The Memorial Wall

He worked on several other soap operas and was a familiar face in commercials for Marlboro, Old Spice, and Camel cigarettes.

Geoffrey Scott, who portrayed tennis pro, Mark Jennings, the first husband of Linda Evans' Krystle Carrington, on the 1980s ABC primetime soap Dynasty, has died. He was 79.

Scott died of Parkinson's disease on Feb. 23 — just after midnight on the day after his birthday — in Broomfield, Colorado, his wife, Cheri Catherine Scott, told The Hollywood Reporter.

The handsome Scott also played a U.S. marshal fighting aliens in 1880s Wyoming on "The Secret Empire" portion of 1979 NBC series Cliffhangers!; starred alongside Jerry Reed on the 1981 CBS series Concrete Cowboys (he stepped into the role originated by Tom Selleck in a TV movie on which the show was based), and was a quarterback on the 1984-85 HBO sitcom 1st & Ten.

On daytime soap operas, Scott portrayed publisher Sky Rumson on ABC's Dark Shadows in 1970, Jeffrey Jordan on CBS' Where the Heart Is in 1972, David McAllister on ABC's General Hospital in 1989, and Billy Lewis on CBS' Guiding Light in 1994.

And in commercials — he did nearly 100 of them — he played a Marlboro man as well as a sailor pitching Old Spice antiperspirant, "walked a mile for a Camel" in a cigarette campaign shot at the Taj Mahal, and starred with Margaret Hamilton in spots for Maxwell House coffee.

Scott joined Dynasty near the start of its third season in 1982 and worked on the fabled show for two years, appearing in 45 episodes. His character is brought to Denver by the conniving Alexis Colby (Joan Collins) after she learns that Mark and Krystle's divorce years earlier wasn't legal.

Later, Mark saves Krystle and Alexis from a fire, becomes Alexis' bodyguard, and is pushed off a terrace to his death, with Alexis emerging as the prime suspect.

Scott was born in Los Angeles on Feb. 22, 1942. His father, Reed, worked as a manager at Lockheed producing planes, and his mother, Jayne, was a housewife.

He and his brother Don, later a lawyer at Universal, were raised in the San Fernando Valley on the same street that John Wayne and Clark Gable lived, and he often jumped into Gable's pool uninvited.

Scott was signed by legendary agent Dick Clayton, who would also rep the likes of Jane Fonda, James Dean, and Burt Reynolds, and he got a deal at Universal.

Scott also appeared in Sidney Lumet's The Morning After (1986) and on such shows as Adam-12, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, Kojak, Dallas, Matt Houston, Night Court, Married … With Children, and Murphy Brown.

His wife said he and Selleck often competed for roles.

Scott retired after 45 years in show business and moved to Colorado with his family to pursue skiing, his lifelong passion. He had lived in the Boulder area for the past 10 years.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by twin sons Christopher and Matthew.

Bryce Nelson, a former Los Angeles Times reporter and a longtime professor at USC’s journalism school, where he served as director in the 1980s, died Saturday of complications from Parkinson’s disease, his family said. He was 84.

After stints at the Washington Post, where he reported on Congress and foreign affairs, and Science magazine, Nelson joined the Los Angeles Times in 1969. Over the next 13 years, he served as a Washington correspondent and as Midwest bureau chief, covering the nuclear disaster at Three Mile Island, the Attica prison riot and the uprising at Wounded Knee, among other stories. He then joined the science staff of the New York Times, reporting on human behavior.

A long academic career followed. He was director of USC’s School of Journalism from 1984 to 1988, served as chair of the school’s graduate studies from 1993 to 1997 and remained a professor there until his retirement in 2014.

“Bryce had a very strong moral center,” said Joe Saltzman, a USC journalism professor and former colleague. “He wasn’t swayed by trends. He wasn’t swayed by what’s popular today.” He described Nelson as a champion of “old-fashioned values of accuracy, fairness and transparency.”

Nelson was known to students for giving generously of his time.

“You give me a list of professors who are fantastic with students, he’d be on that list,” Saltzman said. “He never said, ‘I’m busy.’ He said, ‘Come on in, let’s talk.’ He would spend literally hours with his students, where few of his colleagues would.”

Nelson was born Dec. 16, 1937, in Reno, Nev., to Herman and Jennie Nelson. He graduated from Harvard, where he was president of the student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, and later earned a master of philosophy degree in politics from Oxford as a Rhodes scholar. For years, he encouraged USC students to apply to the scholarship program.

Nelson served as senior advisor for press information for the Christopher Commission, which investigated the Los Angeles Police Department after the beating of Rodney King.

