The Memorial Wall

Golden Richards, the former Dallas Cowboys receiver known for his flowing blond hair who famously caught a touchdown pass off a gadget play in the 1978 Super Bowl, died Friday of congestive heart failure at his home in Murray. He was 73.

Richards' nephew, Lance Richards, confirmed the death in a Facebook post.

“My uncle Golden passed away peacefully this morning,” Lance Richards wrote. “I will forever remember going hunting and talking Dallas Cowboy football. He was a kind and sweet soul and I’m so happy he’s not suffering anymore.”

The former BYU star spent seven seasons in the NFL with Dallas, Chicago and Denver, and is best known for his five-plus seasons as a deep-play threat with the Cowboys. He twice averaged more than 21 yards per catch, finishing his time in Dallas with an 18.3 career mark.

That was especially evident in the 1978 Super Bowl against Denver. With the Cowboys ahead 20-10 in the fourth quarter, fullback Robert Newhouse threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Richards, who got behind the defense to all but assure the Cowboys of their second championship.

Richards finished his career with 122 receptions for 2,136 yards and 17 TDs before injuries prompted him to retire in 1980.

A Salt Lake City native, he starred at Granite High School, then at nearby BYU, where he was a receiver and punt returner, leading the nation as a junior with four returns for TDs.

Richards played his final college season at Hawaii, catching 23 passes for 414 yards and five touchdowns. That caught the eye of the Cowboys, who drafted him in the second round in 1973.

The Deseret News said Richards struggled with health problems and drug addiction after retiring, but was sober over his final 10 years.

“Seven or eight years of wear and tear on the football field for a 175-pound wide receiver who was concussed several times, too,” brother Doug Richards, a former BYU basketball player, told the newspaper. “That obviously took its toll.”

Richards was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2011 and lived with adult sons Goldie Jr. and Jordan in his later years. Doug Richards said his brother broke his hip on Christmas in 2022 and had four hip surgeries.

“He has left us and gone to a better place,” Doug Richards said. “He fought pretty good there to the end, until it was his time.”

Michael Joseph Appaneal, beloved life partner of Ann Lindsey, passed away Tuesday, February 20, 2024. He was 78 years old. Michael died of Parkinson's Disease at the Newton Wellesley Hospital. He lived in Newton, MA most of his adult life.

Michael leaves Ann, his two sons, Mike of West Chester, PA, and Craig of Canberra, Australia, and their families. He also leave Ann's sons, Gene of Coconut Grove, FL, and Bruce of Albuquerque, NM and their families, and Ann's brother, Jim of Surfside Beach, SC and his family.

Michael grew up in Norwalk, Connecticut and was a graduate in mechanical engineering from Northeastern University. Before he studied engineering, he earned a degree in metallurgy. One of proudest achievements was that he worked in a lab in Norwalk where his team created an adhesive that helped make the moon landing of 1969 possible. Michael entered the computer technology industry early on and spent most of his working life in that industry.

Michael was a loving, kind, caring, and sensitive man. He enjoyed creating things whether they had to do with the world of computers or with the planting of flowers that would bloom in the spring, summer, and early fall. He enjoyed playing his guitar, his friends and neighbors, his pet dogs over the years, and all variety of home projects. He will be greatly missed by those who knew and loved him.

William "Lee" Heidel of Golden Valley passed away on February 19, 2024, he was 80 years old. He died from complications of Parkinson's disease, after being diagnosed 11 years ago. He was preceded in death by his parents, Thelma and William Heidel, and daughter Laurie Dolan.

He attended North Judson Indiana High School and later went into the Army and was recruited to be in the military police. He attended Ball State University, in Indiana, majoring in accounting.

