/ Stars that died in 2023

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Würzel, British guitarist (Motörhead), died from ventricular fibrillation he was , 61.


Michael Burston commonly known by the stage name Würzel, was an English musician and formerly a guitarist in the British heavy metal band, Motörhead died from ventricular fibrillation he was , 61..

(23 October 1949 – 9 July 2011)

Before joining Motörhead in 1984, Burston had been a corporal in the Army, serving in Germany and Northern Ireland with the 1st Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment, and had played in the bands Bastard and Warfare. Joining another relatively unknown guitarist, Phil Campbell, they played together at a Motörhead audition, and both were taken on. The new four-piece line-up made its debut recording a backing track for The Young Ones on 14 February 1984. Burston acquired the nickname Wurzel whilst in the Army, being compared to the character Worzel Gummidge due to his scarecrow-style hair and bumpkin-like manner. Motörhead singer Lemmy encouraged Würzel to add an umlaut to the 'U' in his name, for heavy metal effect.[1]
Würzel saw a number of changes to the line-up in the band, each involving the drummer, until he left in 1995. Although he played on Sacrifice, he left the band before the tour. He was not replaced and Motörhead remains a three-piece. He had made a few guest appearances with the band: at the 2008 Download Festival and at the 2009 Guilfest, as well as a few other appearances on the band's 2008 UK tour.
In 1987 Würzel recorded his first solo E.P., "Bess", that was not so far removed from the Motörhead sound, but also allowed for slightly different ideas. The E.P. included the instrumental title track, two Rock pieces, 'Midnight in London' and 'People Say I'm Crazy', and an instrumental Jazz Rock-orientated track, 'E.S.P.'.
In 1998, quasi-inspired by psychedelically-informed experiences in Ghent, Belgium,[citation needed] Würzel recorded and released an ambient, improvised avant-garde album entitled Chill Out Or Die.
On 9 July 2011, Tim Butcher — longtime bass technician of Motörhead leader Lemmy — reported that Würzel had died. The cause of death was ventricular fibrillation triggered by cardiomyopathy.[2][3] Before he died, Würzel was working on new material with his new band, Leader of Down, who had previously announced the release of their debut single for early 2010.[4] The following day, Lemmy dedicated Motörhead's performance at Sonisphere Festival in Knebworth to his memory, as well as dedicating 'Going to Brazil' to him. Similarly Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters dedicated a song to Würzel on the 10th July at T in the Park, Balado.

Discography

With Motörhead
Solo work
  • Bess (1987)
  • Chill Out Or Die (The Ambient Album) (1998)
Other work and guest appearances
  • Warfare – Metal Anarchy (1985)
  • V.A. – "Where Would You Rather Be Tonight?" (1986) (All proceeds from this album went to Broadreach House, a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts and alcoholics)
  • Atomgods – WOW! (1988)
  • Warhead – Warhead (1995)
  • Disgust – A World Of No Beauty (1996)
  • WVKEAF – "Jump/Maximism" – (1997)
  • SplodgenessaboundsArtful Splodger (2001)

VHS & DVD appearances

 

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Monday, September 26, 2011

Kenny Baker, American fiddler, died from complications from a stroke he was , 85

Kenneth Clayton Baker was an American fiddle player best known for his 25-year tenure with Bill Monroe and his group The Bluegrass Boys died from complications from a stroke he was , 85.

(June 26, 1926 – July 8, 2011)

