March 26, 2008

Lazare Ponticelli

Lazare Ponticelli, the last French veteran of World War I, died on March 12. Cause of death was not released. He was 110.

Born in 1897, Ponticelli came from a poor family that struggled to eke out an existence in northern Italy. His mother sought work in France when he was still a toddler, leaving her children in the care of neighbors. When he was nine, Ponticelli's father and brother were killed in an accident. The boy didn't speak of word of French, but decided to travel alone by train from Italy to France to be with his mother.

As a teenager, he cleaned chimneys and sold newspapers on the streets of Paris. When war broke out in 1914, Ponticelli felt he had to give back to his adopted country and join the fight. So at 16, he lied about his age in order to join the 1st Regiment de Marche of the French Foreign Legion.

Ponticelli served as a foot soldier, or poilus, for a year in northern France, fighting the Germans in the trenches and digging ditches to bury the dead. In 1915, the Italian Army conscripted him into their own military and forcibly escorted him to Turin to fight the Austrian Army in Tyrol. Ponticelli became a machinegunner and during one battle he suffered a shrapnel wound to the face. He refused to stop firing his weapon and seek treatment until the Austrian troops raised white cloths and surrendered. After his convalescence in Naples, Ponticelli returned to the front only to be gassed in 1918 by the Austrians.

Ponticelli returned to his adopted home in 1920, where he and two of his brothers founded "Ponticelli Freres" ("Ponticelli Brothers"), a heating and pipe company that is still in business today. Although he was too old to fight in World War II, Ponticelli became a French citizen in 1939 and joined the Resistance in 1942. He restarted his business after the war, and continued to work until retiring in 1960.

Ponticelli's final years were spent in Le Kremlin Bicetre, a suburb of Paris. A modest man, he kept his war awards -- the Croix de Buerre, the Medaille Interalliee, the Legion d'honneur and the Order of Vitttorio Veneto -- hidden in a shoebox. Ponticelli never wanted a state funeral, nationwide accolades or interment in the Pantheon, but he agreed to be remembered in a simple ceremony so long as it focused on "those who died" on the battlefield.

On March 17, President Nicolas Sarkozy lead a funeral ceremony at Les Invalides, the Paris military hospice that also houses the tomb of Napoleon. The event, which honored Ponticelli and the 8.5 million other Frenchmen who fought in World War I, was followed by a simple family burial.

March 10, 2008

Jeff Healey

Norman Jeff Healey, a Grammy-nominated singer and musicologist, died on March 2 of lung cancer. He was 41.

Born and raised near Toronto, Healey was diagnosed with a rare form of retinal cancer when he was only one years old. The disease, known as retinoblastoma, claimed his eyesight.

Blindness could not halt Healey's passion for music. At three, he picked up his first guitar and taught himself to play by laying the instrument across his lap. In his teens, Healey continued to hone his guitar skills while also learning how to play the trumpet and the clarinet. He graduated from Etobicoke Collegiate Institute, performed in several bands, studied musical theory and emulated musicians such as B.B. King, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. He would eventually share a stage with King as well as George Harrison, Ringo Starr, ZZ Top, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Healey formed The Jeff Healey Band in 1985. The group performed hundreds of concerts over a two-year period before signing with Arista Records and recording "See the Light." The album, which featured the hit single "Angel Eyes," went platinum in the United States and eventually sold two million copies worldwide. "See the Light" also earned Healey a Grammy nomination and the 1990 Juno Award for Entertainer of the Year. In 1989, The Jeff Healey Band performed their bluesy brand of rock music in the movie "Road House," starring Patrick Swayze. Soon they were filling stadium venues with thousands of fans.

Healey also had a love for jazz, a genre of music he concentrated on in the 1990s. He once again picked up the trumpet, and recorded several albums with his jazz band, Jeff Healey's Jazz Wizards. Healey also hosted the radio show "My Kinda Jazz" on CBC Radio and on Toronto's Jazz-FM station, and operated two clubs in Toronto. His final album, "Mess of Blues," which he recorded with the Healey's House Band, will be released on March 20 in Europe and on April 22 in North America.

The cancer that plagued Healey in infancy returned in 2006. The husband and father of two underwent numerous operations to remove tumors from his lungs and leg, as well as aggressive radiation and chemotherapy treatments, but the disease continued to wreak havoc on his body. Healey fought the cancer physically and spiritually, but also musically, giving concerts that raised money for Daisy's Eye Cancer Research Fund.

