In Memorium, Remembering Those Lost In 2006

Since 2007 is just minutes away, I thought I would take a moment to remember some of the notable, and not so notable, people who passed away in 2006.

I noticed many “connections” this year.

Shelley Winters and Red Buttons both starred in The Poseidon Adventure, Franklin Cover and Mike Evans both starred on The Jeffersons, and Lennie Weinrib and Jack Wild both starred in H.R. Puffinstuff. Alex Toth, Ed Benedict, and Joe Barbera, all animators, died within 6 months of each other. Buck & Bonnie Owens died a month apart. And, Lyn Nofzinger and Caspar Weinberger, both from the Reagan administration, died one day apart.

I’ve probably overlooked some connections, but here are the 138 people whose deaths were posted here on Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff throughout the year.

January

Lou Rawls, singer
Ramona Bell, wife of radio personality Art Bell
Shelley Winters, actress
Janette Carter, musician
Chris Penn, actor
Coretta Scott King, widow of Martin Luther King, Jr.

February

Al Lewis, actor turned politician
Sonny King, musician
Min Talone, my dear friend
Franklin Cover, actor
Peter Benchley, author
Phil Brown, actor
Andreas Katsulas, actor
Don Knotts, actor
Rev. Earl Stallings, former pastor
Darren McGavin, actor
Dennis Weaver, actor
Jack Wild, actor

March

Johnny Jackson, musician
Dana Reeve, activist, widow of Christopher Reeve
Gordon Parks, photographer
Nikolas Emerson, child at the center of medical decisions battle
Slobodan Milosevic, former Yugoslav president
Maureen Stapleton, actress
Peter & Kathleen Tomarken, former game show host and his wife
Margaret Inouye, wife of Sen. Daniel Inouye
Oleg Cassini, designer
Desond T. Doss, conscientious objector
Paul Flaherty, co-inventor of Alta Vista search engine
Buck Owens, singer
Richard Fleischer, director
Erma Ora James Byrd, wife of Sen. Robert Byrd
Paul Dana, race car driver
Staff Sgt. Christopher Schornak, hero
Lyn Nofzinger, former Reagan spokesman
Caspar Weinberger, former Secretary of Defense

April

June Pointer, singer
Arthur Winston, longtime transit employee
Puggy Pearson, poker legend
Scott Crossfield, test pilot
Pompey Hawkins, Tuskegee Airman
Florence Mars, author
Bonnie Owens, first wife of Buck Owens
Susan Browning, actress, Tony award nominee

May

Luis Rukeyser, author, columnist, television host
Earl Woods, father of Tiger Woods
Lillian Asplud, last American survivor of the Titanic
Andrea Clark, woman at center of “right to life” ethics fight
Gillespie V. “Sonny” Montgomery, World War II veteran
Chic Hecht, former U.S. Senator from Nevada
Lew Anderson, musician, actor, final Clarabell the clown
Johnnie Wilder, Jr., singer
Joyce Ballantyne Brand, artist
Dr. Lee Jong-wook, director-general of the WHO
Lloyd Bentsen, former Treasury Secretary
Paul Gleason, actor

June

Alex Toth, animator
Billy Preston, musician
Lula Mae Hardaway, mother of Stevie Wonder
Major Bruce Shand, father of Camilla Parker Bowles
Moe Drabowsky, pitcher
Robert Donner, actor
Barbara Epstein, cofounder of The New York Review Of Books
Richard Stahl, actor
Claydes Charles Smith, musician
E. Pierce Marshall, stepson of Anna Nicole Smith
Aaron Spelling, producer
Patsy Ramsey, mother of JonBenet Ramsey
Manny Cortez, famous Las Vegan
Rob “Acidman” Smith, blogger
Jeffrey M. Harbers, Microsoft Office developer

July

Lennie Weinrib, actor
Jan Murray, actor
Ken Lay, founder of Enron
Valarie Gail Clark, mother of Adam Curry
June Allyson, actress
Milan B. Williams, musician
Syd Barrett, musician
Barnard Hughes, actor
Kasey Rogers, actress
Red Buttons, actor
Mickey Spillane, writer
Harry Olivieri, inventor of the Philly Cheesesteak
Jack Warden, actor

August

Esther L. Snyder, matriarch of the In-N-Out Burger chain
Bob Thaves, cartoonist
Mike Douglas, singer & talk-show host
Bruno Kirby, actor
Maj. Gen. Kathryn Frost, highest ranking woman in the Army
Joe Rosenthal, photographer
Glenn Ford, actor

September

Nellie Connally, widow of former Gov. John Connally
Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter
William Ziff, Jr., publisher
Ann Richards, former Texas Governor
Pat Corley, actor
Patricia Kennedy Lawford, sister of Ted Kennedy
Mickey Hargitay, father of Mariska Hargitay
Robert Earl Jones, actor & brother of James Earl Jones
Byron Nelson, golfer
Timothy Hayes Rooney, son of Mickey Rooney
Edward Albert, actor & son of Eddie Albert

October

Frances Bergen, actress & mother of Candace Bergen
Ed Benedict, animator
Jerry Belson, comedy writer
Freddy Fender, singer
Ted Johnson, auto racing pioneer
Spoony Singh, founder of the Hollywood Wax Museum
Phyllis Kirk, actress
Jane Wyatt, actress
Trevor Berbick, boxer
Joe Niekro, pitcher
Red Auerbach, coach of the Boston Celtics
Marijohn Wilkin, songwriter
Mose Tolliver, folk artist

November

Ed Bradley, 60 Minutes coorespondent
Gerald Levert, singer
Jack Palance, actor
Joseph Ungaro, managing editor
Ruth Brown, singer
Robert Altman, director

December

Piper, star of the famous catcams
Jeane Kirkpatrick, former U.N. Ambassador
Peter Boyle, actor
Catherine Pollard, first female U.S. scoutmaster
Fred Marsden, musician
Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records
Denis Payton, musician
Chris Hayward, television writer
Joe Barbera, animator
Mike Evans, actor
Dennis Linde, songwriter
James Brown, the Godfather of Soul
Phyllis Brown, widow of DeKalb County Sheriff Derwin Brown
Frank Stanton, broadcasting pioneer
Gerald R. Ford, 38th President Of The United States
Saddam Hussein

May they all, except Slobodan and Saddam, rest in peace.