RIP JILL KINMONT BOOTHE

Jill Kinmont Boothe (February 16, 1936-February 9, 2012):


Additional information HERE.

Perhaps you saw the 1975 made-for-television film The Other Side of the Mountain, the film about her life before and after the ski accident in 1955. This accident left Olympic hopeful Jill Kinmont paralyzed. Despite her hopes to ski again, she never did. However, she recovered enough to pursue a career as a teacher and lived the remainder of her life largely out media coverage. Her passing did not make the headlines.

R.I.P. GARY E. LEE

From the obituary in the Washington Post:

Gary E. Lee, 67, a State Department officer in Tehran who in 1979 was taken hostage by Iranian militants and braved mock executions, beatings and near starvation during 444 days in captivity, died Oct. 10 at his home in Fulton, Tex. He had cancer.

Mr. Lee was one of 52 Americans held inside the U.S. Embassy until they were released Jan. 20, 1981. Another hostage, Richard Morefield, who was U.S. consul general at the time, died Oct. 11.

[...]

Mr. Lee was kept in isolation for weeks at a time. He later told how he "made friends" with a salamander that crawled around his room and how he teased ants with a pistachio, nudging the nut along the floor to keep it out of their reach.

When the guards fed him raw chicken, he dreamed of steaming pork chops. He lost 30 pounds.

To keep himself alert, Mr. Lee designed a patio in his head to add on to his home in Falls Church.

Mr. Lee was blindfolded and beaten and subjected to three separate mock executions. He recalled imagining that he "could feel the bullets in my back."

"I bought it," Mr. Lee later told Time magazine. "I thought I was a dead man."

Upon his return home, Mr. Lee received more than 300 letters - and several cases of beer. He responded to every piece of mail.

Mr. Lee continued to work for the State Department and did not rule out working abroad again. There was one exception.

"I won't go to Iran," he said. "But I'll go anywhere else."

[...]

Mr. Lee retired to Texas after federal service. He was often seen among friends at the 301 Bar and Grill, where he sat on a stool draped in the U.S. flag.

Reached by phone at the establishment one recent afternoon, his friend Patty Asack said that the flag had been removed from Mr. Lee's usual seat at the bar and that the stool had been ceremonially tipped forward to mark his absence.

On the bar in front of Mr. Lee's spot, bartenders placed one shot glass upside down and another filled to the rim with scotch.

REST IN PEACE: COLLIN WILCOX PAXTON

Collin Wilcox Paxton portrayed Mayella Violet Ewell, the rape accuser in the 1962 film To Kill A Mockingbird.

She died of brain cancer on October 14.

Read her obituary HERE.

The movie trailer:

REST IN PEACE: HARVE PRESNELL

A lot of people probably don't even recall the name of this performer, who passed away from pancreatic cancer on June 30 at the age of seventy-five. He did both Broadway and film work. In fact, he was once a leading man.

Perhaps, however, you'll recall hearing this singer's rich baritone in the following YouTube version of the song "They Call the Wind Maria," which he performed in the film version of Paint Your Wagon:



More about Harve Presnell, including some surprises, at Always On Watch.