Two memorial concerts are scheduled to be held in May in Toronto. Information on tickets and acts will be posted on Healey's Website. Later this year, Stony Plain will reissue two of his jazz albums, "Among Friends" and "Adventures in Jazzland."

Remembering Jeff Healey

February 28, 2008

Kenneth Parnell

Kenneth Eugene Parnell, one of California's most notorious child molesters, died on Jan. 21 at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, Calif. Cause of death was not released. He was 76.

The Texas native spent most of his adolescence in and out of juvenile detention facilities. At 19, he was convicted of impersonating a police officer and sodomizing a young boy for which he spent three-and-a-half years in prison. An armed robbery charge in the 1960s briefly landed him back behind bars in Utah.

Then on Dec. 4, 1972, Parnell abducted 7-year-old Steven Gregory Stayner as the boy was walking to his Merced, Calif., home. The pedophile, who coaxed the child into his car by pretending to be a preacher, took him to a cabin in the woods and held him there for several hours. When the second-grader asked to be returned home, Parnell said Stayner's family didn't want him anymore. He gave Stayner a new name -- Dennis Gregory Parnell -- and spent the next seven years pretending to be his father. During that time, he also repeatedly molested the boy.

When Parnell snatched 5-year-old Timmy White in 1980, Stayner began to plan their escape. He knew he couldn't let Parnell hurt White too. A month after White's abduction, the boys snuck out in the middle of the night, hitchhiked to Ukiah, Calif., and told the police what happened. In his written statement, Stayner said: "My name is Steven Stainer (sic). I am fourteen years of age. I don't know my true birthdate, but I use April 18, 1965. I know my first name is Steven, I'm pretty sure my last is Stainer, and if I have a middle name, I don't know it." The following day, the boys were reunited with their families.

Stayner's story became the basis for a true crime book written by Mike Echols and a TV movie called "I Know My Name Is Steven," which earned four nominations for Emmy Awards and one for a Golden Globe. Stayner received $30,000 for the film, and made a cameo appearance as one of the police officers who returns the boys to their families. He later married and had two children, a son and a daughter. In 1989, he was killed in a motorcycle accident at the age of 24. Timmy White, then 14, served as one of the pallbearers at Stayner's funeral.

Parnell was convicted of both kidnappings in 1981 and received a seven-year prison sentence; however, he was paroled five years later. Parnell spent the next decade living quietly in Berkeley, Calif., where he rented a modest studio, smoked three packs of cigarettes a day and received food from the Meals on Wheels program. Local police kept an eye on him, but many of his neighbors never knew they had a sexual predator in their midst.

In 2003, an informant told police that Parnell had sought her help in trying to buy a four-year-old boy for $500. Moments after the money changed hands, police arrested him. Parnell was sentenced to 25 years to life under California's "three strikes law." He died in the prison's hospice unit of an undisclosed illness.

February 15, 2008

Richard Knerr

Richard Knerr, a businessman who brought joy to millions of children around the world, died on Jan. 14 from complications of a stroke. He was 82.

The California native was a teenager when he befriended Arthur "Spud" Melin outside a Pasadena movie theater. The pair, who would remain lifelong pals and business partners, attended the University of Southern California but had no interest in joining their fathers' companies after graduation. Instead, they started a small business training falcons. Few customers wanted to buy the birds, yet many were intrigued by the homemade wooden slingshots used to feed the creatures. So Knerr and Melin launched Wham-O Inc. in 1948, naming the business for the sound a slingshot makes when it hits its target. Its motto: "Our Business Is Fun."

Over the next four decades, Wham-O expanded into other sporting goods and toys, including the bouncy Superball, the Slip 'N Slide water slide, the Water Wiggle sprinkler, the Limbo Game and Silly String. But their most prominent contribution to the world of toys was a large ring called the Hula Hoop. A fad was born the moment kids placed the hoop around their hips and started swaying. Within four months of its 1958 release, Wham-O sold more than 25 million units. By 1960, 100 million Hula Hoops had sold.

Another popular product made its way into Americana after Knerr and Melin discovered Walter "Fred" Morrison playing with a flying disk on a beach in 1955. They immediately bought the rights to the disk, made some simple modifications and renamed it. The Frisbee instantly found a niche on college campuses and with dog owners. It also sparked the creation of an Ultimate Frisbee competition. To date, the company has sold more than 100 million Frisbees.

