter of the Puerto Rican independence movement; on one occasion, he convinced his agent to allow him to do an advertising campaign on behalf of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company. Final resting place Buxeda Memorial Park, Rio Piedras, San Juan Municipality, Puerto Rico.
Subsequent memorial ceremonies were held at Joseph Papp Public Theater in New York and in Los Angeles, where several actors and personalities, including Rubén Blades and Edward James Olmos, expressed their grief. A mass in Miami and numerous private ceremonies were also held. The staff of Universal Pictures paid homage to him by dedicating Street Fighter to his memory, adding the phrase “For Raúl. Vaya con Dios.” in the film’s ending credits. Juliá had been set to reprise his role as M. Bison in the video game version of the Street Fighter film, having already met with the production staff. The New York Shakespeare Festival bought an obituary notice in Variety, where his birth and death dates were accompanied by a quote from Shakespeare. The Puerto Rican Traveling Theater established The Raúl Juliá Training Unit, giving free acting classes to young actors.
On this day in 2005, civil rights activist, “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement”, Rosa Parks died in her apartment on the east side of Detroit at the age of 92. Born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama, on 4 February 4 1913. On 1 December 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake’s order that she give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger, after the white section was filled. Parks’ act of defiance and the Montgomery Bus Boycott became important symbols of the modern Civil Rights Movement. She became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. Parks organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr., a new minister in town who gained national prominence in the civil rights movement. Parks received national recognition, including the NAACP’s 1979 Spingarn Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal.
The Final Footprint – City officials in Montgomery and Detroit announced on 27 October 2005, that the front seats of their city buses would be reserved with black ribbons in honor of Parks until her funeral. Parks’ casket was flown to Montgomery and taken in a horse-drawn hearse to the St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church, where she lay in repose at the altar on 29 October 2005, dressed in the uniform of a church deaconess. A memorial service was held there the following morning. One of the speakers, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said that if it had not been for Parks, she would probably have never become the Secretary of State. In the evening the casket was transported to Washington, D.C. and transported by a bus similar to the one in which she made her protest, to lie in honor in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. Since the founding in 1852 of the practice of lying in state in the rotunda, Parks was the 31st person, the first American who had not been a U.S. government official, and the second private person (after the French planner Pierre L’Enfant) to be honored in this way. She was the first woman and the second black person to lie in state in the Capitol. An estimated 50,000 people viewed the casket there, and the event was broadcast on television on October 31, 2005. A memorial service was held that afternoon at Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, DC. With her body and casket returned to Detroit, for two days, Parks lay in repose at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Her funeral service was seven hours long and was held on 2 November 2005, at the Greater Grace Temple Church in Detroit. After the service, an honor guard from the Michigan National Guard laid the U.S. flag over the casket and carried it to a horse-drawn hearse, which was intended to carry it, in daylight, to the cemetery. As the hearse passed the thousands of people who were viewing the procession, many clapped and cheered loudly and released white balloons. Parks was entombed between her husband and mother at Detroit’s Woodlawn Cemetery in the chapel’s mausoleum. The chapel was renamed the Rosa L. Parks Freedom Chapel in her honor. When Parks died, her fame was such that ESPN noted her death on the “Bottom Line,” its on-screen ticker, on all of its networks. Her birthday, February 4, and the day she was arrested, December 1, have both become Rosa Parks Day, commemorated in the U.S. states of California and Ohio.
On this day in 2015 native Irish and naturalized American actress and singer, Maureen O’Hara died in her sleep at her home in Boise, Idaho, aged 95. Born Maureen FitzSimons on 17 August 1920.
The Final Footprint – O’Hara’s remains were buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia next to her late husband Blair.
The Final Footprint
On this day in 2018 
The Final Footprint – Gautier is interred at the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris. Two poems from “Émaux et camées”—”Sur les lagunes” and the second of two titled “Études de Mains”—are featured in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Dorian reads them out of the book shortly after Basil Hallward’s murder. Other notable final footprints at Montmartre include; Hector Berlioz, Dalida, Edgar Degas, Alexandre Dumas, fils, Marie Duplessis, France Gall, Gustave Moreau, Jeanne Moreau, Jacques Offenbach, François Truffaut, and Alfred de Vigny.