Lee, as he liked his friends to call him, was a mortgage banker for over 30 years. He started his own mortgage company in his garage in San Diego, CA with a friend called Banc Smith's Mortgage. After several years, he left California for New York, where he ran the mortgage division at Chase Home Mortgage, part of Chase Manhattan Bank in New York. He later moved back to Los Angeles, where he was the CFO of Beverly Hills Securities where he met his wife, Cheri, who was a mortgage loan officer at the time. He later ran the Mortgage operations at Ohio Savings Bank in Cleveland, one of the largest banks in Ohio. Later they moved to Richmond, VA where he ran the mortgage company at Sun Trust Bank. Everyone respected him for the way he treated his employees, and how he handled business. He was sought after as a speaker and panel member at various conferences and had articles and his picture in many mortgage publications. After retiring Lee and his wife Cheri moved to Golden Valley, MN from Baltimore, MD. He loved to travel, especially to see the grandkids. His team was the Cubs, and he also loved the Ravens (unless the Colts were playing!). His friends and family will remember that if you put him in a room with a Coke and some Peanut M and M's, he will be happy.

Survived by wife, Cheri Heidel; children, Marnie Neese (Brad), Kevin Heidel (Krista), Joe Dolan (Sara); grandchildren, Miles and Ware Smith, Eli and Sammy Dolan, Raven Long (David), Graham Smith; siblings, Pat Liskey (Harold) Mike Heidel, Jack Heidel, sister-in-law Barb Ritzen, brother-in-law Larry Sperling (Nancy)

Geoffrey Michaels, 79, of Collingswood, celebrated violin prodigy and longtime violin, viola, and chamber music teacher, died Saturday, Feb. 17, of complications from Parkinson’s disease at the Samaritan Center in Voorhees.

Mr. Michaels first tucked a violin under his chin when he was 5 in his hometown of Perth, Australia. At 14, he was the youngest winner ever of the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s concerto competition, and he toured the country afterward as a dazzling new soloist and with prestigious quartets and orchestras.

At 16, he was invited to the Curtis Institute of Music, and he studied violin with Curtis director Efrem Zimbalist, and violin and viola with Philadelphia legend Oscar Shumsky. He was quickly recruited into the renowned Curtis Quartet and later cofounded his own Liebesfreud Quartet, which released Selected Shorts in 2009 and played more than 100 concerts over 15 years.

He also played with other notable ensembles around Philadelphia and in Australia, Canada, New Jersey, New York, and elsewhere. Liebesfreud cofounder Philip Kates said in a tribute that Mr. Michaels was an exacting colleague who displayed “integrity with regard to his approach to the music’s preparation.” He said Mr. Michaels’ “prowess on his instrument, depth of knowledge of the music, and demeanor during rehearsals established rigorous standards.”

He won Philadelphia’s Emma Feldman Memorial Competition in 1970 and was a finalist at international events in Paris, Moscow, Brussels, Montreal, and elsewhere. A colleague said: “His inspired playing and thoughtful approach to music-making led to an enduring transformation in my perspective.” Mr. Michaels’ wife, Beverly, said: “He was an artist in service of the music.”

As a soloist, Mr. Michaels played venerable pieces across North America, Europe, and Australia. He appeared at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, and Kennedy Center in Washington. His performance in the U.S. premiere of Alfred Schnittke’s famous concerto grosso was broadcast live in the United States and what was the Soviet Union in the late 1970s.

“I think of Mr. Michaels every single time I play my violin, and I will always hear his voice in my head.”

One of Mr. Michaels' former students

Inquirer music critic Daniel Webster reviewed Mr. Michaels’ 1971 debut at the Academy of Music and said he showed “the security and polish of an able young artist.” Michael Upchurch of the Seattle Times reviewed a 1991 performance at the Seattle Spring Festival of Contemporary Music and called Mr. Michaels “superb” and “deserving special praise.”

Mr. Michaels earned a diploma at Curtis and, in addition to touring and playing locally at events and private parties, taught violin, viola, and chamber music for years at Princeton, Temple, and Florida State Universities; Swarthmore and Haverford Colleges; the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada; and elsewhere. Former students said in tributes that he had a “self-effacing dedication to the music” and was funny, inspirational, and generous with his time.