Biography

Baker was born in Burdine, Kentucky[1] and learned the fiddle by accompanying his father, also a fiddler. Early on, he was influenced by the swing fiddler Marion Sumner, not to mention Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. After working for Bethlehem Steel in the coal mines of Kentucky, he served in the United States Navy before pursuing a musical career full-time. He soon joined Don Gibson's band as a replacement for Marion Sumner. Baker, who played western swing, had little interest in bluegrass music until he heard "Wheel Hoss" and "Roanoke". During a package show with Don Gibson, Baker met Monroe and was offered a job. He cut his first recordings with Monroe's Bluegrass Boys on December 15, 1957.[2]
Kenny Baker served more years in Monroe's band than any other musician and was selected by Monroe to record the fiddle tunes passed down from Uncle Pen Vandiver. After leaving the Bluegrass Boys in 1984, Baker played with a group of friends, Bob Black, Alan Murphy, and Aleta Murphy. Bob Black and Alan Murphy recorded an album with Baker in 1973, Dry & Dusty. After the one summer with Black and the Murphy's, Baker teamed with Josh Graves, who had played resonator guitar for Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs as a Foggy Mountain Boy. Baker teamed with Graves until Graves' death in 2006.
Baker is considered to be one of the most influential fiddlers in bluegrass music. His "long-bow" style added a smoothness and clarity to the fiddle-based music of his boss, Grand Ole Opry member Bill Monroe. His long tenure with Bill Monroe included banjo player Bill Keith's development of the "melodic" method of banjo playing that included note for note representations of fiddle tunes on the banjo.
He was named to the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1999.[3] He recorded many albums[4] for various record labels, including County Records, Jasmine, Rounder Records and most recently OMS Records. His most recent recordings include "Cotton Baggin' 2000" and "Spider Bit the Baby" on OMS Records. It was often mentioned that Kenny Baker's records were more popular at Bill Monroe concerts than the band's own releases.[by whom?] There were, and remain, hordes of Kenny Baker students of the bluegrass fiddle.[citation needed]
Prior to his death, Baker was the last prominent native of Jenkins, Kentucky.[citation needed]
Kenny Baker died July 8, 2011 at Sumner Regional Medical Center in Gallatin, Tennessee due to complications from a stroke.


Biography

Baker was born in Burdine, Kentucky[1] and learned the fiddle by accompanying his father, also a fiddler. Early on, he was influenced by the swing fiddler Marion Sumner, not to mention Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. After working for Bethlehem Steel in the coal mines of Kentucky, he served in the United States Navy before pursuing a musical career full-time. He soon joined Don Gibson's band as a replacement for Marion Sumner. Baker, who played western swing, had little interest in bluegrass music until he heard "Wheel Hoss" and "Roanoke". During a package show with Don Gibson, Baker met Monroe and was offered a job. He cut his first recordings with Monroe's Bluegrass Boys on December 15, 1957.[2]
Kenny Baker served more years in Monroe's band than any other musician and was selected by Monroe to record the fiddle tunes passed down from Uncle Pen Vandiver. After leaving the Bluegrass Boys in 1984, Baker played with a group of friends, Bob Black, Alan Murphy, and Aleta Murphy. Bob Black and Alan Murphy recorded an album with Baker in 1973, Dry & Dusty. After the one summer with Black and the Murphy's, Baker teamed with Josh Graves, who had played resonator guitar for Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs as a Foggy Mountain Boy. Baker teamed with Graves until Graves' death in 2006.
Baker is considered to be one of the most influential fiddlers in bluegrass music. His "long-bow" style added a smoothness and clarity to the fiddle-based music of his boss, Grand Ole Opry member Bill Monroe. His long tenure with Bill Monroe included banjo player Bill Keith's development of the "melodic" method of banjo playing that included note for note representations of fiddle tunes on the banjo.
He was named to the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1999.[3] He recorded many albums[4] for various record labels, including County Records, Jasmine, Rounder Records and most recently OMS Records. His most recent recordings include "Cotton Baggin' 2000" and "Spider Bit the Baby" on OMS Records. It was often mentioned that Kenny Baker's records were more popular at Bill Monroe concerts than the band's own releases.[by whom?] There were, and remain, hordes of Kenny Baker students of the bluegrass fiddle.[citation needed]
Prior to his death, Baker was the last prominent native of Jenkins, Kentucky.[citation needed]
Kenny Baker died July 8, 2011 at Sumner Regional Medical Center in Gallatin, Tennessee due to complications from a stroke.