On this day in 1939, author Zane Grey died of heart failure at the age of 67, at his home in Altadena, California. Born Pearl Zane Gray on 31 January 1872, in Zanesville, Ohio. Perhaps best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the American frontier. Riders of the Purple Sage (1912) was his best-selling book. In addition to the success of his printed works, they later had second lives and continuing influence when adapted as films and television productions. As of 2012, 112 films, two television episodes, and a television series, Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theater, had been made that were based loosely on his novels and short stories. Grey married Lin “Dolly” Roth (1905 – 1939 his death). During his courtship of Dolly, Grey still saw previous girlfriends and warned her, “But I love to be free. I cannot change my spots. The ordinary man is satisfied with a moderate income, a home, wife, children, and all that….But I am a million miles from being that kind of man and no amount of trying will ever do any good”. He added, “I shall never lose the spirit of my interest in women.”
The Final Footprint – Grey was interred at the Union Cemetery in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania.
On this day in 2004, operatic baritone and Metropolitan Opera star, Robert Merrill died at his home in New Rochelle, New York at the age of 87 while watching Game 1 of the 2004 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the St. Louis Cardinals.
On this day in 1906 Post-Impressionist French artist Paul Cézanne died of pneumonia at his home in Aix-en-Provence, France at the age of 67. Born 19 January 1839 in Aix-en-Provence, France.
The Final Footprint – Cézanne is entombed in a single crypt private mausoleum in Cimetiere de Saint Pierre in Aix-en-Provence, France.
On this day in 1992 actor Cleavon Little died from colorectal cancer in Sherman Oaks, California at the age of 53. Born Cleavon Jake Little in Chickasha, Oklahoma on 1 June 1939.
On this day in 1995, novelist, poet, critic, and teacher Sir Kingsley Amis died at St. Pancras Hospital in London at the age of 73. Born Kingsley William Amis on 16 April 1922 in Clapham, South London.
The Final Footprint – Amis was cremated and his cremains are at Golders Green Crematorium. Golders was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The crematorium, the Philipson Family mausoleum (designed by Edwin Lutyens), the wall, along with memorials and gates, the Martin Smith Mausoleum, and Into The Silent Land statue are all Grade II listed buildings. The gardens are included in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Golders is in Hoop Lane, off Finchley Road, Golders Green, London NW11, ten minutes’ walk from Golders Green tube station. It is directly opposite the Golders Green Jewish Cemetery. The crematorium is secular, accepts all faiths and non-believers; clients may arrange their own type of service or remembrance event and choose whatever music they wish. Other notable cremations at Golders include; Neville Chamberlain, T. S. Eliot, Sigmund Freud, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, Vivien Leigh, Keith Moon, Peter Sellers, Bram Stoker, H. G. Wells and Amy Winehouse.
On this day in 1969, novelist and poet Jack Kerouac died at St. Anthony’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida at the age of 47, from an internal hemorrhage caused by cirrhosis, the result of a lifetime of heavy drinking. Born Jean-Louis Kérouac on 12 March 1922 in Lowell, Massachusetts. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic spirituality, jazz, promiscuity, Buddhism, drugs, poverty, and travel. He became an underground celebrity and, with other beats, a progenitor of the hippie movement, although he remained antagonistic toward some of its politically radical elements. Since his death Kerouac’s literary prestige has grown and several previously unseen works have been published. His books include: On the Road, Doctor Sax, The Dharma Bums, Mexico City Blues, The Subterraneans, Desolation Angels, Visions of Cody, The Sea is My Brother, and Big Sur.
On this day in 1984, film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic, François Truffaut died from a brain tumor at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, at the age of 52. Born François Roland Truffaut 
On this day in 1992, District Attorney of Orleans Parrish, Louisiana from 1961 to 1973, Jim Garrison died of cancer at the age of 70 in New Orleans. Born Earling Carothers Garrison in Denison, Iowa on 20 November 1921. Known for his investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. A controversial figure, opinions vary as to whether he uncovered a conspiracy but was blocked from discovering what actually happened, or whether he bungled a chance to uncover a conspiracy, or whether the whole thing was a complete waste of time and resources. His book, On the Trail of the Assassins (1988), served as the basis for Oliver Stone‘s movie JFK, starring Kevin Costner as Garrison. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald was the only shooter that day, and I believe the conspiracy lies behind his motive.