Not all of Wham-O's products found an audience or became a craze. The company's $119 do-it-yourself fallout shelter, which was marketed during the height of the Cold War, sold very few units. Wham-O did accept millions of orders for its Instant Fish aquarium kit, but the African fish refused to mate so the product was discontinued.

Wham-O was purchased by the Kransco Group Companies in 1982, earning Knerr and Melin $12 million for their endeavors. Melin died in 2002 at 77. In 1994, Mattel acquired Wham-O from Kransco; three years later, a group of investors bought it back and made it an independent company once again.

February 2, 2008

Maila Nurmi

Maila Nurmi, an actress and artist who became the queen of the B-movie scene in Los Angeles, died on Jan. 10. Cause of death was not released. She was 85.

Born Maila Elizabeth Syrjaniemi in Petsamo, Finland, Nurmi immigrated to America when she was just a toddler. Although she grew up in Ohio, Nurmi moved to New York in her late teens to try and break into show business. The actors and artists she met in Manhattan persuaded her to change her name and head to Hollywood. For Nurmi, the trappings of stardom were simply too enticing to pass up.

While auditioning for roles, Nurmi worked as a chorus girl and pin-up model. In 1953, she won a costume contest at the annual Bal Caribe Masquerade, an event that brought her to the attention of KABC-TV Channel 7 program director Hunt Stromberg Jr. He tracked her down months later and offered her a job as the host of a late-night horror program.

That's how Nurmi became Vampira, a gothic enchantress reminiscent of Charles Addams' New Yorker cartoons. Each week, the Black Madonna of Hollywood would appear on camera wearing a slinky black dress, blood-red lipstick and darkly mascaraed eyes, and introduce fright films like "Revenge of the Zombies" and "Devil Bat's Daughter."

Although "The Vampira Show" was canceled after about a year, Nurmi became a cult figure among B-movie buffs. Her legions of admirers launched fan clubs in her honor all over the world. Many felt she inspired the character of Morticia Addams on "The Addams Family," which premiered about a decade later. Nurmi, however, believed her dark persona was stolen by Cassandra Peterson, an actress who created the horror movie hostess Elvira. She even filed a $10 million lawsuit against Peterson for pirating her trademark image, but lost the court battle.

Nurmi later appeared in several B-movies, including "Sex Kittens Go to College," "The Beat Generation," "The Magic Sword" and "The Big Operator." She also made a memorable appearance in Ed Wood's 1959 cult classic, "Plan 9 From Outer Space." But these pictures didn't pay the bills, and Nurmi was forced to support herself as a linoleum-layer, carpenter, housekeeper, clothing designer and antique shop owner. More recently, she painted pictures of Vampira that she sold on the Internet.

Privately, Nurmi was a self-described psychic with a talent for clairaudience, and a passionate advocate for animals rights. Her life story was chronicled in the 2006 documentary "Vampira: The Movie."

January 15, 2008

Gemina

Gemina, the beloved crooked-necked giraffe at the Santa Barbara Zoo, was euthanized on Jan 9. She was 21.

Gemina was born on July 16, 1986, at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Her parents, Ginger and Black Jack, were both born in captivity at the San Diego Zoo.

Gemina was brought to the Santa Barbara Zoo when she was a year old. At three, she began to develop an odd "crick" in her neck. Zoo officials could not determine the cause of the oddity, even after taking x-rays, but they decided against performing exploratory surgery on her neck because the operation would have endangered her life.

Despite her unusual appearance, Gemina was a healthy giraffe and one of the most popular animals at the zoo. The 13-and-a-half-foot-tall leaf-eater even gave birth to a healthy calf in 1991; the baby giraffe later died of pneumonia.

Gemina was a Baringo (or Rothschild) giraffe, one of three species found in Uganda and western Kenya. The tallest animal on the ground, Baringo giraffes can grow to be 16 feet tall. Females tend to be slightly shorter than males, but both have brown, patterned coats and tufted horns on top of their heads.

Last summer, the zoo celebrated Gemina's 21st birthday with a serenade by Zoo Campers, a "giraffe-sized" birthday card and a special treat of acacia. A video of the occasion was posted on YouTube. Gemina also topped a local radio station's list of the "Seven Wonders of Santa Barbara."