He also participated in community outreach music programs and told the New York Times in 1986: “I feel that I am no use as a teacher unless I am consistently engaged in the business of actually playing. Almost everything I have to say is based on my own experience with the instrument.”

His wife said: “Music was like a religion to him. Teaching was like passing on a craft.”

Geoffrey Michaels was born June 19, 1944. He attended Perth Modern School in Australia, led its orchestra in musical productions, and served as secretary of the school’s music society in 1960.

He married childhood friend Patricia Walmsley, and they divorced later. He met Beverly McCoy at a music camp, and they married in 1978, and had daughters Julia, Annika, and Carolyn. They lived in Cherry Hill at first, moved to Vancouver for six years when he taught there, and then to Radnor and Collingswood in 2004.

Mr. Michaels played tennis and chess, and was thrilled when the Phillies won the World Series in 2008. He and others performed on the field before a Phillies game in 2017, and the Phanatic grabbed his violin and pretended to play it.

He followed politics and current events, and likely read every spy novel by John le Carre. Friends said he could be a perfectionist but rarely a self-promoter. He was a hands-on parent by all accounts.

His daughter Annika said Mr. Michaels had a gift for “seeing the deep elegance and complexity in things we otherwise might take for granted.” Honoring him, she said, was to recognize “the passion in the way the people we care about live their lives and how that enriches our own lives.”

In addition to his wife, daughters, and former wife, Mr. Michaels is survived by three grandchildren, a sister, and other relatives.

Raymond “Ray” Elmore Semrow passed away from Parkinson’s on February 15, 2024, in Waukesha. Ray was born in Vernon, WI on March 6, 1941, to Elmore and Clara Semrow.

Ray is survived by his two daughters, Michele (Wakeen) Brown of Anchor Point, AK, and JoDee Semrow of Albuquerque, N.M. He is also survived by his ex-wife, Audrey Semrow of Albuquerque, N.M. He was a proud grandfather of four grandchildren, Nicholas (Katie) Chapman and Mikhayla Chapman of Wasilla, AK; Logan Glenn(LaVan) of Palmer, AK; and Ethan Chapman of Bozeman, MT. He also loved his four great-grandchildren, Ryder Chapman, Lily Chapman, Dawson Chapman and Avi Glenn. He is further survived by his two brothers Robert Semrow and Alfred (Gloria) Semrow as well as his brother-in-law Richard Willgrubs. He is also survived by several nieces and nephews who were very special to him.

Ray was preceded in death by his father, Elmore; mother, Clara; stepfather, Joe Miller; sisters Joyce(Jim) Olson and Mary Semrow; sister-in-law Nadeane Semrow; nephew Rick Semrow; and niece Heidi Werginz.

Ray served in the U.S. Navy from 1961-1965 on the USS-WASP and received an honorable discharge. Ray went on to work at Cooper Power Systems in Waukesha for over 25 years. He was also a volunteer firefighter for many years at Big Bend Vernon Fire Department and was a faithful member of the Catholic Church in Big Bend. Some of the things he liked to do were: bowling, playing sheepshead, gambling at the casinos, and playing pool. He was a wonderful father, always willing to pick up a pool cue, ping pong paddle or softball and playing games with his daughters. He also enjoyed traveling to Alaska to play with his grandkids.

Thomas Boyd didn’t learn how to read until he was in Lufkin High School in 1948. It was then his teachers found out he had dyslexia. Due to this, Tom, as friends and family called him, grew to love playing outside rather than staying at school.

Seeing he wasn’t learning very much, his mother read to him and taught him about language through poetry and storytelling. 

“This was the (academic) secret to Tom Boyd. His inability to read until he was in high school forced him into memorizing,” Barbara Boyd, Tom’s wife, said. “Then he became a master storyteller.”

Later on, Tom became an OU philosophy and religious studies professor, a public speaker, writer, preacher and a very well-loved member of the OU community.