The Final Footprint – Garrison is buried in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans. His grave is marked by an upright companion granite marker inscribed with the following; “LET JUSTICE BE DONE, THOUGH THE HEAVENS FALL”. Other notable final footprints at Metairie include; Pete Fountain, Al Hirt, Louis Prima, and Stan Rice.
On this day in 2003 singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Elliott Smith died from two stab wounds to the chest in Los Angeles, age 34. Born Steven Paul Smith on August 6th, 1969 at the Methodist Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska.
And on this day in 2006 musician, singer, songwriter, drummer, one of the founding members of the Runaways, Sandy West died at the age of 47 from lung cancer in San Dimas, California. Born Sandy Pesavento in Long Beach, California on 10 July 1959. she was the drummer in the Prisk Elementary School orchestra.
The Final Footprint – Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress, Orange County, California.
The Final Footprint– Van Zant was originally entombed in a private mausoleum in Jacksonville Memorial Gardens in Orange Park, Florida.
On this day in 1983 singer, songwriter, innovative guitarist, Merle Travis died of a heart attack at his Tahlequah, Oklahoma home, aged 65.
The Final Footprint – Cremated remains scattered Ebenezer Cemetery, Ebenezer, Kentucky.
On this day in 1994, actor Burt Lancaster died in his Century City apartment in Los Angeles from a third heart attack at the age of 80. Born Burton Stephen Lancaster on November 2, 1913 in Manhattan at his parents’ home at 209 East 106th Street, between Second and Third Avenues, today the site of Benjamin Franklin Plaza.
And on this day in 2006 actress Jane Wyatt died at her home in Bel-Air, California, aged 96. She starred in a number of Hollywood films, such as Frank Capra’s Lost Horizon, but is perhaps best known for her role as the housewife and mother Margaret Anderson on the CBS and NBC television comedy series Father Knows Best, and as Amanda Grayson, the human mother of Spock on the science-fiction television series Star Trek. Wyatt was a three-time Emmy Award–winner.
The Final Footprint – San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, California.
On this day in 1943, French sculptor and graphic artist, elder sister of the poet and diplomat Paul Claudel, Camille Claudel died at the age of 78, after having lived 30 years in the asylum at Montfavet (known then as the Asile de Montdevergues, now the modern psychiatric hospital Centre hospitalier de Montfavet). Born in Fère-en-Tardenois, Aisne, in northern France on 8 December 1864. Around 1884, Claudel started working in Auguste Rodin’s workshop and became his muse, his model, his confidante and lover. After 1905 Claudel apparently began exhibiting signs of paranoia and was diagnosed as having schizophrenia. She destroyed many of her statues and disappeared for long periods of time. She accused Rodin of stealing her ideas and of leading a conspiracy to kill her. On 10 March 1913 at the initiative of her brother, she was admitted to the psychiatric hospital of Ville-Évrard in Neuilly-sur-Marne. In 1914, to be safe from advancing German troops, the patients at Ville-Évrard were at first relocated to Enghien. On 7 September 1914 Camille was transferred with a number of other women, to the Montdevergues Asylum, at Montfavet, six kilometres from Avignon.
The Final Footprint – Her body was interred in the cemetery of Monfavet, in a communal grave. The film, Camille Claudel (1988), directed by Bruno Nuytten, co-produced by Isabelle Adjani, starring herself as Claudel and Gérard Depardieu as Rodin, was nominated for two Academy Awards in 1989. Another film, Camille Claudel 1915, directed by Bruno Dumont, premiered at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival in 2013. The actress Juliette Binoche played Claudel.