 

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Sunday, September 4, 2011

Roberts Blossom, American actor (Doc Hollywood, Escape from Alcatraz, Home Alone) died he was , 87.


Roberts Scott Blossom  was an American actor and poet died he was , 87.

(March 25, 1924 – July 8, 2011)

Life and career

Roberts Scott Blossom was born in 1924 in New Haven, Connecticut, and began acting on stage during the 1950s. During the 1960s, he formed Filmstage, a multimedia avant-garde theatrical troupe.[3]
Blossom graduated from Asheville School in 1941 and attended Harvard University. He acted several theater roles in the 1950s, for which he won the Obie Award four times. He landed his first film roles in the television adaptation of the play Our Town (1959).[citation needed]
In the thriller Deranged, Blossom played the lead role of killer Ezra Cobb. In the Oscar-winning film drama The Great Gatsby (1974), he was accompanied on-screen by Robert Redford. He won the Soapy Award for his role on Another World, on which he appeared from 1976-1977. In 1990, he starred in Home Alone as Old Man Marley. Blossom's other TV credits include Moonlighting, Northern Exposure and In the Heat of the Night.
He retired from acting in the late 1990s to pursue writing poetry. He resided in southern California until his death on July 8, 2011, aged 87. He was formerly married to Beverly Schmidt Blossom, and was later married to Marylin Orshan Blossom, until her death in 1982. He had two children, a daughter (Debbie) and a son (Michael).

Notable film roles

 

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William R. Corliss, American physicist and writer died he was , 84

William Roger Corliss was an American physicist and writer who was known  for his interest in collecting data regarding anomalous phenomena died he was , 84.
Arthur C. Clarke described him as "Fort's latter-day - and much more scientific - successor."

(August 28, 1926 – July 8, 2011)

Biography

Starting in 1974, Corliss published a number of works in the "Sourcebook Project". Each volume was devoted to a scientific field (archeology, astronomy, geology, et cetera) and featured articles culled almost exclusively from scientific journals. Corliss was inspired by Charles Fort, who decades earlier also collected reports of unusual phenomena. Unlike Fort, Corliss offered little in the way of his own opinions or editorial comments, preferring to let the articles speak for themselves. Corliss quoted all relevant parts of articles (often reprinting entire articles or stories, including illustrations). Many of the articles in Corliss's works were earlier mentioned in Charles Fort's works.
In his book Unexplained!, Jerome Clark describes Corliss as "essentially conservative in outlook". He explains, "Corliss [is] more interested in unusual weather, ball lighting, geophysical oddities, extraordinary mirages, and the like — in short, anomalies that, while important in their own right, are far less likely to outrage mainstream scientists than those that delighted Fort, such as UFOs, monstrous creatures, or other sorts of extraordinary events and entities."[4] Arthur C. Clarke said:



Corliss wrote many other books and articles, notably including 13 educational books about astronomy, outer space and space travel for NASA and a similar number for the Atomic Energy Commission and the National Science Foundation.[5]

