Obituaries

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R.I.P sir........

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I heard he flew Daks on D day
By Duane Byrge

May 2, 2007

Tom Poston, the comedian and actor who was nationally recognized for his long run on "To Tell the Truth" and his comic turns on "The Bob Newhart Show," died at his home Monday in Los Angeles after a brief illness. He was 85.

During the 1950s and '60s, Poston was ubiquitous on quiz and panel shows. Beginning with guest appearances on "The Tonight Show" when Steve Allen hosted it, he was a popular talk-show guest. He won an Emmy for performing on "The Steve Allen Show," a stint he continued for four years.

Poston also was a recognizable comic actor. He played the grouchy neighbor on "Mork & Mindy" but he particularly jelled with Newhart. His guest spots on "The Bob Newhart Show," when he played Bob's low-brow college chum, Peeper Murdock, who inspired the normally straight-laced Bob to "Animal House" antics, were popular episodes. When Newhart launched a new comedy series in 1982, Poston was cast as George Utley, his dull-witted sidekick whose loony observations packed wisdom. His slack-eyed look and slow-talking style were a hilarious combination, particularly when he punctuated them with inspired observations.

Poston was reportedly originally offered the role of Maxwell Smart in "Get Smart," but turned it down.

Similarly, Poston shone as a comic sidekick for Tim Conway's Derk Dorf character, and made memorable appearances as Mr. Looney, the school custodian, on "Family Matters." In 1995, he joined "Grace Under Fire" as Floyd, Russell's (Dave Thomas) odd father. He teamed with Howie Mandel in the short-lived 1990 Fox series "Good Grief" a comedy set behind the scenes at a mortuary. Poston occasionally appeared in TV longforms, like the daffy 1986 CBS miniseries "Fresno."
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While best known for his comedic TV appearances, he also did dramatic turns in such shows as "The Defenders," which starred E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed as a father/son lawyer team.

Poston was active in theater throughout his career, highlighted by his Broadway turn in the advertising satire "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" He also played Trinculo in the 1960 "Hallmark Hall of Fame" rendition of Shakespeare's "The Tempest."

Poston's feature film appearances were sporadic. He began on film as a detective in 1953's "The City That Never Sleeps" and played the town two-timer in the Norman Lear comedy "Cold Turkey" (1971). He also performed in "Soldier in the Rain," which starred Steve McQueen and Jackie Gleason, and "Rabbit Test," with Billy Crystal. More recently he appeared in "Krippendorf's Tribe" with Richard Dreyfuss, and "The Story of Us," which starred Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Poston was born Oct. 17, 1921, in Columbus, Ohio. He was a student at Bethany College, but entered the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II and served in England from 1941-45. Poston was accorded an Air Medal for his efforts on D-Day, and won two other Oak Leaf Medals, gaining an Oak Leaf Cluster in military terms.

After his discharge, he moved to New York and began to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Art. He worked under such teachers as Sanford Meisner and Charles Jehlinger. Soon, he won a part in the Broadway production of "Cyrano de Bergerac," which starred Jose Ferrer.

Poston varied his performances between Broadway and live TV. He soon won a gig as the host of a live daily TV show, "Entertainment." His early TV performances were on a wide array of shows, including "Lights Out," "Studio One," "Goodyear Television Playhouse," "Robert Montgomery Presents" and "The Phil Silvers Show." During this time, he made periodic forays onto the game shows, frequently appearing as a celebrity or mystery guest on such programs as "What's My Line?" and "I've Got a Secret."

However, it was his turns on "The Steve Allen Show" which won him nationwide recognition and led to more starring roles on Broadway. His stage appearances became increasingly frequent, starring and touring in such productions as "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," "Come Blow Your Horn," "Bye, Bye Birdie" and "Fiddler on the Roof," among others.

Poston was married three times: To Jean Sullivan, Kay Hudson and, in 2001, to Suzanne Pleshette, who starred as Newhart's wife on "The Bob Newhart Show." He is survived by Pleshette and three children: Francesca Poston, his daughter from his marriage to Sullivan, and two sons, Hudson Poston and Jason Poston, from his marriage to Hudson.

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NJ.com: Everything Jersey
To the core, he was of the Corps
Thursday, May 10, 2007
A noted Marine died the other day. Brig. Gen. Edwin H. Simmons, 85, died May 5 at home in Alexandria, Va.

Some people considered Simmons the memory of the Marine Corps. He wrote "The United States Marines: A History" in 1974 and it has been reprinted and updated several times. He wrote several books, including a novel in 2001 called "Dog Company Six." He was the director emeritus of Marine Corps History and Museums. He served in the Corps for 53 years 36 in uniform, 17 as a civilian. He served on Guam during World War II. He was part of the Inchon landing and the Chosin Reservoir campaign in Korea. He did two tours of duty in Vietnam.

He was a Marine's Marine.

