The Memorial Wall

Bertram Kermit Massing, 84, passed away peacefully at home on March 6, 2018, after a long, happy, and fulfilling life.

Bert is survived by his beloved wife of 62 years, Phyllis; his children Greg Massing, Robert Massing, and Lisa Aronson; and his grandsons Harrison, Luke, and Jake.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1933, Bert moved with his mother to Los Angeles in August 1948 and attended L.A. High School. In 1955, he graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Accounting. From February 1955 through October 1960 – except for 21 months he served in the U.S. Army – he worked at the public accounting firm of Price Waterhouse where he became a CPA. He attended night school at the University of Southern California Law School, graduating in 1960. While at USC, he was a top student in the Tax Law class taught by Professor John W. Ervin, who invited Bert to join his law firm, Ervin, Cohen & Jessup, upon graduation. Bert spent his entire law career there, retiring in 2016, having created and led the firm’s Corporate Law Department. He specialized in corporate governance, public and private finance, mergers and acquisitions, and compliance with securities laws.

Bert was an active member of the American Jewish Committee for over thirty years, serving on the Executive Board of the Los Angeles regional chapter and as a member of AJC’s National Board of Governors. He was active in and served on the Board of Directors of the UCLA Alumni Association, from 1974 to 1976 as Vice President, and from 1980 to 1982 as General Counsel. Bert also served on the Board of Directors of the UCLA Friends of Jazz. Bert was a lifelong Dodgers fan (with a faint memory of his love for the Cleveland Indians), and loved music, especially jazz, and theater. His favorite musical was “My Fair Lady.” Donations in his memory may be made to the American Jewish Committee, Los Angeles Chapter; the Parkinson’s Resource Organization (PRO)

Roger Bannister, the British runner who raised the bar for athletes all over the world by breaking the four-minute mile in 1954, has passed away at the age of 88, his family said Sunday.

Bannister died in Oxford “surrounded by his family who were as loved by him, as he was loved by them,” relatives said in a statement. A medical student at the time of his historic record in 1954, when he completed a mile in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds—a feat previously thought impossible—he went on to lead a distinguished medical career but later suffered from Parkinson’s disease.

Speaking to the Associated Press of his record-breaking run in 2012, he said, “It became a symbol of attempting a challenge in the physical world of something hitherto thought impossible. I’d like to see it as a metaphor not only for sport, but for life and seeking challenges.”

Rubeck, Lawrence Passed away Friday, March 2, 2018 surrounded by family and loved ones. 

Larry is survived by his devoted wife Donna, children; Janet (Kerry) Lehman, Robin (Scott) Vogel, Lance (Laura) Rubeck, and Jon (Jennifer) Rubeck, grandchildren; Kevin, Bryan, and Mary Lehman, Steven and Adam Vogel, Joel, Erin and Nicholas Rubeck, Willow Rubeck, great-granddaughter Lilly Vogel, brothers Robert and Richard (Connie) Rubeck, and several other relatives. 

Larry was born August 17, 1931, in Benton Harbor, MI, and grew up the son of farmers, Larry and Frances Rubeck, in northern Illinois. He served in the US Navy during the Korean War. After the war, Larry married Donna Crawford of Belvidere, IL, in 1954 and together they shared 63 years of marriage. 

Larry attended Michigan State University, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in 1959 and he later earned an MBA from the University of Michigan. 

In 1959 Larry embarked on a career in education lasting over 33 years, including 24 years as principal at Northwest High School. Larry was a devoted family man. 

He enjoyed vacations throughout Michigan and spending time with former Northwest Schools colleagues and friends. He was a member of First United Methodist Church and served the church in various ministries. 

Larry also served the community through Big Brothers, Emmaus, and the Michigan Association of Retired Schools Personnel.

Dave Hadfield was a rugby league player cum journalist who passed away due to illness.

Sports journalism has given us many big names in the form of writers and journalists. They have a huge following just like the players and the audiences engage with them in every bit of emotions in the game.

Tributes and obituaries are pouring all over social media for Dave after his demise. It is very difficult to take that someone who gave his entire life for the betterment of Rugby is no more now.

Dave Hadfield was a schoolboy who later converted into a player of the rugby league and eventually a journalist of the same. Even though he has not been featured on Wikipedia, diehard rugby lovers remember him and adore him for his writings and columns.

Today when the man passes away, Twitter talks about his contribution to the game. He valued it more than anything else and cared for its games at all levels regardless of the degrees in popularity.

The journalist wrote for The Independent in 1990 and traveled the world for his work from Hongkong to Sydney. He wrote his very first edition in The I Paper in 2010 and many more after that. There has been no one as passionate as Hadfield for this game as per his colleagues.