Bibliography

  • Propulsion Systems for Spaceflight (1960)
  • Radioisotopic Power Generation (with D.G. Harvey; 1964)
  • Space Probes and Planetary Exploration (1965)
  • Scientific Satellites (1967)
  • Mysteries of the Universe (1967)
  • Teleoperator Controls (with E.G. Johnsen; 1968)
  • Mysteries Beneath the Sea (1970)
  • Human Factors Applications in Teleoperator Design and Operation (with Johnsen; 1971)
  • History of NASA Sounding Rockets (1971)
  • Man and Atom (with Glenn T. Seaborg; 1971)
  • History of the Goddard Networks (1972)
  • The Interplanetary Pioneers (1972)
  • Strange Phenomena: A Sourcebook of Unusual Natural Phenomena (1974)
  • Strange Artifacts: A Sourcebook on Ancient Man (1974)
  • The Unexplained (1976)
  • Strange Life (1976)
  • Strange Minds (1976)
  • Strange Universe (1977)
  • Handbook of Unusual Natural Phenomena (1977)
  • Strange Planet (1978)
  • Ancient Man: A Handbook of Puzzling Artifacts (1978)
  • Mysterious Universe: A Handbook of Astronomical Anomalies (1979)
  • Unknown Earth: A Handbook of Geological Enigmas (1980)
  • Wind Tunnels of NASA (1981)
  • Incredible Life: A Handbook of Biological Mysteries (1981)
  • The Unfathomed Mind: A Handbook of Unusual Mental Phenomena (1982)
  • Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights, and Related Luminous Phenomena (1982)
  • Tornados, Dark Days, Anomalous Precipitation, and Related Weather Phenomena (1983)
  • Earthquakes, Tides, Unidentified Sounds, and Related Phenomena (1983)
  • Rare Halos, Mirages, Anomalous Rainbows, and Related Electromagnetic Phenomena (1984)
  • The Moon and the Planets (1985)
  • The Sun and Solar System Debris (1986)
  • Stars, Galaxies, Cosmos (1987)
  • Carolina Bays, Mima Mounds, Submarine Canyons (1988)
  • Anomalies in Geology: Physical, Chemical, Biological (1989)
  • Neglected Geological Anomalies (1990)
  • Inner Earth: A Search for Anomalies (1991)
  • Biological Anomalies: Humans I (1992)
  • Biological Anomalies: Humans II (1993)
  • Biological Anomalies: Humans III (1994)
  • Science Frontiers: Some Anomalies and Curiosities of Nature (1994)
  • Biological Anomalies: Mammals I (1995)
  • Biological Anomalies: Mammals II (1996)
  • Biological Anomalies: Birds (1998)
  • Ancient Infrastructure: Remarkable Roads, Mines, Walls, Mounds, Stone Circles: A Catalog of Archeological Anomalies (1999)
  • Ancient Structures: Remarkable Pyramids, Forts, Towers, Stone Chambers, Cities, Complexes: A Catalog of Archeological Anomalies (2001)
  • Remarkable Luminous Phenomena in Nature: A Catalog of Geophysical Anomalies (2001)
  • Scientific Anomalies and other Provocative Phenomena (2003)
  • Archeological Anomalies: Small Artifacts (2003)
  • Archeological Anomalies: Graphic Artifacts I (2005)

 

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Aleksis Dreimanis, Latvian-born Canadian geologist , died he was 96


Aleksis Dreimanis was a Canadian Quaternary geologist. He was born in Valmiera, Latvia died he was 96.

(August 13, 1914 – July 8, 2011)

He first studied geology at the Institute of Palaeontology at the University of Latvia in Riga. In 1939, he worked as a lecturer at the University. As World War II was being fought, he also took on the responsibility of consulting in Quaternary mapping in the Latvian Institute of Mineral Resources. He was conscripted into the Latvian Legion.[2] After the war Dreimanis was appointed Associate Professor in the Baltic University in the Displaced Persons camps at Hamburg and Pinneberg in Germany.
In 1948, Dreimanis immigrated to Canada to assume a lecturer position at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. Several Canadian institutionscalled on him for his Quaternary expertise, including the Geological Survey of Canada, the Ontario Department of Mines, and the Ontario Department of Planning and Development for the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority, the Thames River Conservation Authority and various private companies. The university promoted him to Associate Professor in 1956, then to Professor in 1964. In 1980 the university gave made him an Emeritus Professor. In the over 40 years with the university, he has produced over 200 papers, notes and abstracts in the field of Quaternary research.
Between 1974 and 1982, Dreimanis acted as an international advisor for several groups including; the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Geological Survey of Finland, and the Ministry of Education in Finland.
Dreimanis maintained his link with Latvia. He made numerous visits as an invited lecturer to Riga, and to Tallinn in Estonia. He was a correspondent with the Dictionary of Latvian Technical Terminology from 1970 to 1986. He has been an associate editor of the Technical Review Journal (for Geology) from 1979. He served as Chairman of the Commission on Technical and Natural Sciences at the Latvian Cultural Foundation from 1973 to 1976.

