Wesley Joseph Berggren, guitarist and keyboardist for the Dallas based rock band “Tripping Daisy”, died of a heavy drug overdose, and we aren’t talking generic Phentermine here. Autopsy revealed that death was caused by a combination of cocaine and a handful of prescription drugs. Typical of the “flash in the pan” rock musicians that burn themselves out, fans who DO remember him can’t even visit his grave to pay their respects… he was creamated, and the location of his ashes is unknown.

Hal Rothman was a prominent modern historian and a best selling, world famous author. His specialty was history surrounding the flashy city of Las Vegas, Nevada. As his “day job”, he was a well respected professor of history at the University of Nevada. He was featured with regularity on many national television stations as well as several prominent newspapers and magazines. Travel agencies used his writings to promote Vegas vacations. He died of Lou Gehrig’s disease in 2007, and is buried at the King David Memorial Chapel and Cemetery in Las Vegas, in Gates of Truth, space 135.

Helen Keller was a classic example of someone who became famous through someone else’s dedication to fixing a problem. Both blind and deaf, she was taught to communicate through a then revolutionary method administered by Anne Sullivan. The story was made into film in the famous “The Miracle Worker”. There is actually some speculation that the modern Lasik technology might have partially returned her sight, had she been born at a later time. As an adult, she became a social activist, with many causes to discuss, some, like the veterans organizations, were very popular, and others, like her support of pseudo communist ideals, rather unpopular. She is interred at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC.

Former Yankee All Star and broadcaster Bobby Murcer has died at age 62. He passed away Saturday in his Oklahoma City home after an extended battle with brain cancer. Murcer spent seventeen seasons playing outfield major league ball, and followed that up with twenty three years broadcasting games for the Yankees, a career that ended shortly into this last season due to health issues. You have to wonder what kind of strength equipment and exercise routines a guy comes up with to maintain such a high energy career for so long! A true favorite of Yankee fans (including me), he will be missed.

Minnie Pearl was one of the most beloved and remembered names from the Grand Ole Opry, and from country comedy in general. She won a plethora of awards, including induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Her image has been used to sell everything from snacks to cruise deals. And she is entirely fictional. The woman who invented and played the character of Minnie Pearl for over fifty years, Sara Ophelia Colley Cannon, was as different from the character as night is different from the daytime. A well educated and refined woman, not to mention an excellent tennis player, she was also a breast cancer survivor, and using the name of her character, was an outspoken advocate of that cause until the cancer returned and ultimately claimed her life. She is buried in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Franklin, Tennessee.

Tom “Colonel Tom” Parker, manager of the great Elvis Presley, was originally from the Netherlands, not arriving in the US until he was eighteen years old. In the time between his arrival and when he became Elvis’ manager, he served in the army, joined (and left) a circus, was a dog catcher, and ran a pet cemetery.Although the star he was most know for managing was The King, he also worked with several other very famous people, Eddie Arnold, Minnie Pearl, and Hank Snow, to name a few. Though some say he exploited Elvis, there are others that credit him with the star’s success, and with trying hard to keep him off the diet pills and other drugs that may have been a contributing factor in the singer’s untimely death. At the time of Colonel Parker’s death his remains were creamated, and we do not know where the ashes were placed.

Known the world over by just the mention of his first name, Elvis certainly made a mark on the musical and theatrical world. Tame by today’s standards, at the early stage of his career he was censored on television, shown only from the waist up, because he couldn’t hold his lower half still while he sang. This gained him the lasting nickname “Elvis the Pelvis” and actually helped boost his fame, if that were possible. With every step of his career his audience grew, through all his gold records to the thirty three movies he made, to the las vegas hotels in which he performed, the people came and the people loved him. He truly was the King of Rock and Roll.

Helen Herron Taft was the wife of the US President with the same last name. Not in such severe need of weight loss as her husband, she was much more active. She was instrumental in the removal of farm animals from the White House grounds, and was the first former first lady to pen and publish an autobiography. Her most remembered, though hardly her greatest, accomplishment was to bring the famous Oriental Cherry Trees to the White House grounds. Her death led to another first… she is the first Presidential wife to be buried alongside her husband in Arlington National Cemetery.

Noah Webster… schoolteacher, lawyer, newspaper man. His achievements are many, including his Revolutionary War involvement, but his most famous achievement was one that people didn’t even realize was actually happening… he completely rewrote the English language. So great was his distaste for Britain that he didn’t even want to sound like them, and so, with the publication of his famous dictionary, he completely changed the sound of the language itself, giving American speech a distinctly different flavor all it’s own, and helping those of us who make a living using phrases like “term life insurance” a much easier job. Thanks, Mr. Webster!

Noah Webster is buried in the Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut.

Connie Jost was, primarily, an artist who worked in a variety of mediums, but she was a dedicated environmentalist as well. The two interests often crossed over, making for an extremely wide variety of subjects in her artwork, from huge sculptures to painted art resembling the whimsical, folksy quilt patch panels of days gone by. Her love of wildlife showed up often in her work, and she will be remembered as one of the premier artists of modern times. She died of cancer in 1998. She is buried in the Chestnut Grove Cemetery in Elmer, New Jersey.