On Feb. 13, Tom died from Parkinson’s disease at the age of 90. A memorial service is scheduled for March 23 at the First Presbyterian Church in Norman, a place where he and his wife used to preach.

Family members and colleagues reflect on Tom’s life and the many achievements he accomplished. A loving father, an affectionate husband and an esteemed colleague who never stopped caring for others.

Tom had a very positive childhood, Barbara said. He had a special relationship with his parents and was close to his two brothers. 

“This family was so full of laughter,” Barbara said. “They laughed and told stories. They would fall on the floor and roll.”

His family lived in Nashville, Tennessee, until Tom was 13. He moved to Texas for a year to live with his grandparents while his dad built a house in Lufkin, Texas, where he would live until he went to college.

At the age of 15, Tom started preaching. Raised in a Nazarene household, Tom was always drawn to religion and philosophy. 

While the Nazarene religion prevented him from doing activities such as going to the movie theater or playing games like dominoes, Barbara said this environment never affected Tom.

“I asked him if that scarred him many times,” Barbara said. “The reason why it never scarred him to be reared in such a conservative environment was because his parents were so loving, … (their) world was full of bike rides and picnics.”

After graduating high school in 1956, Tom moved to Oklahoma to attend Bethany Nazarene College, now known as Southern Nazarene University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1960 and later his master's at OU in 1962.

After getting his master's, Tom was part of a one-year philosophy fellowship at Yale University, which Barbara said changed his view of religion. Having been raised with more conservative views, Barbara said, after attending Yale, Tom began to call himself a “bleeding heart liberal.”

At Yale, Barbara said he was put in the hands of some of the world’s best philosophers, which turned his world upside down as he questioned a lot of his own beliefs. 

“(Tom) began to behave very differently and think very differently,” Barbara said. “During that time, he realized he could no longer be a Nazarene.” 

As a very religious man, Tom began to look into a more open-minded and liberal denomination and chose the Presbyterian religion.

After his fellowship at Yale, Tom attended Vanderbilt University and got his doctorate in philosophy of religion in 1973. He also became ordained as a Presbyterian at Vanderbilt.

Tom started teaching philosophy at OU in 1969, while he was still working on his dissertation for his doctorate.

As Tom was used to public speaking due to his preaching, Katrina Boyd, Tom’s daughter and a film and media studies professor at OU, said his philosophy classes were very popular and dynamic. As time passed, the number of students kept increasing in his classes to eventually having 400 students in his Introduction to Philosophy course.

Tom first married in 1955 to Beverly Walker and divorced in 1975. They had two children, Katrina and Timothy “Kyle” Boyd.

Growing up, Katrina said Tom was very popular among students who would always come up and talk to him. 

“I’m a professor now. Students will come up and say, ‘I had your class, I enjoyed it.’ But with my dad, they’d come up (hold out their hand) and say ‘Dr. Boyd, you’ve changed my life,'” Katrina said.

When she was a kid, Katrina said Tom was a movie fanatic and would take her to the movie theater every Friday night. 

“My dad grew up very strictly in the Nazarene church and was not allowed to go see movies at all. He didn't see his first movie until graduate school (when) he was in his 20s,” Katrina said. “My parents had been so censored that they didn't censor us very much.”

Because Tom was a philosophy professor at the time, Katrina said Tom would find any interesting detail about the movie they watched on Fridays and use it for his lectures to keep his students engaged with the class.

Tom could talk about anything in his lectures and keep his students engaged. Barbara said Tom’s classes were casual and he made an impression on everyone, often teaching in a pair of blue jeans, a jean jacket and bingo boots.

Barbara and Tom's relationship started in the summer of 1979 when the two saw each other during a 4th of July party, which also happened to be Tom’s birthday, something that Barbara didn’t know at the time. 

“We ended up in a conversation. I was supposed to be the host of this party. It was between 11 (p.m.) and midnight when I looked up and there was nobody left from the party,” Barbara said. “Everybody was gone. I never even knew when they left because Tom and I were so engrossed in this conversation. … That was the beginning”

The couple married in May 1980 and were married for 44 years. 