Roles and duties

  • 1960, Delegate to the International Geological Congress
  • 1965, 1969, 1973, 1977 and 1982, Canadian delegate to the International Quaternary Association (INQUA) Congresses
  • 1965, Co-organised the INQUA Field Excursion in the Great Lakes-Ohio River Valley *1972, Co-organised the INQUA Field Excursion with the Montreal lGC
  • President of the INQUA Commission on genesis and lithology of Quaternary deposits
  • President of the INQUA Working Group on tills
  • 1974-1984, Leader of the Canadian Working Group of the UNESCO-IUGS International Geological Correlation Project on Quaternary Glaciations of the Northern Hemisphere
  • 1974-1980, Councillor for the American Quaternary Association
  • 1975, helped organize the Royal Society of Canada's Conference on Glacial Till
  • 1976-1978, Associate Editor for Geoscience Canada
  • 1980-1982, President of the American Quaternary Association
  • 1981-1987, Associate Editor for Quaternary Science Reviews
  • 1987, made Honorary Member of INQUA

Awards

 

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Saturday, September 3, 2011

Betty Ford, American First Lady (1974–1977) and co-founder of Betty Ford Center died she was , 93.

Elizabeth Ann Bloomer Warren Ford better known as Betty Ford, was First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977 during the presidency of her husband Gerald Ford  died she was , 93.. As First Lady, she was active in social policy and created precedents as a politically active presidential wife.
Throughout her husband's term in office, she maintained high approval ratings despite opposition from some conservative Republicans who objected to her more moderate and liberal positions on social issues. Ford was noted for raising breast cancer awareness following her 1974 mastectomy and was a passionate supporter of, and activist for, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Pro-choice on abortion and a leader in the Women's Movement, she gained fame as one of the most candid first ladies in history, commenting on every hot-button issue of the time, including feminism, equal pay, the ERA, sex, drugs, abortion, and gun control. She also raised awareness of addiction when she announced her long-running battle with alcoholism in the 1970s.
Following her White House years, she continued to lobby for the ERA and remained active in the feminist movement. She is the founder, and served as the first chairwoman of the board of directors, of the Betty Ford Center for substance abuse and addiction and is a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal (co-presentation with her husband, Gerald R. Ford, October 21, 1998) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (alone, presented 1991, by George H. W. Bush).

(April 8, 1918 – July 8, 2011)

Early life and career



She was born Elizabeth Ann Bloomer in Chicago, Illinois, the third child and only daughter of William Stephenson Bloomer, Sr. (July 19, 1874 – July 18, 1934), a traveling salesman for Royal Rubber Co., and his wife, Hortense (née Neahr; July 11, 1884 – November 20, 1948).[5] Her two older brothers were Robert and William Jr. After living briefly in Denver, Colorado, she grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she graduated from Central High School.[6]
After the 1929 stock market crash, when Ford was age 14, she began modeling clothes and teaching children dances such as the foxtrot, waltz, and big apple. She also entertained and worked with children with disabilities at the Mary Free Bed Home for Crippled Children. She studied dance at the Calla Travis Dance Studio, graduating in 1935.[citation needed]
When Ford was age 16, her father died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the family's garage while working under their car, despite the garage doors being open;[7][8] he died the day before his 60th birthday.[5]
In 1936, after she graduated from high school, she proposed continuing her study of dance in New York City, New York, but her mother refused. Instead, she attended the Bennington School of Dance in Bennington, Vermont, for two summers, where she studied under director Martha Hill with choreographers Martha Graham and Hanya Holm. After being accepted by Graham as a student, Ford moved to New York City to live in its Manhattan borough's Chelsea neighborhood and worked as a fashion model for the John Robert Powers firm in order to finance her dance studies. She joined Graham's auxiliary troupe and eventually performed with the company at Carnegie Hall in New York City.[5]
Her mother opposed her daughter's choice of a career and insisted that she move home, but Ford resisted. They finally came to a compromise: she would return home for six months, and if she still wanted to return to New York City at the end of the six months, her mother would not protest further. Ford became immersed in her life in Grand Rapids and did not return to New York City. Her mother remarried to family friend and neighbor, Arthur Meigs Goodwin, and Ford lived with them. She got a job as assistant to the fashion coordinator for Herpolsheimer's, a local department store, as well as organizing her own dance group and taught dance at various sites in Grand Rapids.[5]