But he wasn't always a general or a Marine.

Back when he was little Eddie Simmons in Paulsboro, in fact, his mom wanted to make sure he had the right kind of friends, the kind that might make him tougher.

"His mom, Nettie, came to me and said, I don't want him to grow up being a sissy,'" recalled Bob Cassel, who lived across the street from Eddie Simmons on Billings Avenue.

"Back in the '20s and '30s, it was all fields in Billingsport down around 4th," he said.

Bob is 92, which means he was seven years older than Eddie Simmons. Was he that rough-and-tumble a guy, that Nettie Simmons would choose him to help toughen up her son?

"We played ball on the dirt street," he said. Not only were the streets unpaved, but the boys used silver maple trees to mark the bases.

"I was the only one who would play catcher. We didn't have masks, so I'd get hit in the face," said Bob, who now lives in Mantua Township.

"I took him under my wing. We introduced him to everything in the neighborhood."

Bob started to recall some of the things they did as kids, but soon realized he was reciting a list of activities that would be considered dangerous by today's standards.
"Oh, I wouldn't want kids to do that," said Bob.

Bob's sister asked Eddie once what he was going to be when he grew up. Eddie answered, "I'm going to be a policeman."

"Oh, no," said Bob's sister. "I don't want to marry a policeman."

Bob's dad moved out of a duplex in Paulsboro to a whole house in Woodbury for the same rent of $28 a month when Bob was about 14. The boys went their separate ways.

Years later, Bob discovered Simmons was living about a mile from his daughter in Virginia.

"We'd visit (my daughter) and he'd say, Come over,'" said Bob. Wasn't the important general too busy to visit?

No. He even insisted they come visit him the night before Thanksgiving.

"He wanted to talk old times," he said.

Bob said he feels some small sense of pride when he considers what kind of man old Eddie Simmons became.

"He helped MacArthur on the Inchon landings. He started the Marine Museum," said Bob. "He looked up to me because I was an older kid."

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John Goddard
Staff Reporter

A private funeral with military honours is being arranged for World WarI veteran Dwight Wilson, who died at Sunnybrook hospital yesterday at 106.

His passing all but eliminates the possibility of a state funeral for the last surviving Canadian veteran of the conflict, a proposal the House of Commons endorsed unanimously in November.

With Wilson's death, the distinction of being Canada's last living veteran of the Great War belongs to John Babcock of Spokane, Wash.

"That means that I'm it," Babcock told Canadian Press from his home, after expressing his regret at Wilson's death.

Babcock became a U.S. citizen 60 years ago and has made it clear he doesn't want a state funeral in Canada, an honour usually extended only to prime ministers and governors general.

Lloyd Clemett was the most recent World War I veteran to die. He passed away at Sunnybrook in February at the age of 107.

Rudyard Griffiths, executive director of the Dominion Institute, called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to personally offer Babcock a state funeral in light of yesterday's development.

"The important thing is for that offer to be extended," said Griffiths, whose organization pushed for the state funeral idea last fall with a petition of 90,000 signatures.

"We now have one – John Babcock – and we feel the government should be acting," Griffiths said in an interview.

Family members asked for privacy yesterday and declined interviews.

Prime Minister Harper and other politicians expressed condolences to Wilson's family.

"As a nation, we honour his service and mourn his passing," Harper said in a release.

Opposition Leader Stéphane Dion observed that "Mr. Wilson and others of his generation made tremendous sacrifices" for the country.

Toronto Mayor David Miller called Wilson "one of Canada's true heroes" and said flags at city hall and the five civic centres will be flown today at half-mast.

Sunnybrook hospital also lowered its flags to honour Percy "Dwight" Wilson, who moved to its veterans' care wing last June from Cedarcroft Place retirement home in Oshawa.

Hospital nursing staff and residents will miss Wilson for his rich, baritone singing voice that once graced Massey Hall and national radio broadcasts, said media relations officer Sally Fur.

"You could often hear him down in Warrior's Hall ... singing and taking part in daily entertainment programs," she said.

Wilson was born on Feb. 26, 1901, in Vienna, Ont., in Elgin County, one of nine children.

At 14, feeling patriotic and looking for adventure, he trained as a mounted bugler in the militia. The following year, in July 1916 – still three years shy of the legal enlistment age – he joined the 69th Artillery Battery in Toronto.

He trained at Camp Niagara and Camp Petawawa, and shipped out that fall on the RMS Grampian, singing on occasion to his fellow troops.

"I was entertaining the boys," Wilson said in an interview three years ago as he recalled the two-week sea voyage, much of which he spent throwing up. "I just had the urge to be one of the gang."

In England, his age was discovered. For a while, he dug defensive trenches at Dover with the 34th Battalion, a reserve unit. He was sent home in January 1917 and discharged as a minor.

The following year, still underage, he re-enlisted in the 69th Battery but the war ended before he could be shipped overseas again.