Barbara said they had a very happy marriage. The couple would go on hiking and backpacking trips during the summers and talk to each other for hours, always in the company of each other. Barbara said those were some of the things that made their marriage stronger.

“A lot of people over the years say, ‘How are you and Tom doing this? What makes y’all able to click like that?’ And it is talking,” Barbara said. “I think that's what built such a strong marriage because we could just talk about everything, and we did. We had all the romance and all the love.”

Barbara said they decided to not have kids because she and Tom each had two kids from their previous marriages. This didn’t affect them or their family dynamic, she said, as the couple treated all four as their own.

Katrina said she and Tom had a great relationship. Even though her parents divorced when she was nine, Katrina said she would visit Tom and Barbara during the summers or throughout the year via train or airplane. She said she immediately felt a part of their renewed family. 

After working in the department of philosophy for 29 years, Tom decided to retire in 1996 when Barbara was offered a position as a head of staff pastor at a church in Aurora, Colorado.

The couple lived in Colorado for five years and moved to New Mexico for another year.

In 2002, then OU President David Boren, called the couple to come back and help develop the university’s religious studies program, with Barbara as the director of outreach and Tom lecturing and attracting students to the program.

“Tom and Barbara were kind of the godparents,” Thomas Burns, OU sociology professor and family friend, said. 

Burns met Tom at a faculty meeting in fall 2002. During that meeting, Burns said there was a disagreement among several of the members, but realized he and Tom were on the same side and shared the same points.

“I just felt his spirit and his energy and I thought, ‘Who is this guy?’” Burns said. “I stuck around after the meeting and introduced myself, and we started talking and getting acquainted for probably two hours.”

The two started what would be a very long and beautiful friendship. Over the years, Burns and Tom wrote several academic articles together and saw each other regularly until becoming best friends. 

Burns said Tom’s classes were very popular and saw how he acted as a mentor for several of his students. He said he was one of the most prepared and engaging professors he has seen. 

During his teaching career, Tom received nine teaching awards, including the Oklahoma Award for Teaching Excellence in 1996 and the David Ross Boyd Professor Emeritus of Philosophy. Tom wrote several articles and book chapters where he focused on religion and culture, including his book “Lusting for Infinity” in 2015 and “Where Wild Rivers Meet,” a fiction novel he co-authored with Barbara in 2020.

Tom also participated in the 2013 TEDxOU and the 2016 “Last Lecture” series, in which OU community leaders had the opportunity to reflect on their life lessons.

During this time, Tom preached at the First Baptist, First Christian, First Presbyterian and Memorial Presbyterian churches in Norman and almost all ministries on campus. He also preached in other states such as Arkansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Hawaii and many others.

Burns said he attended Tom's sermons several times and pointed out the emotions Tom brought to preaching.

Barbara said he was a very active, passionate and well-delivered preacher.

“Tom was a giant personality. When he preached, he made you cry, he made you laugh, he made you think. You walked out with a moral lesson, there was no sermon he ever delivered that didn’t have a moral lesson in it,” Barbara said.

Tom and Barbara worked in the religious studies program for 11 years and retired in 2013 when they were 80 and 67, respectively. The couple moved to New Mexico where they lived for five years, before Tom’s Parkinson’s disease progressed.

“I'm glad that I made that decision because, if I kept on working, by the time I retired, Tom would have already been sick and we wouldn't have ever had those years to ourselves out our beloved mountains,” Barbara said. “I'm grateful it worked out that way.”

Barbara said Tom started showing small symptoms when he was in his 60s, but the couple didn’t pay attention to it until he was in his 70s, when they decided to get him a neurologist.

Barbara said they saw four different neurologists from his 70s to his 90s and his Parkinson's remained undiagnosed.

The couple kept backpacking and hiking, and while Tom still showed symptoms like vertigo or tremors, Barbara said she thinks the physical activity helped him as a form of physical therapy for the disease they didn’t know he had.

