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.

Stan Laurel was born to parents that managed a string of Vaudeville theaters. One of five children, he was to find the most acclaim. Half of the legendary team Laurel and Hardy, there was no one in the country that didn’t know his name. Few comic routines in memory stick out like their well done and often copied “Who’s On First” did. In 1991, he and his famous partner were even commemorated on a US postage stamp. He is buried at the Forrest Lawn Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California and his plot can be found in the George Washington Section, 2nd Terrace, 910.

Sally James Farnham stood out in her day as one of the foremost female American sculptors. She was best known for her masterpiece statue of Simon Bolivar in equestrian clothing that was placed in New York City in Central Park. Another of her well known works, one of Will Rogers sitting on a horse, brought her further acclaim. If you ever happen to be in Great Neck, New York, be sure to look her up at the All Saint’s Cemetery.

George Carlin, the comedian known for excessively offensive but extremely funny routines, died yesterday in an LA area hospital. He was seventy one years old. Carlin gathered a particularly heavy following back in the seventies with his deliberately offensive routines. It didn’t matter what the subject was, from sexy swimwear to nuns habits, he could find a way to be nasty about it. He was quoted as saying that if a person left the show without having become offended at least once, he hadn’t done his job. He will be greatly missed.

Sam Walton was the founder of Wal-Mart. The original stores, a far cry from the supercenters that sell anything and everything nowadays, were founded on the idea of selling AMERICAN MADE name brands at discount prices. That thinking died with the guy, apparently, and you can now find offered for sale in these stores almost anything from anywhere. Sam Walton is buried in the Bentonville Cemetery in Benton County Arkansas.