He has even written books like Up And Over, A Trek Through Rugby League Land, which is quite inspiring.

Dave Hadfield has explained his illness in one of his books a year ago. He had Parkinson’s disease and did fight it for the longest time. However, it is unsure if his death is due to that very cause.

Today, the internet is filled with condolence messages and prayers to people around him and rarely anybody has talked about what caused his demise. The former rugby player and journalist passing away is a huge loss to the sports world. He has been referred to as a legend in the field of rugby journalism.

Dave Hadfield was certainly a married man but his wife and children have always remained away from the limelight. When the world is praying for the deceased family’s strength today, their identities have not been revealed.

We hope that the heartbroken family copes well with the loss of their beloved. Similarly, deepest condolence to Dave’s well-wishers and followers.

Evangelist Billy Graham died today at 7:46 a.m. at his home in Montreat. He was 99.

Throughout his life, Billy Graham preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to some 215 million people who attended one of his more than 400 Crusades, simulcasts and evangelistic rallies in more than 185 countries and territories. He reached millions more through TV, video, film, the internet and 34 books.

Born Nov. 7, 1918, four days before the armistice ended World War I, William Franklin “Billy” Graham Jr. grew up during the Depression and developed a work ethic that would carry him through decades of ministry on six continents.

“I have one message: that Jesus Christ came, he died on a cross, he rose again, and he asked us to repent of our sins and receive him by faith as Lord and Savior, and if we do, we have forgiveness of all of our sins,” said Graham at his final Crusade in June 2005 at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in New York.

While Graham’s primary focus was to take this message to the world, he also provided spiritual counsel to presidents, championed desegregation, and was a voice of hope and guidance in times of trial. In 2001, he comforted his country and the world when he spoke at the National Cathedral in Washington, following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. At three global conferences held in Amsterdam (1983, 1986, 2000), Graham gathered some 23,000 evangelists from 208 countries and territories to train them to carry the message of Jesus Christ around the world.

During the week of his 95th birthday in 2013, Graham delivered his final message via more than 480 television stations across the U.S. and Canada. More than 26,000 churches participated in this My Hope project, making it the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s largest evangelistic outreach ever in North America.

Preferred Baseball to Religion

Graham, a country boy turned world evangelist, who prayed with every U.S. president from Harry S. Truman to Barack Obama, was raised on a dairy farm in Charlotte. Back then, “Billy Frank,” as he was called, preferred baseball to religion. “I detested going to church,” he said when recalling his youth.

But in 1934, that changed. At a revival led by traveling evangelist Mordecai Fowler Ham, 15-year-old Graham committed his life to serving Jesus Christ. No one was more surprised than Graham himself.

“I was opposed to evangelism,” he said. “But finally, I was persuaded by a friend [to go to a meeting]…and the spirit of God began to speak to me as I went back night after night. One night, when the invitation was given to accept Jesus, I just said, ‘Lord, I’m going.’ I knew I was headed in a new direction.”

Several years later, Graham’s “new direction” led him to the Florida Bible Institute (now Trinity College of Florida), and later, Wheaton College in suburban Chicago, where he met fellow student Ruth McCue Bell, the daughter of medical missionaries in China. The couple graduated and married in the summer of 1943. Mr. and Mrs. Graham and their five children made their home in the mountains of North Carolina. They were married for 64 years before Ruth’s death in 2007.

After two years of traveling as a speaker for the Youth for Christ organization, Billy Graham held his first official evangelistic Crusade in 1947; but it was his 1949 Los Angeles Crusade that captured the nation’s attention. Originally scheduled to run for three weeks, the “tent meetings” were extended for a total of eight weeks as hundreds of thousands of men, women and children gathered to hear Graham’s messages.

On the heels of this campaign, Graham started the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which was incorporated in 1950. Since 2000, Graham’s son, Franklin, has led the Charlotte-based organization, which employs some 500 people worldwide.

Billy Graham may be best known, however, for his evangelistic missions or “Crusades.” He believed God knew no borders or nationalities. Throughout his career, Graham preached to millions in locations from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Zagorsk, Russia; and from Wellington, New Zealand to the National Cathedral in Washington. In 1973, Graham addressed more than one million people crowded into Yoido Plaza in Seoul, South Korea—the largest live audience of his Crusades.

Breaking Down Barriers

Preaching in Johannesburg in 1973, Graham said, “Christ belongs to all people. He belongs to the whole world.…I reject any creed based on hate…Christianity is not a white man’s religion, and don’t let anybody ever tell you that it’s white or black.”