During the final two weeks of her life, Gemina's health declined. When she stopped eating altogether, zoo officials knew old age had taken its toll on her, and it was time to put Gemina down. Her deterioration was not believed to be related to her neck condition, however results from a necropsy are pending.

"Though a few giraffes in captivity have been known to live into their late-twenties, reaching age 21 is considered an achievement," zoo CEO and Director Rich Block stated. "She was a great animal ambassador, showing that differences can be accepted and even celebrated. She will be missed."

[Photo by Van Swearingen. Used with permission.]

January 5, 2008

Ken Hendricks

Self-made roofing magnate Kenneth Albert Hendricks died on Dec. 21 after falling through the roof of his garage. He was 66.

Born in Janesville, Wis., Hendricks learned the roofing trade by working side-by-side with his father. Although he aspired to become an architect, life changed his plans.

Hendricks dropped out of high school at 17 when his girlfriend Diane became pregnant. To make ends meet, he worked two jobs: driving a repair truck for Wisconsin Power & Light and doing roofing gigs on the side. By the time he was 21, Hendricks was able to quit the power company and hire his own roofing crews. Within a decade, he had approximately 500 roofers working for him.

Hendricks married Diane and together they raised seven children. She fully supported his personal and professional endeavors and even started her own insurance company to sell low-cost policies to his contractors.

The hassle of dealing with multiple suppliers around the country inspired Hendricks to open a national supply distribution chain in 1982. Based in Beloit, Wis., American Builders & Contractors Supply employs 6,000 employees in nearly 400 locations and does about $3 billion in business a year. The company, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, is the largest wholesaler of roofing supplies in the United States. Ken and Diane also owned a variety of businesses through the Hendricks Holding Co., and a property development group with more than 25 million square feet of industrial and commercial real estate. In 2006, Inc. magazine named him the Entrepreneur of the Year.

Despite being the 91st richest man in America -- he was worth about $3.5 billion -- Hendricks remained true to his blue collar roots. He wasn't a member of a country club nor did he fly first class. He didn't have a secretary, and was known for giving out his cell phone number to any employee who needed it. In his spare time, he enjoyed riding his motorcycle, spending time with friends and family and improving his community.

Hendricks was checking on the progress of construction on the roof over his garage when he fell through, suffering massive head injuries. Diane performed CPR until the police and paramedics arrived. Hendricks later died at Rockford Memorial Hospital in Winnebago County, Ill. A public viewing was attended by thousands of mourners.

"Ken was a true visionary who wanted the best for his hometown," Wisconsin State Sen. Judy Robson said. "I respected Ken for his love of old architecture and industrial artifacts. That love drove him to preserve and transform some of our landmark properties in Beloit rather than bulldoze them. He helped turn blight into bright."

December 25, 2007

A Look Back

Some people believe writing obituaries is a morbid job, but in truth, only one line deals with death. The rest of the story focuses on the amazing lives people lead.

Whenever I hear about a death, I ask myself, "Did they live with passion? Did they accomplish great things? Did they touch other people's lives in a positive or negative way? Did they contribute something to the world that was previously missing?" Then, I simply try to tell a good story using the facts at my disposal.

This year, I wrote more than 100 obituaries for The Blog of Death. I chronicled the lives of celebrities, criminals, artists, heroes and ordinary people who did extraordinary things. These obituaries were my personal favorites:

* Conrad Buchanan, a security guard who risked his life to save another

* Momofuku Ando, the inventor of "Chicken Ramen"

* Barbaro, the winner of the 2006 Kentucky Derby

* Ken Black, one of the founders of the lighthouse preservation movement in the U.S.

* Robert Adler, the inventor of the TV remote control

* Brad Delp, the lead singer of the rock band Boston

* Lt. Jean Kennedy Schmidt, an American nurse who was held prisoner for nearly three years during World War II

* Jim Cronin, the owner of the Monkey World Ape Rescue Center

* Wayne Schenk, a New York man who won the lottery but was unable to use his winnings to save his life

* Wally Schirra, the only astronaut who flew in three of the U.S.'s pioneering space programs

* Yahweh Ben Yahweh, the infamous founder of a violent black supremacist sect

* Harvey Weinstein, a tuxedo manufacturer who was once kidnapped and buried alive