Marriages and family

In 1942, she married William C. Warren,[6] who worked for his father in insurance sales, and whom she had known since she was 12. Warren began selling insurance for another company shortly after, later he worked for Continental Can Co., and after that Widdicomb Furniture, and the couple moved frequently because of his work. At one point, they lived in Toledo, Ohio, where she was employed at the department store Lasalle & Koch as a demonstrator, a job that entailed being a model and saleswoman. She worked a production line for a frozen-food company in Fulton, New York, and once back in Grand Rapids returned to work at Herpolsheimer's, this time as "The" Fashion Coordinator.[9] Warren was an alcoholic, and in poor health. Just after Betty decided to file for divorce, he went into a coma. She took care of him for another two years as he convalesced, and they were finally divorced on September 22, 1947, on the grounds of "excessive, repeated cruelty".[5] They had no children.
On October 15, 1948, she married Gerald Ford, a lawyer and World War II veteran, at Grace Episcopal Church, in Grand Rapids. Gerald Ford was then campaigning for what would be his first of thirteen terms as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the wedding was delayed until shortly before the elections because, as The New York Times reported, "Jerry was running for Congress and wasn't sure how voters might feel about his marrying a divorced ex-dancer."[5][10]
Married for fifty-eight years until his death, the couple had three sons: Michael Gerald Ford (born 1950), John Gardner Ford (nicknamed Jack; born 1952), Steven Meigs Ford (born 1956), and a daughter, Susan Elizabeth Ford (born 1957).[2] She never spanked or hit her children, believing that there were better, more constructive ways to deal with discipline and punishment.[11]
The Fords moved to the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., and lived there for twenty-five years. Gerald Ford rose to become the highest-ranking Republican in the House, then was appointed Vice President to Richard Nixon when Spiro Agnew resigned from that position in 1973. He became president in 1974, upon Nixon's resignation in the wake of the Watergate scandal.
They were among the more openly affectionate First Couples in American history. Neither was shy about their mutual love and equal respect, and they were known to have a strong personal and political partnership.[12]

First Lady of the United States



When compared to her predecessor, Pat Nixon, who was noted by one reporter to be the "most disciplined, composed first lady in history", reporters questioned what kind of first lady Ford would be.[13] In the opinion of The New York Times and several presidential historians, "Mrs. Ford's impact on American culture may be far wider and more lasting than that of her husband, who served a mere 896 days, much of it spent trying to restore the dignity of the office of the president."
The paper went on to describe her as "a product and symbol of the cultural and political times — doing the Bump dance along the corridors of the White House, donning a mood ring, chatting on her CB radio with the handle First Mama — a housewife who argued passionately for equal rights for women, a mother of four who mused about drugs, abortion and premarital sex aloud and without regret."[14] In 1975, in an interview with McCall's, Ford said that she was asked just about everything, except for how often she and the president had sex. "And if they'd asked me that I would have told them," she said, adding that her response would be, "As often as possible."[8]
She was open about the benefits of psychiatric treatment, and spoke understandingly about marijuana use and premarital sex, and as a new First Lady pointedly stated during a televised White House tour that she and the President shared the same bed. After Ford appeared on 60 Minutes in a characteristically candid interview in which she discussed how she would counsel her daughter if she was having an affair, saying that she "would not be surprised,"[15] and the possibility that her children may have experimented with marijuana. Some conservatives called her "No Lady" and even demanded her "resignation", but her overall approval rating was at seventy-five percent. As she later said, during her husband's failed 1976 presidential campaign, "I would give my life to have Jerry have my poll numbers."[14]