When the commission issued its report in 1991, Nelson had copies distributed to journalists with the proviso that they wait two hours to share it with the public — a method known as an “embargo.”

“He trusted that everybody would abide by it, and we all did, except for one TV reporter,” said Judy Muller, a former ABC news correspondent and later one of Nelson’s colleagues at USC.

“I remember he was so appalled that somebody would do that after he’d worked so hard to get an agreement that was fair to everybody,” she said. “Bryce just looked crestfallen. It was the only time I’d ever seen him express anger about something.”

She said Nelson was a print journalist through and through, coming of age in the decades before student reporters were learning to tweet in the field.

“He was definitely from another era,” she said. “He had this really high sense of the integrity of the profession that had to be adhered to, whether you were tweeting or writing a long piece in the New York Times. That was the bottom line for him.”

After he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, which curtailed his mobility, he came by Muller’s office at USC and asked her when she planned to retire.

“He said, ‘Don’t wait too long, because I thought I’d have all this time to travel and do all the things I wanted to do, and now I can’t,’” Muller said.

Nelson was a go-to source when reporters wanted a quote on journalistic ethics or the state of the news industry.

In 1995, Nelson blasted CBS News for being on a “quest for gossipy journalism” after interviewer Connie Chung coaxed Newt Gingrich’s mother into a nasty remark about Hillary Clinton.

In a 1996 Tampa Tribune story about Time magazine’s Most Influential People list, Nelson lamented the rise of “sales-oriented journalism” that crowded out “more important, serious journalism.”

In a 2005 Daily Trojan story about left-leaning political bias among college journalism teachers, Nelson said ideology was irrelevant in his classroom, and he taught students to keep their personal feelings out of their reportage.

“Journalists try to view things as dispassionately and nonpartisan as possible,” he said. “Journalism professors follow a professional model. People aren’t closely identified with a political party, and if they are, as journalists, they tend to be suspect.”

Nelson rarely turned away interview requests, and his years as a reporter gave him a sense of what journalists needed.

“He wouldn’t give flip, quick answers just to get a journalist off the phone,” Saltzman said. “He didn’t mind silence. So if a reporter asked him a question, there might be a long pause on the other end. He would very carefully give a measured, thoughtful answer, which is rare.”

Nelson was married to Martha Streiff Nelson, a children’s therapist, for 41 years before her death in 2002. His daughter, Kristin Nelson Winton, died in 2015.

“Bryce was a beautiful man,” said his second wife, Mary Shipp Bartlett, of Pasadena. “He did everything with grace, even his exit from the world.”

Nelson is survived by Bartlett; his son, Matthew Nelson, of Richardson, Texas; granddaughter Anneka Winton of Bend, Ore.; and two brothers.

Husband. Farmer. Father. Agricultural Leader. 

On February 7th Gordon Graham passed away peacefully in Cochrane, Alberta. His devoted wife Pat and members of his family were with him as he moved on. A farmer from Newdale, Manitoba, Gordon was a leader in the agricultural community. A graduate of the University of Manitoba's Agriculture Diploma program, he met Patricia Fall, the love his life, while attending university. Gordon was constantly looking for ways to add value to agricultural production leading him to become a seed grower and run a successful seed plant in addition to farming. He vigorously supported the introduction of rapeseed and its transformation into modern canola as a free enterprise option for farmers looking to diversify their marketing options. Always an advocate for producers, he was the first farmer to become Chairman of the Canola Council of Canada in 1975 through 1977. Gordon's unswerving support for the canola industry was recognized with a lifetime membership to the Canola Council of Canada in 1998 and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. After Gordon and Patricia retired and sold their farm they started on a new adventure. In their full sized RV they toured all over North America, wintered in Florida and built a new house in Cochrane. It is truly said that Gordon was never happier when he was on the road heading for a new destination. Gordon had a quick sense of humour and a willingness to tease and be teased. He will be remembered for his devotion to family and his love of dogs, especially his favourite four-legged companion Kelly. Gordon will be sorely missed by Patricia and the extended family, son Perry Graham, daughter-in-law Louise Lefebvre, daughter Nancy, her husband Don Marks, and five grandchildren Morgan, Tom, Trish, Derek and Emma. We all wish him open roads and a clear sky as he heads for his latest destination. A special thank you is extended from the family to the caring and compassionate staff at Bethany Cochrane for their care of Gordon during his illness. 
Condolences may be forwarded through Cochrane Country Funeral Home at www.cochranecountryfuneralhome.com ph: 403-932-1039.
A memorial service is planned in Brandon, Manitoba in June.

His wife and warm water therapy advocate, Pat Graham, has since passed. You can read her story on the Memorial Wall. 