* Jan Romary, a champion foil fencer who competed in six Olympic Games

* Don Herbert, an actor who made science fun for millions of kids as "Mr. Wizard"

* Bob Evans, a restauranteur known for his fabulous sausage

* Matt Nagle, a quadriplegic who once participated in a mind-control experiment

* Irene Kirkaldy, a quiet icon of the civil rights era

* Leona Helmsley, a Manhattan hotelier with a reputation as the "Queen of Mean"

* Alex, the renowned African grey parrot who helped researchers better understand the avian brain

* Andre de Jongh, a Belgian nurse who helped hundreds of Allied airmen flee the Nazis during World War II

Side note: I also published more than 500 death notices on Writers We've Lost. Feel free to visit this blog and leave tributes to the writers, editors, journalists and authors who've died over the past year.

December 11, 2007

Herbert Saffir

Herbert Saffir, a structural engineer who helped design the category system for describing the strength of hurricanes, died on Nov. 21 from a heart attack. He was 90.

The native New Yorker earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Georgia Tech, then moved to South Florida to work as an assistant county engineer. Although he would eventually design 50 bridges, the location of his new home sparked a life-long interest in hurricanes. Saffir soon immersed himself in the study of the weather phenomenon and its effects on buildings. This knowledge helped him write and unify building codes in the area.

In 1969, the United Nations asked Saffir to determine how the organization could help reduce wind damage to low-cost buildings worldwide. In response, he invented a scale that would measure the intensity of a storm, and thus determine the kind of damage it would do to an area.

Saffir's scale, which ranked hurricanes from 1 to 5, were based on sustained wind speeds and the corresponding damage they caused. A Category 1 storm, for example, would have sustained winds of 74 to 95 mph. These conditions could uproot trees and blow over unanchored mobile homes. A Category 5 storm, which has sustained winds greater than 155 mph, could completely destroy structures in the storm's path, no matter how well they are engineered. Before Saffir devised his scale, meteorologists simply described hurricanes as "major" or "minor" storms.

In the 1970s, Robert H. Simpson, then director of the U.S. National Hurricane Center, expanded Saffir's scale to include possible storm-surge heights for each category. The revised system, known as the Saffir-Simpson scale became the standard by which all Atlantic Ocean-based hurricanes are rated.

During the final years of his life, Saffir continued to work as a structural engineer in South Florida. An advocate of stronger building codes in hurricane-prone areas, he also penned numerous articles on how to design buildings with high wind resistance and lobbied for tougher enforcement of building codes.

December 3, 2007

Lillian Ellison

Mary Lillian Ellison, the first woman inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame, died on Nov. 2 from complications of shoulder-replacement surgery. She was 84.

Born in the tiny community of Tookiedoo, S.C., Ellison was the youngest of 13 children and the only girl in the family. After her mother died when she was 10 years old, Ellison and her father began spending Tuesday evenings attending local professional wrestling matches. These nights away from her 12 brothers gave Ellison the opportunity to develop a relationship with her father; they also inspired her to conquer the male-dominated world of professional wrestling.

Ellison was just a teenager when she began working as a valet, a job that involved serving as both helper and eye candy to the male wrestlers. She worked her way up through the ranks, from wrestling promoter to trainer to manager, always demanding top dollar for her boys, most notably "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers.

In the late 1940s, Ellison decided to enter the ring herself. After training with Mildred Burke, a champion female wrestler, Ellison took to the squared circle. She adopted the name "The Fabulous Moolah" because the moniker perfectly described why she became a wrestler. "I want to wrestle for the moolah!" she'd often declare. When Burke retired in 1956, Ellison defeated Judy Grable in a tournament and won the "women's world title." She would retain her championship status for 28 years.

Although female wrestling used to be illegal in many states, Ellison was a star on the circuit. In the ring, the 5-foot-4-inch, 118 lb. wrestler had a huge personality and a vast repertoire of kicks and holds. Her signature move was called a "backbreaker," but she would also do scissor kicks, monkey flips and clotheslines to keep her opponents from getting the upper hand. On her own, or alongside her partner in crime Mae Young, Ellison's antics earned her the love -- and enmity -- of wrestling fans.

"Used to be, the crowd would always cheer for whoever I was going against. That was okay; I loved for the fans to hate me. It made me put on a better show. I'll show you, I'd say to myself when I'd hear them call me 'Bitch!' or 'SOB!' -- two fo my favorite, uh, nicknames," she wrote in her 2002 autobiography, "The Fabulous Moolah: First Goddess of the Squared Circle," written with Larry Platt. The memoir also provided candid insights about the times she spent hanging out with celebrities such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.