Graham spoke to people of all ethnicities, creeds and backgrounds. Early in his career, he denounced racism when desegregation was not popular. Before the U.S. Supreme Court banned discrimination on a racial basis, Graham held desegregated Crusades, even in the Deep South. He declined invitations to speak in South Africa for 20 years, choosing instead to wait until the meetings could be integrated. Integration occurred in 1973, and only then did Graham make the trip to South Africa.

A 1977 trip to communist-led Hungary opened doors for Graham to conduct preaching missions in virtually every country of the former Eastern Bloc (including the Soviet Union), as well as China and North Korea.

Graham authored 34 books, including his memoir, Just As I Am (Harper Collins, 1997), which remained on The New York Times best-seller list for 18 weeks.

In 1996, Graham and his wife, Ruth, received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award Congress can bestow on a private citizen. He was also listed by Gallup as one of the “Ten Most Admired Men” 61 times—including 55 consecutive years (except 1976, when the question was not asked). Graham was cited by the George Washington Carver Memorial Institute for his contributions to race relations and by the Anti-Defamation League of the B’nai B’rith.

Throughout his life, Graham was faithful to his calling, which will be captured in the inscription to be placed on his grave marker: Preacher of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“There were a few times when I thought I was dying, and I saw my whole life come before me…” said Graham at his Cincinnati Crusade on June 24, 2002. “I didn’t say to the Lord, ‘I’m a preacher, and I’ve preached to many people.’ I said, ‘Oh Lord, I’m a sinner, and I still need Your forgiveness. I still need the cross.’ And I asked the Lord to give me peace in my heart, and He did—a wonderful peace that hasn’t left me.”

Billy Graham is survived by his sister Jean Ford; daughters Gigi, Anne and Ruth; sons Franklin and Ned; 19 grandchildren; and numerous great-grandchildren. His wife, Ruth, died June 14, 2007, at age 87, and is buried at the Billy Graham Library.

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. 

Pat Torpey, drummer of Mr Big has passed away at the age of 64. He had been suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

I live on a different continent, so sadly I won’t be there. From 2009-11, I was the bass technician on tour for Mr Big. Pat was my friend in that time and I’ll miss him. This is hard to write but I’d really like to do him tribute.

Pat was born in Cleveland, Ohio but moved to Phoenix, Arizona as a teenager. A love of his music and the lure of the bright lights brought him to LA in the early 1980s, where he picked up session, TV and touring work for a million artists including Ted Nugent, John Parr, Bob Geldorf, Belinda Carlisle, Robert Plant, Chris Impelliteri and even former WHAM! star Andrew Ridgley.

It was while playing with The Knack, of ‘My Sharona’ fame, that Billy Sheehan and Paul Gilbert first saw Pat in action and asked him to audition for the new band they were forming together with vocalist Eric Martin. This of course, became Mr Big.

Pat’s role in Mr Big was often overlooked. While Billy and Paul stole the limelight with their fretboard antics and Eric Martin stole the little girls’ hearts, Pat was doing the hard work in the background.

I truly believe that in many ways Pat saved Mr Big. You see, Pat had all his drum chops down, double kick techniques, stick spinning etc etc but he also had this amazing groove…

All drummers who can basically play in time have some kind of groove. Some have it different or better than others. Essentially, a good groove makes the listener tap their foot along at first listen. Pat had a truly awesome groove.

Quite often this separates a good band from an outstanding band. Mr Big would have been a good band without Pat’s groove, a very good band actually, but with him they were truly outstanding.

Try listening to this and unconsciously you’ll find yourself tapping your foot along. That’s Pat’s groove.

His contribution to the band didn’t end there though. Mr Big is a band that’s founded not only on excellent rhythmic musicianship but also on melody and harmony. Pat was a singing drummer. Thus all the members of Mr Big sing, giving them a three part harmony underlying Eric’s lead on hits such as ‘Green Tinted Sixties Mind’, ‘Just Take My Heart’ and of course their biggest worldwide single, ‘To Be With You’.

In fact, Pat’s vocals were in big demand on the LA session scene. Did you know that it’s Pat Torpey that you hear singing the chorus of ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ on the Mötley Crüe album of the same name?

Check out these backing vocals; this is Mr Big’s live cover of ‘It’s for You’ by Three Dog Night.

The first show I worked for Mr Big as a band (I’d worked for Billy Sheehan previously on other projects), was in Tallinn, Estonia in 2009. I had loved Mr Big as a teenager but seeing them gel onstage as a band from close up on the side of stage that first time was insane.