Social policy and political activism

During her time as First Lady, Ford was also an outspoken advocate of women's rights and was a prominent force in the Women's Movement of the 1970s. She supported the proposed ERA and lobbied state legislatures to ratify the amendment, and took on opponents of the amendment. She was also un-apologetically pro-choice[16] and her active political role prompted Time to call her the country's "Fighting First Lady" and name her a Woman of the Year in 1975, representing American women along with other feminist icons.[4]
For a time, it was unclear whether Gerald Ford shared his wife's pro-choice viewpoint. However, in December 1999, he told interviewer Larry King that he, too, was pro-choice and had been criticized for that stance by conservative forces within the Republican Party.[16]

 Health and breast cancer awareness

Weeks after Ford became First Lady, she underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer on September 28, 1974 resulting in her being diagnosed with the disease. Ford decided to be open about her cancer because "There had been so much cover-up during Watergate that we wanted to be sure there would be no cover-up in the Ford administration"[17] Her openness about her illness raised the visibility of a disease that Americans had previously been reluctant to talk about. "When other women have this same operation, it doesn't make any headlines," she told Time. "But the fact that I was the wife of the President put it in headlines and brought before the public this particular experience I was going through. It made a lot of women realize that it could happen to them. I'm sure I've saved at least one person — maybe more." Further amplifying the public awareness of breast cancer were reports that several weeks after Ford's cancer surgery, Happy Rockefeller, the wife of vice president Nelson Rockefeller, also underwent a mastectomy.[18] The spike in women self-examining after Ford went public with the diagnosis led to an increase in reported cases of breast cancer, a phenomenon known as the "Betty Ford blip".[17]

The arts

Ford was an advocate of the arts while First Lady and was instrumental in Martha Graham receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976. She received an award from Parsons The New School for Design in recognition of her style.

Conceding the 1976 election

After Gerald Ford's defeat by Jimmy Carter in the 1976 Presidential election she delivered her husband's concession speech because he lost his voice while campaigning.[2]

Post-White House career

After leaving the White House in 1977, she continued to lead an active public life. In addition to founding the Betty Ford Center, she remained active in women's issues taking on numerous speaking engagements and lending her name to charities for fundraising.[19]
In 1978, the Ford family staged an intervention and forced her to confront her alcoholism and an addiction to opioid analgesics that had been prescribed in the early 1960s for a pinched nerve.] "I liked alcohol," she wrote in her 1987 memoir. "It made me feel warm. And I loved pills. They took away my tension and my pain". In 1982, after her recovery, she established the Betty Ford Center (initially called the Betty Ford Clinic) in Rancho Mirage, California, for the treatment of chemical dependency.[citation needed] She co-authored with Chris Chase a 1987 book about her treatment, Betty: A Glad Awakening. In 2003, Ford produced another book, Healing and Hope: Six Women from the Betty Ford Center Share Their Powerful Journeys of Addiction and Recovery.
In 2005, Ford relinquished her chairmanship of the center's board of directors to her daughter Susan. She had held the top post at the center since its founding. Her husband joked about how she had been chairman of the board while he had only been a president.[12]