"I think that's probably the only time that my dad actually didn't tell the truth," his son Paul once said.

Like Wilson, Babcock also escaped combat because he was underage. By October 1918, the then 18-year-old was awaiting training that would send him to France but Germany's surrender in November ended the war.

Some 650,000 Canadians served in World War I, of which about 66,000 were killed and another 172,000 were wounded.

With the war over, Wilson took a job with Bell Canada, holding numerous positions in several communities and rising to manager of the phone company's Stratford operation. He retired in 1966.

Throughout his life he also sang.

"I love to sing and I'll sing anywhere," he said last November.

He met his wife Eleanor Dean, a singer and pianist, while studying at the Royal Conservatory of Music. They wed in 1927 and remained together until her death in 1993 at 94. They had two sons, Dean and Paul.

When World War II broke out in 1939, Wilson tried to enlist but at 38 was deemed too old. Instead, he joined Stratford's 7th Perth Regiment Reserves, rising to the rank of captain.

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Found this in the Daily Mail today death is part of life and this guy went leaving a smile on everyones face.
The final take-off: WWII ace goes to his grave in a coffin shaped like a Hurricane fighter | the Daily Mail

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Delaware man was with famed general for most of enlistment
By BETH MILLER, The News Journal

Posted Tuesday, May 8, 2007
The Delaware man whose shorthand skills propelled him to a job as Gen. George S. Patton Jr.'s secretary during the controversial general's World War II service died Saturday in the Manhattan home of his caretaker, Sindia Pacheco. He was 92.

Joseph D. Rosevich served as Patton's secretary for 3 1/2 years -- almost his entire Army career. From Feb. 15, 1942, when he was summoned to Patton's office at Fort Benning as a private, until June 3, 1945, Rosevich was within earshot of Patton at almost all times.

He was with the hard-charging general during the invasion of Africa, in Sicily, during his return to England after losing command of the Seventh Army for slapping two soldiers, and during his dash across France and Germany with the Third Army.

But, Rosevich said, the public Patton was quite different than the private Patton. The four-letter words, the pearl-handled guns, the shiny boots, the show of medals -- all were part of Patton's public persona, he told News Journal reporter Tom Malone in 1971.

"Privately, he wasn't like that at all," Rosevich said. "He was a reserved man, I'd almost say a shy man."

And unlike actor George C. Scott, who played the general in the hit movie "Patton," Patton had an alto voice, Rosevich said, unless he was mad. Then it moved into the soprano range.

"It was shrill," Rosevich said. "It carried. I mean, it carried. You could hear it a long way."

Patton promoted Rosevich from private to master sergeant and in Sicily, awarded him the Bronze Star for meritorious service.

Patton could not endure errors -- on the battlefield or in the office. So the letter of commendation he dictated to Rosevich was something of a medal in itself:

"My dear Sgt. Rosevich: You have been my personal secretary since Feb. 15, 1942, and have accompanied me in all my campaigns. Your work has been of very high class, both rapid and accurate. I am sorry that the exigencies of the service cause us to separate and I hereby commend you for the superior performance of duty. Very sincerely, G.S. Patton Jr., General."

When Rosevich typed the letter and returned it to Patton, the general signed it and said, "There you are, sergeant. Perhaps that will be of some help to you in getting a civilian job."

Rosevich was invited to the première of "Patton" the movie.

Rosevich said he wanted to tell Scott, "You played Patton better than Patton could have played Patton."

Rosevich told The News Journal he was in Germany helping refugees from Nazi death camps when he heard Patton had been killed in a car accident.

A Delaware native, Rosevich graduated from Wilmington High School and the University of Delaware. He took shorthand and typing at Goldey College, and later earned his master's degree at Teachers College of Columbia University. He taught at Surrattsville High School in Preston, Md., until World War II.

"He always made my sister and I feel really special," said his niece, Sharon Rosevich, of Wilmington. "He took interest in everything we did. Everybody who met him just loved him."

In addition to his niece, Sharon, Rosevich is survived by a sister-in-law, Geraldine Rosevich, of Brandywine Hundred; niece Judy Curtis of Houston, Texas, and other relatives.

Rosevich's family was among the founders of the small, orthodox Jewish synagogue Machzikey Hadas, said Alan Schoenberg of Schoenberg Memorial Chapel.

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Brooks died at 85 died in London.

He parachuted into France in July 1942, to aid the French resistance. Before he was 21, he had been awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Sabotage by his network of resistance fighters had brought railway transit to a stop in southern France after D-Day in June 1944. General Eisenhower wrote letters commending the effort.

Brooks' circuit was called Pimento, and his own code name was Alphonse. He had been raised in France and Switzerland, and spoke French with complete fluency. He remarked at one point that he had used one of his fake identities to vote in postwar French elections.

In 1945 he learned that his father had himself flown clandestine missions in World War One.

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