It wasn’t until, at 88, Tom went to the hospital for aspiration pneumonia and a bowel blockage that he was finally diagnosed and told he was in the fifth, and last, stage of Parkinson’s disease. 

The couple then decided to go back to Norman, where Katrina and all of his friends were.

Barbara said she always tried for him to keep doing physical activities and made sure he kept moving.

“We've got bicycles, and then he took a bad fall. So we got rid of those bicycles and got those recumbent bikes. We rode recumbent bikes for a couple of years,” Barbara said. “We had to quit backpacking. So what do we do? We started walking trails. Then when he began to stumble on trails, we stopped that and we found trails that were paved, and we just kept walking.

“Even when we moved here in Norman, … we would walk in this neighborhood and he literally pushed his walker around this block as long as he could, and then he just couldn’t do that.”

Barbara said even on the days he wasn’t feeling well, Tom kept trying to get out of bed and participating with his family and friends. 

Barbara said Burns went to their house every Sunday and visited Tom, where the pair would talk for hours. She said the two had a true friendship and considered them soul brothers.

After two-and-a-half years, Tom died on Feb. 13 after he contracted pneumonia. Barbara said it was their positive attitude and desire to keep living that gave him a long and very happy life.

“He was very loving, kind and generous with people,” Katrina said. “He would sit down and talk to anyone who approached him and give them his full attention.

Burns said he would love people to remember Tom as a peaceful warrior who brought out the best in people and knew how to find goodness in anyone he met. 

Tom's greatest achievement, Barbara said, was the legacy he left in the hearts of all the students, friends and audiences who got to meet him. It was his uniqueness and the love trail he had left behind.  

“He was probably the most engaging, warm, authentic human being that I've ever known. Most folks say that's their experience of Tom,” Barbara said. “It didn't matter their religion. It didn't matter their color. It didn't matter their gender preference. He counseled a lot of students when he was a professor. Why? They always knew that they could go to Dr. Tom Boyd."

Tom is survived by his wife, Barbara; his two children, Kyle and Katrina; his two stepdaughters, Heather Ford and Jennifer Pool; and his eight grandchildren. 

Larry Kripke, founder of aluminum brokerage firm Kripke Enterprises Inc. (KEI), Toledo, Ohio, died this morning at the age of 80 after battling Parkinson's disease.

In an email shared by the company about his death, KEI describes Kripke as “not only a visionary in our industry but also a cherished husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend,” noting his “remarkable kindness, unwavering values and generous spirit” and the “indelible mark” he has left on his family, community, workplace and the industry.

Kripke began working in the recycled metals industry in the mid-1960s at Sherwin Metals in Toledo, where he joined his father, Sherwin, and brothers, Harley and Bobby, in the family’s recycled metals brokerage business. After graduating from the University of Michigan Business School in 1965, Kripke returned to Toledo and the family business. Under his leadership, Sherwin Metals merged with Tuschman Steel in 1976, forming Kripke-Tuschman Industries, with Kripke spearheading nonferrous operations.

Kripke-Tuschman merged with OmniSource Corp. in 1983, and Kripke eventually led the Ohio nonferrous trading group. He managed a secondary smelter, a copper granulating line, a hedging operation and numerous aluminum and copper operations before founding KEI in 1993, where his legacy of innovation and integrity continues, the company says.

His son, Matt Kripke, CEO of KEI, previously told Recycling Today one of the best lessons he learned from his father is that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. He credited his father's success as an entrepreneur and leader to this philosophy, adding that he loved his employees like family and treated them all with respect.

KEI says Kripke’s positive impact on those around him and his contributions to the industry will be remembered and cherished. “As we mourn the loss of a true pioneer, we also celebrate the incredible life and achievements of Larry Kripke. His spirit will forever be the foundation of our company, guiding us as we continue to honor his legacy in all that we do,” the company adds.

Sister Joan Jensen Peterson, wife of Elder Wayne S. Peterson, died Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, in Salt Lake City after enduring the effects of Parkinson’s disease. She was 82.