Ellison became a mother at 14. She married and divorced five times, and once turned down a proposal from long-time boyfriend and country music singer Hank Williams. She never officially retired from the fighting circuit, despite suffering numerous broken bones over the years, and even wrestled a match on her 80th birthday. In 1995, she became the first woman to be inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame. Her career was later profiled in the 2004 documentary, "Lipstick & Dynamite, Piss & Vinegar: The First Ladies of Wrestling."

When she wasn't performing or appearing at special events, Ellison was busy training generations of wrestlers at her school on Moolah Drive in Columbia, S.C. One of her most notable students was Katie "Diamond Lil" Glass, a professional midget wrestler who became Ellison's adopted daughter. Ellison also had six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

• Listen to a Tribute From NPR

November 10, 2007

On Holiday...

The Blog of Death will return in December. Have a great Thanksgiving!

November 3, 2007

André de Jongh

André "Dédée" de Jongh, a beautiful Belgian nurse who helped hundreds of Allied airmen flee the Nazis during World War II, died on Oct. 13. Cause of death was not released. She was 90.

Born in Schaerbeek, Belgium, De Jongh was the youngest daughter of a Brussels schoolteacher. She trained as a nurse, but made a living as a commercial artist while volunteering for the Belgian Red Cross.

When the German army invaded Belgium in 1940, the 24-year-old decided to fight back. After much planning, she and her father began setting up a chain of safe houses from Brussels to the Spanish border to secretly harbor Allied forces from the German troops.

Although the British initially suspected a Gestapo trap, De Jongh convinced an intelligence officer from the British Embassy in Bilbao of her sincere wish to help. He agreed to reimburse her travel costs if she could successfully rescue Allied pilots, radio operators and navigators downed in Belgium. She did so, and in 1940, the Comet Line was born. De Jongh was given the code name "Postman," though most members of the Resistance called her "Dédée."

The Comet Line, a 1,000-mile trek through Belgium and occupied France, across the Pyrenees into Spain's Basque country and out via the British colony of Gibraltar, allowed American and British aviators to escape German imprisonment. The route required the assistance of hundreds of Resistance supporters, all of whom risked arrest, torture and death for participating in the scheme. At the time, helping downed fliers escape was considered a capital offense. Organizers would recover fallen airmen, procure civilian clothing and fake identity papers, give medical aid to the wounded and provide both food and shelter to the men as they were led to safety.

De Jongh was escorting a soldier over the Pyrenees in January 1943 when a German collaborator betrayed her. The Germans interrogated her 20 times, but they refused to believe that this pretty, petite woman was the ringleader behind the Comet Line. At the time of her arrest, De Jongh had personally led 116 men, including more than 80 downed airman, over the mountains to safety. During its three years in operation, the Comet Line saved more than 700 pilots and soldiers.

For her participation, De Jongh spent nearly three years in prisons and concentration camps. When Allied armies liberated her from Ravensbruck, she was shaven, undernourished and gravely ill. Other participants in the Comet Line were not as fortunate; they were executed or died in the camps. De Jongh's own father, Frédéric, faced a firing squad in 1944 for his participation.

After the war ended, De Jongh regained her health and returning to nursing. She spent several years working at a leper colony in the Belgian Congo, then became a matron at a hospital in Ethiopia.

In 1946, De Jongh received the George Medal, the highest civilian award for bravery available in Britain to a foreigner. For choosing "one of the most perilous assignments of the war," she also received the Medal of Freedom With Golden Palm, America's highest award presented to foreigners. The French named her a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur and the Belgians appointed her a Chevalier of the Order of Leopold and honored her with the Croix de Guerre With Palm. In 1985, King Baudouin elevated her to a countess.

De Jongh's exploits during World War II were chronicled in numerous books, including "Little Cyclone" by Airey Neave (1954), "Silent Heroes: Downed Airmen and the French Underground" by Sherri Greene Ottis (2001) and "The Freedom Line: The Brave Men and Women Who Rescued Allied Airmen From the Nazis During World War II" by Peter Eisner (2004).

