Van Hoose and Steele announces the transition of Ms. Ludie Elvira Hodges on Friday, July 25, at her home. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 1:00 P.M. from the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, located at 6801 Sanders Ferry Road, Tuscaloosa, 349-2794. Rev.Lonzo Bonner, officiating. Eulogy by Rev. James Dumas. Professional Services Provided By Van Hoose & Steele Funeral Home, Inc.
| Randy Pausch | |||
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose “last lecture” about facing terminal cancer became an Internet sensation and a best-selling book, died Friday. He was 47. Pausch died at his home in Virginia, university spokeswoman Anne Watzman said. Pausch and his family moved there last fall to be closer to his wife’s relatives. Pausch was diagnosed with incurable pancreatic cancer in September 2006. His popular last lecture at Carnegie Mellon in September 2007 garnered international attention and was viewed by millions on the Internet. In it, Pausch celebrated living the life he had always dreamed of instead of concentrating on impending death. “The lecture was for my kids, but if others are finding value in it, that is wonderful,” Pausch wrote on his Web site. “But rest assured; I’m hardly unique.” The book “The Last Lecture,” written with Jeffrey Zaslow, leaped to the top of the nonfiction best-seller lists after its publication in April and remains there this week. Pausch said he dictated the book to Zaslow, a Wall Street Journal writer, by cell phone. The book deal was reported to be worth more than $6 million. At Carnegie Mellon, he was a professor of computer science, human-computer interaction and design, and was recognized as a pioneer of virtual reality research. On campus, he became known for his flamboyance and showmanship as a teacher and mentor. The speech last fall was part of a series Carnegie Mellon called “The Last Lecture,” where professors were asked to think about what matters to them most and give a hypothetical final talk. The name of the lecture series was changed to “Journeys” before Pausch spoke, something he joked about in his lecture. “I thought, damn, I finally nailed the venue and they renamed it,” he said. He told the packed auditorium he fulfilled almost all his childhood dreams — being in zero gravity, writing an article in the World Book Encyclopedia and working with the Walt Disney Co. The one that eluded him? Playing in the National Football League. “If I don’t seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you,” Pausch said. He then joked about his quirky hobby of winning stuffed animals at amusement parks — another of his childhood dreams — and how his mother introduced him to people to keep him humble: “This is my son, he’s a doctor, but not the kind that helps people.” Pausch said he was embarrassed and flattered by the popularity of his message. Millions viewed the complete or abridged version of the lecture, titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” online. Pausch lobbied Congress for more federal funding for pancreatic cancer research and appeared on “Oprah” and other TV shows. In what he called “a truly magical experience,” he was even invited to appear as an extra in the new “Star Trek” movie. He had one line of dialogue, got to keep his costume and donated his $217.06 paycheck to charity. Pausch blogged regularly about his medical treatment. On Feb. 15, exactly six months after he was told he had three to six months of healthy living left, Pausch posted a photo of himself to show he was “still alive & healthy.” “I rode my bike today; the cumulative effects of the chemotherapy are hurting my stamina some, but I bet I can still run a quarter mile faster than most Americans,” he wrote. Pausch gave one more lecture after his Carnegie Mellon appearance — in November at the University of Virginia, where he had taught from 1988 to 1997. Pausch often emphasized the need to have fun. “I mean I don’t know how to not have fun. I’m dying and I’m having fun. And I’m going to keep having fun every day I have left. Because there’s no other way to play it,” he said in his Carnegie Mellon lecture. “You just have to decide if you’re a Tigger or an Eeyore. I think I’m clear where I stand on the great Tigger/Eeyore debate. Never lose the childlike wonder. It’s just too important. It’s what drives us.” Born in 1960, Pausch received his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Brown University and his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon. He co-founded Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center, a master’s program for bringing artists and engineers together. The university named a footbridge in his honor. He also created an animation-based teaching program for high school and college students to have fun while learning computer programming. In February, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences in California announced the creation of the Dr. Randy Pausch Scholarship Fund for university students who pursue careers in game design, development and production. He and his wife, Jai, had three children, Dylan, Logan and Chloe. |
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Funeral arrangements are finalized for Dothan historian Wendell Stepp.
The family will receive visitors in the Fellowship Hall of First United Methodist Church of Dothan from 8:30 a.m. until 9:45 a.m. Thursday morning.
The service will follow at 10 o’clock.
Stepp and his daughter compiled a pictorial history of the Dothan area. He was also active in the local chapter of the disabled American veterans.