She served as a leader of the California Oakland Mission from 1985 to 1988, alongside her husband during his call as a General Authority Seventy from 2001 to 2007 and then as matron of the Nauvoo Illinois Temple from 2007 to 2010. The Petersons also served together over the Family and Church History Headquarters Mission for two years.

“Joan lived a life of service and sacrifice and exemplified the pure love of Christ. Throughout her life, she met challenges with trust in the Lord and faith in Him,” her obituary stated.

Joan Alice Jensen was born on May 11, 1941, the second of six children of Ronald Victor Jensen and Delores Schiess Jensen. Growing up on a dairy farm in Hyrum, Utah, she enjoyed taking care of the animals, riding horses and helping to care for her younger siblings. 

After graduating from South Cache High School, she attended Utah State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood development and elementary education. While attending a dance, she met Wayne Peterson. She remarked to a friend, “Now, he would be nice to marry.”

They wrote to one another while Elder Peterson served a full-time mission to Australia and then continued their courtship upon his return. They were married in the Logan Utah Temple on July 20, 1962. The Petersons welcomed six children to their home: four daughters and two sons.

Blessed with a soprano voice, Sister Peterson loved to sing, read, play tennis, ski and cook. With her knowledge of childhood development, she enjoyed volunteering in many classrooms and served on the PTA board. She also served on the board of “Love Lights the Way” for the Cottonwood Healthcare Foundation and on the board for the Utah Governor’s Mansion Foundation.

Through the years, she served as a stake Relief Society counselor, and as a ward Relief Society president, Young Women counselor, Primary president and teacher. Wherever she served, she led in a gentle and loving way, her obituary noted.

She is survived by her husband of close to 62 years, Wayne Skeen Peterson; her children: Linda (David), Jill (Richard), Judith (Jim), David (Marcia), Kathryn (Mike), and Paul (Emily); her siblings Jon, Rosemary and Maureen; 25 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents and two brothers, Ronald and Jeffrey, and one granddaughter, Ashley Peterson.

Mark W. Nauman, a lifelong resident of Kirkwood, Missouri, has died after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.  He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Vicky (Brennan) Nauman, son Aaron (Marissa Minkevich), grandchildren, Isabel, Tommy, and Zoe, and son Jason (Katie Rinck) and grandchildren, Brady, Quinn, and Harrison. He was preceded in death by his parents John and Wilma (Nowotny) Nauman, brother John and sister Ellen (Schroer).  

After growing up in the Greenbriar neighborhood, graduating from Kirkwood High School in 1967 and attending Southeast Missouri State University, he joined the Marines and was honorably discharged in 1974 with the rank of corporal as an Optical Instrument Repairman.  After his service he and his furry sidekick, Deacon, spent time in California where he met his future wife who also happened to be from Kirkwood.  His mother, Wilma Nauman, a kindergarten teacher at Keysor Elementary School for several decades and a Kirkwood School Board member, was persistent that her grandchildren attend Kirkwood schools. Mark and Vicky bought their first Kirkwood home as Aaron was starting kindergarten at … Keysor!  She did not live long enough to see Aaron and Jason graduate from KHS but would undoubtedly be pleased to know that all six of her great-grandchildren are Pioneers.

During his working life, Mark spent the longest period in the printing business, having worked at the Type House in Maplewood and Messenger Printing in DTK (Downtown Kirkwood).  He later became a salesman and office manager for Balfour, owned and operated by one of his oldest and closest friends Randy “R.T.” Thompson. Mark had no shortage of nicknames in his life so you may have known him as Darby, Snacks, and when he became a grandfather, “Boompa.” R.T. strongly encouraged it.