October 5, 2007

Alex

Alex, the renowned African grey parrot who helped researchers better understand the avian brain, died on Sept. 6. Cause of death was "a sudden, unexpected catastrophic event associated with arterosclerosis" (hardening of the arteries). He was about 31 years old.

Irene Pepperberg, a professor at Brandeis University's Department of Psychology, purchased Alex from a Chicago pet store in 1977. Over the next three decades, she taught the parrot how to count to six and identify seven different colors. Alex could name 50 different objects in English and grasped the numerical concept of zero. Even in his advanced age, Alex continued to learn new things. In August, he pronounced the word "seven" for the first time.

The parrot could be ornery, though. When he grew tired of participating in repetitive scientific trials, Alex would demand to be returned to his cage. Once there, he'd slam the door. And when the other parrots in the lab mumbled during tests, Alex would order the birds to "talk better." Pepperberg said he showed the emotional equivalent of a 2 year old child and the brain of a typical 5 year old.

Pepperberg's work with Alex shattered the generally held notion that parrots are only capable of mindless vocal mimicry. Her study of avian intelligence also helped other scientists create therapies to treat children with learning disabilities.

One of the most famous African grey parrots in history, Alex was featured in print and broadcast media across the globe and on numerous science programs for the BBC, the Discovery channel and PBS. He was also the main subject of Pepperberg's 1999 book, "The Alex Studies: Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey Parrots."

• Read an Interview With Alex

October 1, 2007

Congratulations!

An epitaph is an inscription on a tombstone or monument in memory of the person buried there. It's also a summary statement of commemoration of a dead person. For the Final Farewell Contest, we asked our readers to give us their preferred epitaphs in 15 words or less.

The winners are:

Kathy Beth Quintalino Buchsbaum
Wife, Mother, Librarian
Permanently Checked Out
--Kathy Buchsbaum, Sherman Oaks, Calif.

Here lies the winner of Blog of Death's Final Farewell Contest.
--Danny Groner, Silver Spring, Md.

Quiet Neighbors at Last
--David Warde-Farley, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

She loved bad dogs, good coffee, writing well, and making trouble. In exactly that order.
--Martha Garvey, Hoboken, N.J.

Decidedly Uncommon.
--Tiffany "Gwyn" Hope Cox, Des Moines, Iowa

Each winner will receive:

* "The Portable Obituary: How the Famous, Rich and Powerful Really Died" by Michael Largo
* "Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die" by Michael Largo
* Skeleton lollipops
* Published epitaph on The Blog of Death

Congratulations! You will all be remembered forever.

September 24, 2007

Betty Matas

The final year of Betty Matas' life was full of adventure.

Last April, she and her husband Bob decided to retire to the desert. To make the 2,500-mile trip from Queens, N.Y., to Sedona, Ariz., the couple didn't rent a car or take a train. Instead, Betty and Bob hailed a yellow taxi cab.

The Matases were life-long New Yorkers, the kind who never learned how to drive and relied entirely on public transportation. Since flying would have been difficult for their cats, Pretty Face and Cleopatra, the pair decided to hire cabbie Douglas Guldeniz to take them on a road trip across 10 states.

The Brooklyn hack, who had driven the Matases on a shopping trip three months earlier, was happy to get out of the city for a change. At the standard rate, the six-day trip would have cost about $5,000 each way, but Guldeniz only asked for a flat fare of $3,000, plus gas, meals and lodging.

When the trio left New York City on April 3, their story had already been featured in newspapers across the country. The Daily News even had a reporter follow Guldeniz's cab and blog about the journey.

Guldeniz drove for about 10 hours a day, following a U-Haul truck carrying the couple's possessions. At each stop, Betty took the time to stretch her legs and make conversation with the many waitresses, truckers and reporters she encountered. "Every state that we hit, people would say 'Are you the ones?' and we would say 'Yes, we are the ones,'" Bob said.

The cross-country trek in the 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid SUV was said to be the longest taxi ride in New York history.

Upon their arrival in Sedona, the trio were met by a welcoming committee and a crowd of well-wishers. Sedona Mayor Pud Colquitt gave Betty and Bob a bag of souvenirs, and their real estate agent presented them with the keys to their new retirement home.

Betty spent 38 years working as an executive secretary to the president of Klemptner Advertising. Although she missed New York, she had no regrets about moving to Arizona.

Betty died on Aug. 20 of pneumonia and a heart attack. She was 75.