This is for myself… others have passed away that were great people this year.
1. Neil Armstrong – Neil Armstrong, who made the “giant leap for mankind” as the first human to set foot on the moon. My mother sat me in front of the television in 1969 and told me to watch, “This is History being made”.
2. Andy Griffith – Andy Taylor, the small-town sheriff of the fictional Mayberry, N.C., in the long-running situation comedy “The Andy Griffith Show.” Great comedian and I laughed many a time with him.
3. Earl Scruggs – With his guitar-strumming partner, Lester Flatt, Mr. Scruggs reached his widest audiences with “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” — it was the getaway music in the 1967 film “Bonnie and Clyde” — and “The Ballad of Jed Clampett,” the theme song of the 1960s television sitcom “The Beverly Hillbillies.” – I have a couple of his albums
4. Don Cornelius – created the dance show “Soul Train,” one of the longest-running syndicated shows in television history. – Watched this many a day!
5. Davy Jones – the handsomest and most popular of the Monkees. The Monkees is one of the first shows I ever remember watching.
6. Sherman Hemsley – George Jefferson on the hit CBS sitcom “The Jeffersons” Many laughs from Sherman… Rest In Peace. A true classic sitcom.
7. Stephen Covey – The author became a household name with “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” I’ve learned a lot from him.
8. Mike Wallace – CBS reporter Mike Wallace was one of America’s best-known broadcast journalists as an interrogator of the famous and infamous on “60 Minutes.
9. Etta James – her powerful, versatile and emotionally direct voice, could enliven the raunchiest blues as well as the subtlest love songs. Awesome voice in a singer.
10. Jack Klugman – Oscar Madison on “The Odd Couple” and as the crusading forensic pathologist of “Quincy, M.E.,” I used to sneak out of bed and me and my mother would watch “Quincy” every week.
R.I.P. to ALL!