The corner of West Monroe and South Harrison was the epicenter of wiffle-ball, BBQ, cold beer and loud music. Very loud.  Mark Nauman did not listen to bad music.  He tended to stay in his swim-lane consisting of heavy doses of R&B, soul, funk, blues and rock.  Beatles or Stones? The Kinks, actually.  On any given Friday the turntable would spin Koko Taylor, the Radiators, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Graham Parker back-to-back. Who does that? Mark Nauman.  The last album that he listened to on his deathbed was “Yellow Moon” by the Neville Brothers. If you haven’t listened to it, he would highly recommend that one. Often the party would cross the Harrison Ave. Bridge to Tom and Anne’s because we never knew where Grandpa Brennan would show up.  Sometimes it was 241 W. Monroe, other times 118 S. Harrison. Countless meals together.  Cardinal’s baseball on the radio or TV.  That was growing up in Kirkwood in a nutshell.

Mark was fortunate to have the support of his brother-in-law, Tom Brennan III, during his battle with Parkinson’s who was selfless in helping transport him to appointments within the VA system.  Mark and his father-in-law, Tom Brennan Jr. (Grandpa), loved ribbing each other about their branches of the military, in between watching old westerns and enjoying each other’s company. Those two were very close, no doubt in part to Mark’s own father passing away at an early age. Mark had many childhood friends, nieces, nephews, who we hope will share stories for many years to come.

An obituary is an impossible task to capture everything a person has done or become in their life.  And writing one about your father conjures up a flood of emotions of what was and what could have been.  It was difficult to see someone who was once gregarious withdraw from his wide circle of family, friends, and interests as his stages of Parkinson’s grew worse. Remember him for the time you had together, not the extended pause in your communication. He cared about you whether he had an opportunity to tell you.

Joe Louis Dudley Sr., 86, a pioneer in the haircare industry, died Feb. 8.

As the New York Times reported, Dudley built an empire from his and his wife’s kitchen, eventually founding schools that trained generations of cosmetologists. Dudley’s business began as a family affair, he stirred the formulas in a steel drum with a large spatula while his wife, Eunice, created the labels. Their children screwed the tops on the bottles after the mixtures had cooled and set by the next morning. 

From those humble beginnings, the Dudleys took over S.B. Fuller’s business in Chicago. They had sold the company’s products while attending North Carolina A&T. The coupled moved the business to Greensboro and built a plant, which also sold Fuller products.

Dudley, like Fuller, was described as a sales evangelist and was also a man of deep Christian faith, often employing those who had been incarcerated or experienced drug problems. 

Dudley required his employees to open savings accounts and usually opened his sales meetings with repurposed popular songs or jingles. In 2009, while filming his documentary Good Hair, comedian Chris Rock journeyed to the Kernersville Dudley factory, where he learned about relaxer, a strong hair straightener.

The economics of the chemicals shocked Rock, who learned that a 7,000-pound vat of relaxer was worth around $18,000. Meanwhile, the camera panned to show the Dudley family mansion.

Dudley, named after the Black boxing legend Joe Louis, was born on May 9, 1937, in Aurora, NC, the fifth of 11 children. He stuttered as a child, which led to him being held back in the first grade; teachers called him “mentally retarded.”

His mother, Clara, encouraged her son to “prove them wrong, Joe. Prove them wrong,” a moment that drove Dudley throughout his life.

Lafayette Jones, the chairman emeritus of the American Health and Beauty Aids Institute, an association of Black manufacturers, told the Times that Dudley was “a leader among Black hair care royalty.”

In 1995, Dudley won the Horatio Alger Award, given to “leaders who have triumphed over adversity,” according to the organization. The other honorees that year were two legends in their field: music producer Quincy Jones and football coach Don Shula. 

Ahead of the recession, in 2007, a section of the Dudley haircare factory that manufactured 90% of its products, suffered a fire. Dudley’s daughter, Ursula Dudley Oglesby, a Harvard-educated attorney, helped the family reorganize the company. She became the president and chief executive of what was now called Dudley Beauty Corp. 

At the time of his death from Parkinson’s disease, Dudley was still working. Eunice has no plans to stop working either. Dudley and Eunice divorced in 2000 on amicable terms and remained business partners.