Women's movement

Ford continued to be an active leader and activist of the feminist movement after the Ford administration, and continued to strongly advocate and lobby politicians and state legislatures for passage of the ERA. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Ford to the second National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year (the first had been appointed by President Ford). That same year, she joined First Ladies Lady Bird Johnson and Rosalynn Carter to open and participate in the National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas, where she endorsed measures in the convention's National Plan of Action, a report sent to the state legislatures, the U.S. Congress, and the President on how to improve the status of American women.[20] As she was during her years in the White House, Ford continued to be an outspoken supporter of equal pay, breast cancer awareness, and the ERA throughout her life.[21]
In 1978, the deadline for ratification of the ERA was extended from 1979 to 1982, resulting largely from a march of a hundred thousand people on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. The march was led by prominent feminist leaders, including Ford, Bella Abzug, Elizabeth Chittick, Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. In 1981, Eleanor Smeal, the National Organization for Women's president, announced Ford's appointment to be the co-chair, with Alan Alda, of the ERA Countdown Campaign.[22] As the deadline approached, Ford led marches, parades and rallies for the ERA with other feminists including First Daughter Maureen Reagan and various Hollywood actors. Ford was credited with rejuvenating the ERA movement and inspiring more women to continue working for the ERA and visited states, including Illinois, where ratification was believed to have the most realistic chance of passing.[23] In 2004, she reaffirmed her pro-choice stance and her support for the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade and reaffirmed her belief in and support for the ratification of the ERA.

Later life

In 1987, Ford underwent quadruple coronary bypass surgery and recovered without complications.
In November 18, 1991, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George H.W. Bush[24] and a Congressional Gold Medal in 1999.
On May 8, 2003, Ford received the Woodrow Wilson Award in Los Angeles for her public service from the Woodrow Wilson Center of the Smithsonian Institution.[citation needed]
During these years, she and her husband resided in Rancho Mirage and in Beaver Creek, Colorado.[citation needed]
Gerald Ford died, age 93, at their Rancho Mirage home of heart failure on December 26, 2006. Despite her advanced age and frail physical condition, Ford traveled across the country and took part in the funeral events in California, Washington, D.C., and Michigan.
Following her husband's death, Ford continued to live in Rancho Mirage. At age 93, she was the oldest surviving former occupant of the White House. She was also the third longest-lived first lady behind Bess Truman and Lady Bird Johnson. Poor health and increasing frailty due to operations in August 2006 and April 2007 for blood clots in her legs caused her to largely curtail her public life. Her ill health prevented her from attending Johnson's funeral in July 2007; Ford's daughter Susan represented her mother at the funeral service.
 Gerald and Betty Ford were the first U.S. President and First Lady to both live into their nineties. Bess Truman and Lady Bird Johnson lived into their nineties but their husbands Harry S. Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson did not. Herbert Hoover and John Adams both lived into their nineties but their wives Lou Henry Hoover and Abigail Adams did not. On April 8, 2011, Ford turned 93, the same age that her late husband, President Ford reached on his last birthday, July 14, 2006. On July 6, 2011, former First Lady Nancy Reagan turned 90, and thus she and her husband, former President Ronald Reagan, joined the Fords as the second first couple to both live into their nineties.

Death and funeral

Betty Ford died of natural causes on July 8, 2011, at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, aged 93.[25]
Funeral services were held in Palm Desert, California, on July 12, 2011, with over 800 people in attendance, including former president George W. Bush, First Lady Michelle Obama and former first ladies Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan and Hillary Rodham Clinton.[19] Rosalynn Carter, Cokie Roberts and Geoffrey Mason, a member of the Board of the Betty Ford Center delivered eulogies.
On July 13, her casket was flown to Grand Rapids where it lay in repose at the Gerald Ford Museum overnight.[26]
On July 14, a second service was held at Grace Episcopal Church with eulogies given by Lynne Cheney, former Ford Museum director Richard Norton Smith and son, Steven. In attendance were former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Dick Cheney and former first lady Barbara Bush.[19] In her remarks, Mrs. Cheney noted that July 14 would have been Gerald Ford's 98th birthday.[27] After the service, she was buried next to her husband on the museum grounds.[26]
Former President Clinton had been scheduled to fly to Washington, D.C., meet his wife, and travel to the service in Palm Springs. However, a mechanical problem caused his plane to be delayed and, after discussing the situation, they agreed that she would leave without him in order to arrive on time.[28]

Bibliography

 

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Dickey Betts died he was 80

Early Career Forrest Richard Betts was also known as Dickey Betts Betts collaborated with  Duane Allman , introducing melodic twin guitar ha...