Stepp died Monday at the age of 84.
Mr. Jack Smith of Slocomb died at his residence on Friday, July 18, 2008, following a courageous battle with Alzheimers. He was 83.
He was born on July 23, 1924, on his maternal grandparent’s farm in Houston County to the late Aubrey and Lennie Smith. He attended school at Rehobeth and Slocomb, Teacher’s College at Troy, graduating in 1949, the University of Alabama, and the University of Alabama Law School, receiving his law degree in 1951. He was actively engaged in the practice of law for more than 50 years in Geneva and Houston Counties. Jack served in the U.S. Army during World War II in the South Pacific. He was a lifelong resident of Geneva County.
Mr. Jack was a member of Fist Baptist Church of Slocomb, where he taught Sunday school for several years. He was a member and past commander of Wiregrass Veteran’s of Foreign Wars Post 3073, and was a 32nd Degree Mason. He was elected and served as a state representative in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1974-1978 for Geneva and Houston Counties.
Mr. Jack is survived by one son Stephen G. Smith of Dothan; three daughters and sons-in-law, Carey and Michael Young of Helena, Jennie and Brian Keeling of Malvern, and Laura and Jason Kirkland of Slocomb; six grandchildren, Matthew Young, Tyler Harris, Jason Young, Sam Kirkland, Sophia Keeling and Emily Kirkland.
He is also survived by a brother, J. Earl Smith, of Dothan and a sister, Grace Fowler, of Columbus, Ga., and a very special niece, Angela Newton, and several dear nieces, nephews, other relatives, and many esteemed friends.
In addition to his parents, two brothers, Charles Smith and Donald Smith, preceded him in death.
Funeral services for Mr. Jack will be 10 a.m. Tuesday, July 22, at First Baptist Church in Slocomb with the Rev. Larry Newton officiating. Burial will follow in Slocomb City Cemetery. Relatives and friends are welcome to visit at Sorrells Funeral Home, Highway 52, in Slocomb on Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. and at the church on Tuesday from 9 a.m. to service time.
We would like to thank all of the staff and nurses of Southern Care Hospice for their help and support.
The family wishes to extend our heartfelt thanks and gratitude to long-time family friend and Mr. Jack’s caretaker in this, his last illness, Darlene Peacock, of Slocomb. Her kind care and friendship will be forever appreciated.
Sorrells Funeral Home of Slocomb, (334) 886-7777, is in charge of arrangements.
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| Jo Stafford | |||||
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Jo Stafford, the honey-voiced band singer who starred in radio and television and sold more than 25 million records with her ballads and folks songs, has died. She was 90. Stafford died of congestive heart failure Wednesday at her Century City home, her son, Tim Weston of Topanga, said Friday. She had been in declining health since October, he said. Stafford had 26 charted singles and nearly a dozen top 10 hits, her son said. She won a Grammy for her humor. Stafford’s records of “I’ll Walk Alone,” “I’ll Be Seeing You,” “I Don’t Want to Walk Without You” and other sentimental songs struck the hearts of servicemen far from home in both World War II and the Korean War. They awarded her the title of “GI Jo.” In 1939, she was working with a group of male singers called the Pied Pipers. The group was invited to join the Tommy Dorsey band, a big attraction in the swing era. Soon the Pied Pipers were singing in major hotels and ballrooms and on radio. A year later, 24-year-old Frank Sinatra joined Dorsey after a brief stint with Harry James, and he and the Pied Pipers melded ideally. Their languorous “I’ll Never Smile Again” became the No. 1 hit for 12 weeks and sold 2 million copies. A half-century later, Sinatra remarked about Stafford, “It was a joy to sit on the bandstand and listen to her.” Dorsey gave Stafford her first solo, “Little Man With a Candy Cigar,” and it became a hit record. One night in 1944 in Portland, Ore., the temperamental Dorsey got into an argument with one of the Pied Pipers and fired the group. The Pied Pipers signed with the fledgling Capitol Records, but Stafford left the group to join Johnny Mercer, one of the Capitol founders. Mercer guided her new career with hits such as “Candy,” “Serenade of the Bells” and “That’s for Me.” In demand for personal appearances, she accepted a date at New York’s Club Martinique. A shy person, she never played