I don’t compliment the artists that I work for every night as a matter of habit. That gets dull – I see a lot of gigs per week when I’m on tour. I only ever comment if I witness something really outstanding. That night was one such event.

As they came offstage, I said to Pat something like: “Wow, great show!”

“Don’t blow smoke,” he said and walked past. If you’re unfamiliar with the phrase, it’s a rather crude Americanism for “don’t flatter me”.

I was a bit put aback. But the more I got to know of saw of him, the more I saw how in character that was. He was a very self effacing guy in many respects and didn’t like a fuss.

I remember at one Mr Big gig Pat’s floor tom fell over. His drum tech, Jason Kocis, couldn’t see it as he was on the other side of stage. I went over to pick it back up but Pat shooed me away.

After the gig he said: “Don’t worry about things like that. I can deal with it.”

“You can’t pick up a floor tom while playing a song. I am kind of doing a job here”

“Nah, don’t worry about it.”

I don’t know if I’ve ever met another drummer that laid back onstage. No fuss.

Mr Big would often have an instrument swapping jam at the end of a show; yes, Pat was a passable guitarist and bass player too. On these occasions, he’d borrow a random plectrum from my toolkit. Then at the end of the song, he’d bring me back the pick.

“No,” I’d say, “you’re supposed to throw it out into the crowd!”

One night in Brazil he did this and I prompted him back to the front of the stage and got him to throw the pick out. Of course the fans went crazy trying to grab for it but Pat would have preferred no fuss.

I will always remember long chats with Pat over dinner on politics, on which he was very well read, American history, another favourite of his was the Lincoln Presidency, and most of all, music. I quizzed him over his playing on the Chris Impelliteri album with Graham Bonnet singing and his time touring with Robert Plant, which being a big Zeppelin fan, he’d loved every minute of. Throughout our conversations he was always wise, witty and humble.

After a show in Osaka, as we started the 2011 tour, he told me he thought that he hadn’t played so well. At the time I assumed this was simply more modesty from him. I told him honestly that he sounded great to me, though I now knew better than to press the point.

But he said that he could feel something was wrong. He had a numbness in his hands and one leg that wasn’t quite responding the way it should.

He said, he’d been for some tests back home but that nothing was conclusively diagnosed at that point. I brushed it off at the time but looking back now I see that this was the start of it all.

As far as I was concerned he played great every night of that tour. We went across Asia, Europe and South America and he and the band ripped each and every night, I thought. We finished the world tour in Istanbul, Turkey and went our ways.

Then I saw the press release in 2014. Pat had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. I’d heard of it before but read up more online to check my facts and find it’s a long term degenerative neurone disease. Not good for a drummer. Not just something to brush off with no fuss.

I worried for him and sent a supportive email but heard nothing back.

Full credit to Mr Big as a band. They rallied around their fallen comrade. In his physical state, clearly he couldn’t play his former glories such as ‘Colorado Bulldog’ any more but he was still an essential part of the band. He was very much the vibemeister and often the voice of reason between healthy differences of opinion in band politics, as I saw them.

So the lovable Matt Starr, also of Ace Frehley’s band, was hired in as the drummer for the bulk of the gigs while Pat still played a few songs and added percussion and his trademark vocal harmonies to others.

I went to see them at Koko in London on that tour. On the way in, I bumped into Pat at the stage door. We hugged and he held me tight but I could feel the muscle wastage on his back. He was always so healthy and well toned before.

He sat me down and told me how it had all hit him. He apologised for not replying to my email but said that he had an initial period of depression after the diagnosis. Then with the support of friends and family, through determination and strength of character he had resolved to carry on, make the most of life and he began to make jokes with his son about his tremors rather than try hide them.

Oh boy, was it good to see Pat.

Three months ago, I caught up with Mr Big again at a couple of UK shows, London and Wolverhampton. Pat was now just playing one song in the set, ‘Just Take My Heart’. He told me he couldn’t tour with the band after this any more. It was just exhausting him.

I hugged him goodbye at Birmingham airport. I knew I’d probably never see him again but I didn’t think he would leave us this soon.

Pat leaves behind his wife Karen and son Patrick Jnr. Pat and I went shopping together for our kids in the Tokyo toyshops. We both missed our boys on tour. My thoughts are with them at this time.

Tributes poured in from his bandmates, fans and peers. Graham Bonnet, Richie Kotzen, Carmine Appice, Matt Sorum, Derek Sherinian, Mike Portnoy, Phil Soussan, Steve Lukather, Paul Stanley and Joe Lynn Turner all said what a great drummer and much loved friend Pat was.