On this day in 1950, lyrical poet and playwright Edna St. Vincent Millay died at her home, Steepletop near Austerlitz, New York, at the age of 58. She had fallen down stairs and was found approximately eight hours after her death. Her physician reported that she had suffered a heart attack following a coronary occlusion. Born on 22 February 1892 in Rockland, Maine. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923, the third woman to win the award for poetry, and was also known for her feminist activism and her many love affairs. Millay married Eugen Jan Boissevain (1923 – 1949 his death). A self-proclaimed feminist, Boissevain supported her career and took primary care of domestic responsibilities. Both Millay and Boissevain had other lovers throughout their twenty-six-year marriage. For Millay, a significant such relationship was with the poet George Dillon, who was the inspiration for Millay’s epic 52-sonnet sequence Fatal Interview. They later collaborated on translations from Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal in 1936.
The Final Footprint – Millay is interred next to Boissevain in the Steepletop Cemetery. Millay’s sister Norma and her husband, the painter and actor Charles Frederick Ellis, moved to Steepletop after Millay’s death. In 1973, they established Millay Colony for the Arts on the seven acres around the house and barn. After the death of her husband in 1976, Norma continued to run the program until her death in 1986. At 17, the poet Mary Oliver visited Steepletop and became a close friend of Norma. Oliver eventually lived there for seven years and helped to organize Millay’s papers. Oliver herself went on to become a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, greatly inspired by Millay’s work. In 2006, the state of New York paid $1.69 million to acquire 230 acres of Steepletop, with the intention to add the land to a nearby state forest preserve. The proceeds of the sale were to be used by the Edna St. Vincent Millay Society to restore the farmhouse and grounds and turn it into a museum. The museum has been open to the public since summer 2010, and guided tours of Steepletop and Millay’s gardens are available from the end of May through the middle of October. Parts of the grounds of Steepletop, including the Millay Poetry Trail that leads to her grave, are now open to the public year-round.
The Final Footprint – His funeral took place ten days later at the Church of the Madeleine, with Camille Saint-Saëns playing the organ and Gabriel Fauré conducting. Gounod is entombed in a private mausoleum in Cimetiere d’Auteuil in Paris.
On this day in 2000 actress, dancer, wife-dancer-collaborator-muse of Bob Fosse, 4x Tony winner, Gwen Verdon died from a heart attack at her daughter Nicole Fosse’s home in Woodstock, Vermont, age 75.
The Final Footprint – Kristel is buried in Utrecht Sint-Barbara Roman Catholic Cemetery, Utrecht, the Netherlands. Her epitaph…
On this day in 2007, U. S. Army veteran, actor, comedian, entertainer, member of the Rat Pack, Joey Bishop died at his home in Newport Beach, California, from heart failure at the age of 89.
He later became a member of the “Rat Pack” with Frank Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Dean Martin. Bishop married Sylvia Ruzga, who died in 1999 from lung cancer.
On this day in 1793 Archduchess of Austria, Queen of France and Navarre, Marie Antoinette was executed by guillotine at the Place de la Revolution in Paris at the age of 37. Born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna on 2 November 1755 in Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. Her father was Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. At the age of 14 she was married to the grandson of King Louis XV, Louis-Auguste, Dauphin of France. At the king’s death in 1774, the dauphin became King Louis XVI. In my opinion, she did not say “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” (“Let them eat cake”), as has been reported, in response to the wide spread famine in France. During the French Revolution, Louis was executed on 21 January 1793 and Marie was executed on this day in 1793. Her last words were reportedly an apology to the executioner for accidentally stepping on his foot.
The Final Footprint – Initially, Marie’s body, as well as Louis’, was thrown into an unmarked grave in Madeleine cemetery, rue d’Anjou. Their bodies were exhumed on 18 January 1815 and entombed in the necropolis of French kings in Saint Denis Basilique in Saint-Denis, France. There are funerary sculpture monuments inside the basilique of the former king and queen.
On this day in 1997, author and philanthropist James Michener died in Austin, Texas at the age of 90. Born James Albert Michener on February 3, 1907 in Doylestown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Michener wrote more than 40 books, most of which were fictional, lengthy family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating solid history. He was known for his meticulous research behind the books.
The Final Footprint