a nightclub again. “I’m basically a singer, period,” she said in a 1996 interview, “and I think I’m really lousy up in front of an audience� it’s just not me.” She was a “reluctant star,” her son said. “She loved making records and really didn’t crave the attention of personal appearances.” At Capitol, Stafford, who had been married to Pied Piper John Huddleston from 1941 to 1943, became reacquainted with Paul Weston, who had been an arranger for Dorsey. They married in 1952, and he acted as her arranger and conductor for the rest of her career. They had two children, Tim and Amy, and four grandchildren. Despite her shyness, Stafford appeared before studio audiences in radio and television during the 1940s and 1950s. She alternated with Perry Como on a nightly 15-minute radio show in 1944, guest starred on many TV variety shows and had her own series, “The Jo Stafford Show,” in 1955-56. She recorded more than 800 songs during a versatile career that included ballads, folk, Scottish, country and novelty. She even tried comedy. She and Weston recorded an album of numbers on which she sang painfully off-key and he played miserable piano. They were billed as Jonathan and Darlene, but their identity was soon discovered. A second album won them a Grammy in 1960 for best comedy album. Jo Elizabeth Stafford was born Nov. 12, 1917, in Coalinga, Calif., where her Tennessee father had come to work in the oil fields. When a new field was discovered in Long Beach, he moved his wife and four daughters south. Young Jo studied classical music for more than three years and was cast in a high school production of “Robert.” But the 1933 Long Beach earthquake destroyed the school, and she joined her two older sisters singing pop songs on radio as the Stafford Sisters. The Staffords sang background music at film studios � where Jo met the Pied Pipers. Stafford made her last recording in 1970 although her songs continue to be used in movie soundtracks, her son said. She retired voluntarily, he said. “It really was to raise my sister and I. She walked away from it,” he said. “People would sort of ask her, ‘How come you stopped singing?’ She said: ‘For the same reason that Lana Turner doesn’t pose in bathing suits anymore.’” In addition to her son, Stafford is survived by a daughter, Amy Wells of Calabasas, and four grandchildren. Paul Weston died in 1996. |
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| Christopher Branch | ||
| Christopher Adam Branch of Ozark was the victim of a drowning accident Saturday, July 12, 2008. He was 16. A memorial service will be held Friday, July 18, 2008, at 2 p.m. at the chapel of Fuqua-Bankston Funeral Home with the Rev. Robert Highsmith officiating. Visitation will be held Thursday, July 17, 2008, from 5-7 p.m. at Fuqua-Bankston Funeral Home. Flowers will be accepted, or memorial contributions to the Children’s Miracle Network of Birmingham would be appreciated by the family. Christopher Adam Branch was born Dec. 19, 1991, in Florida. He attended Carroll High School where he would have begun his junior year and was a member of the ROTC Drill Team. Chris was a member of Victory Tabernacle Worship Center. He was an outdoorsman who loved fishing, skateboarding and playing the bass guitar. Survivors include parents, Lisa and James Cook of Ozark; three brothers, Jason Branch, Matthew Cook and Nicholas Cook, all of Ozark; grandparents, Virgil Branch of Milton, Fla., Lewis and Grace Mitchell and George and Evelyn Mason, all of Ozark; several aunts, uncles, and cousins. Fuqua-Bankston Funeral Home in Ozark, (334) 774-4551, is in charge of arrangements. Visit www.mem.com for a biography and to add condo-lences. |
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Sharon K. Gette, 51, of Florence, died Wednesday at her residence.
She was a technician with Ellison Surface Technologies, Hebron.
Survivors include her husband, Micheal Gette; a daughter Kelly King of Florence; a stepson, Murphy Gette; her mother, Barbara Rodgers; her stepmother and father, Jeri and Robert Faehr Sr. of Latonia; brothers, Michael T. Smith, Robert H. Faehr Jr., Nicholas Rodgers, Michael William Faehr, and Anthony J. Faehr; sisters, Roseann Fryman, Pamela Jo Smith, Roberta L. Faehr, Karen A. Faehr, Teresa L. Faehr, Nancy Kerns, Paula J. Faehr, Kelly J. O’Malley, and Paula J. Faehr; and two grandchildren.
Mass of Christian burial will be at 3 p.m. Monday at Linnemann Funeral Home, Erlanger. Visitation will begin there at 1 p.m. Monday. Mrs. Gette will be cremated.