Billy Sheehan led with: “Pat Torpey has been my closest friend in music for over thirty years. Pat was one of the finest human beings I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing, and the honor of working with, surely one of the finest rock drummers the world has ever known.”

Perhaps the most touching tribute I read online was an open letter to Pat written by a Korean fan, Sujin Lee.

“Dear Pat,

“It’s me, Sujin. How are you doing up there?

“It’s been only a few days but I do hope everything is much better than here. Cause, like many others, I’m still having awfully hard times to take it as real that you’re not here anymore.

“I know, to you, I’m just one of millions of fans around the world but to this forever-16 fan, you were not just one amazing, talented musician/drummer. You ARE much much more than that. Just like the other BIG guys.

“I still remember when I first met you in person in freezing Seoul, 22 years ago. You were shining so brightly with that big beautiful smile and unbelievably nice to this crazy little kid who took a four hour train ride and waited all day long at the airport only to say hello to her favourite band. I wish I could go back then just once again.

“Since then, we’ve had such a great time. What a ride it has been! There were some downs for sure but you were always right there, in control. You never let me down. You were always cool and made me feel everything is/will be ok.

“Do you remember that you wrote me an email when there was a huge earthquake in Japan while I was living there all by myself? I was scared to death, I really thought I was going to die at that moment. I was terrified and couldn’t calm down… and then I got this mail from you.

“You asked me if I was ok and said you worried about me. You’ll never know how it helped me go through those hard times. You might think it was just a mail. But I never expected something like that cause you’re a big rock star and I’m just a little fan.

“But that was only one of all the things you’ve done to me.

“Pat, thank you so much for everything. Thank you for your amazing music, passion and courage. Thank you for all those memories, love, kindness, smiles and hugs. Thank you for inspiring me to want to be a better person. You taught me never giving up and I’m trying to, not to let you down.

“And thank you for being you, my wonderful hero Pat Torpey.

“Big Love Always, Sujin”

We’re all missing you, Pat.

Published in Music Times

Hilton McConnico, the noted artist and set designer who collaborated with a series of major fashion houses, has died in Paris. He was 74. McConnico, who suffered from Parkinson’s Disease, passed away in the company of close friends on January 29.

A noted aesthete, the Tennessee-born McConnico was probably most famous for his set direction of some 20 feature films, most notably 'Diva', Jean-Jacques Beineix’s 1981 César-award-winning stylish thriller.

In his earlier days in Paris, he worked in fashion for both Yves Saint Laurent and Ted Lapidus; before becoming better known for his artistic collaborations. Several pieces from his Cactus collection for Daum crystal-maker were presented by French president François Mitterrand to US president George H. W. Bush as a gift of state. McConnico was also the first American to have his work inducted into the Louvre’s Decorative Arts collection.

Latterly, he collaborated with Hermès on the brand’s museum in Tokyo, inside the Renzo Piano-designed building in Ginza. In 2005, he was awarded the  Talent de l’Audace prize from the Sommet du Luxe et de la Création, in recognition of an outstanding career.

Mr. Randolph O’Neal, age 78, of Higgston, died Sunday, January 28, 2018, in The Oaks - Bethany in Vidalia, after an extended illness.  He was a native of Montgomery County, attended school in Kibbee, and was a 1957 graduate of Montgomery County High School.  He was a member of the McGregor Presbyterian Church, where he served in several capacities, and was a U.S. Navy veteran serving on the USS Braine.  He began his telephone career with Pacific Telephone Company in San Diego, California, then transferred to Southern Bell and American Telephone in Georgia, and retired after thirty-five years of service.  He was preceded in death by his parents, Marvin O. O’Neal and Johnnie Adelaide Fulghum.

Mr. O’Neal is survived by his wife of fifty-six years, Sandra “Sandy” Pope O’Neal; son, James Marvin O’Neal and wife Gloria, and a grandson, Andrew O’Neal.

Funeral serves were held Wednesday, January 31st at 11:00 a.m. in the chapel of Ronald V. Hall Funeral Home with Reverend Wayne McDaniel officiating.  Burial will follow in the McCrimmon Cemetery.

A special thanks to the staff at The Oaks Bethany on the West Wing, for their love and care of our husband, father and grandfather.

John J. Kerrigan 73, Jan. 21st.

Beloved husband of Mary Ann (nee Cook) Loving father of John and Mary Margaret Kerrigan. Devoted son of the late John Kerrigan (from Co. Mayo) and Margaret (nee Christie, from Co. Roscommon). Uncle of many nieces and nephews.

Former Teacher at Kenwood High School, Retired Consultant for Allstate, and Professor at National-Louis University.