Percy Schmeiser, farmer known for fight against Monsanto, dead at 89. Schmeiser is remembered by his son as a dedicated father who loved taking his grandchildren fishing. Schmeiser, who had Parkinson's disease, is survived by his wife, Louise Schmeiser. 

John Schmeiser told CBC News his father died peacefully in his sleep Tuesday afternoon at the age of 89. Schmeiser had Parkinson's disease.

The Saskatchewan farmer became famous in the late 1990s after agrochemical giant Monsanto took him to court. The company had found its genetically modified canola in Schmeiser's field, but he had never paid for the right to grow it. Schmeiser insisted the seeds had blown onto his field in the wind and that he owned them. Monsanto sued him, and in the end, the case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the farmer had knowingly violated Monsanto's patent. 

As the world media descends on Percy Schmeiser and his battle with Monsanto, neighbours and scientists question the validity of his defence. Schmeiser's son John said the court case was only one part of his life, as it happened when Schmeiser was getting ready to retire. John said he'll remember Percy as a dedicated father, grandfather and businessman. 

"I am privileged to this day to be his son," John said. "Growing up, it was very, very evident right from the beginning about how concerned he was about his community and his family." Schmeiser served on town council in Bruno, Sask., for several years, both as mayor and as a councillor. He also ran a couple of businesses and ran a farm, John said. "We were always busy," John said. "And he always made time to be with family. And when grandchildren started to rise, it just took it to another level for him because he had more children to be around."

Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser’s battle with Monsanto, which went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, has been turned into a Hollywood movie called Percy. Although the movie is endorsed by Schmeiser’s family, there are concerns about its accuracy. Zakreski saw the movie at the Calgary Film Festival with Schmeiser's son, John, and said it was a strange and surreal experience. Though he said the film got more things right than wrong, there were some aspects where the director took artistic license. "The trial was a lot more intense and a lot more dramatic than it was portrayed," he said. "It took place in Saskatoon on a larger scale and it drew an incredible amount of interest. There were media scrums going into and out of court. It was a very high pressure situation."

"He was just an extraordinary person. I haven't met someone like him … an example for us all."

John said memories about his father that stand out are his passion for fishing and sharing his skills. "He would go to great lengths to take his grandchildren, when they were four, five, six years old, he would take them fishing. And he just loved doing that," John said. "For all of us, that was a very, very special thing and it was so important to him." Schmeiser would be filled with pride when he saw his grandchildren catch their first fish, John said. "I don't know who had a bigger smile, [Schmeiser] or one of his grandchildren," John said. "For him, that was just an incredible sense of accomplishment, to see them catch fish."

John said he hopes his father is remembered as that dedicated grandfather, passionate fisher and someone who would do anything to see his community succeed. Schmeiser would be there for his customers at the farm equipment dealership at any time, and even in retirement watched the weather to make sure they had a good harvest, John said. 

Schmeiser is survived by his wife Louise. The two had just had their 68th wedding anniversary on Oct. 2. John said they met at a dance in Bruno, Sask., and lived there their entire lives. Now, Bruno is home for him and his siblings forever, he said. 

In a video recorded in September 2020, the Schmeisers thanked people for their support through the legal battle and for the opportunity to have their story told in a recently released movie called Percy. (Mongrel Media/Vimeo)

Source: Saskatchewan

Eugene E. Loya, age 83, resident of Lake Shore, passed away on Thursday, September 3, 2020 at Good Samaritan Society – Bethany. Gene was born on June 6, 1937 in Brainerd to Ernest and Elsie (Kruger) Loya.

Gene graduated from Brainerd High School and was on the basketball state championship team of 1954. After graduation, he attended the University of Minnesota where he earned his Doctorate in Dental Medicine. After school, he joined the Air Force and was stationed in Tinker Air Force base in Del City, Oklahoma. Eventually, Gene opened his own dental practice in Minneapolis which was later relocated to Nisswa. He was an avid fisherman until he found his true passion in golf. Him and his wife, Patricia, were longtime golf members at Madden’s. His children will miss him and remember him as a fun, yet always a practical father.

He is survived by his children, Kristi (Don) Nelson, Greg (Denise), Brad (Heather); grandchildren, Tyler and Brett Nelson, Kelly (Derek) Jackson, Blake Loya, and Caitlyn and Makenna Loya; great-grandson, Owen Jackson; sister, Darlene Bolme; sister-in-law, Karen (Roger) Johnson; and many nieces and nephews.

He is preceded in death by his parents; his wife of 61 years, Patricia (Marttila) Loya; brothers-in-law, Robert Marttila and Jeff Bolme; and sister-in-law, Jackie Marttila.

Eugene Loya lived with Parkinson's disease