Memorials are suggested to the Sharon K. Gette Memorial Fund, in care of any Fifth Third Bank branch.
| Lillian Brook Manis | ||
 AUGUST 15, 1990 – JULY 12, 2008Lillian “Lilli” Broox Manis died in a tragic car collision in the early morning of July 12, 2008 on Glenwood Ave in Raleigh, NC. She was just one month shy of her 18th birthday, and was set to go to Earlham College in Richmond IN at the end of August. She is survived by her mother, Elizabeth, her father, Paul, and her younger brother, Cameron, her cat, Millo, her maternal grandmother, Lillian Hughes Webster, her paternal grandmother, Doris Manis, her uncles Mike Webster, Will Webster, Luke Manis, Thomas Manis, and her many friends from SAYF, Duke Young Writer’s Camp, Chapel Hill High School, and her many other friends whose lives she touched and loved throughout her short life. She was preceded in death by her maternal grandfather, Willie Broox Webster and her paternal grandfather, Jaye Parke Manis. Lilli was born at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore MD. She spent her early years living in Columbia MD, where she attended Young School and Fulton Elementary. Lilli was talented at many things, and began playing viola in third grade, practicing with her father. After moving to Chapel Hill in 1999, she went on to play in the McDougle Middle School and Chapel Hill High School orchestras, and went on the Mozart 250th concert tour in Austria in 2006. She graduated from Chapel Hill High School in June, 2008. She has been described by her family and friends as creative, independent, thoughtful, kind, sensitive, insightful, artistic, talented, humorous, easy-going and beautiful. The family is very grateful for the memories and photos posted on the Facebook Website: “Rest In Peace Lilli Manis” (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2271 1931265). Lilli also loved Asian Studies, and especially Japanese culture. When she was just three, she had her first Kimono and fans. She loved manga and Japanese movies. Her favorite animals were pandas and owls, and she had a large collection of owls from around the world. She was a talented artist in many ways, and worked in charcoal, pencil, watercolors, as well as digital media. Her favorite subjects were people, although she also drew animals, flowers and landscapes. She had a tremendous eye for light, shape and shadow. Lilli learned to draw manga both on paper and on her computer. Lilli was a very talented writer. She attended Duke Young Writer’s Camp for four years, and has many close friends from there. She especially liked to write poetry, and went to the poetry readings at the Regulator many times. She wrote wonderful essays and had tremendous insight into how to present her arguments, support them, and convince you of her viewpoint. She really enjoyed writing and considered it as possible career. She had a web site that she worked on, and it will have her art work, poetry and short stories in the near future (http://www.hxresurrection.net). Lilli was an avid movie fan; her favorites being the Indiana Jones series, and all Harrison Ford movies in particular. She was a big fan of the BBC TV series Dr. Who, and had the whole recent series on DVD and enjoyed watching it with her family, and then over again and again with her friends. Her musical tastes were diverse, running from classical to Mojave 3, the Decemberists and the Grateful Dead, to Indie and more punk genres. Lilli was a great sailboat crew, racing on 2-person dinghys such as 420’s for the RTP High School Sailing team, and on Tanzer 16’s with her father and other sailors. She loved the higher winds with the spray and wind in her face, and could roll-tack and hike out with the best. She and her brother crewed together at the SAISA Gold Regatta in March, 2008, sailing for Chapel Hill High School. She designed the logo that appeared on the RTP High School sailing shirts and website. Lilli also participated in martial arts, earning a Red Belt in Taekwondo. Lilli was going to be a freshman at Earlham college, in Richmond IN, to major in art and Asian studies. She always wanted to go visit Japan, and had taken four years of Japanese in high school. She was loved very much and is missed by her Mom, Dad and brother Cameron tremendously. Services will be held by the Chapel Hill Friends Meeting on Saturday, July 19, 2008, at 1:00 p.m. The exact location will be posted on the Facebook site (Rest In Peace Lilli Manis), or you may call Walker’s Funeral Home at (919) 942-3861. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations may be made to the “Lillian Broox Manis Scholarship Fund”, at Earlham College, Alumni and Development Office, 801 National Road West, Richmond, Indiana, 47374, tel (765) 983-1313. |
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Joshua T. Miktarian
Tallmadge — Joshua T. Miktarian, 33, passed away July 13, 2008.
Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Friday, July 18, 2008 at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, One Mt. Zion Circle in Oakwood with Rev. Kevin Maxey officiating.
Friends may call 1 until 4 and 6 until 8 p.m. Thursday, July 17, 2008 at the Donovan Funeral Home, 17 Southwest Ave. (On the Historic Tallmadge Circle). Memorial donations may be made to the Twinsburg Police Association, Josh Miktarian Fund at any Fifth Third Bank or the Twinsburg Police Department.
