Sally Ride

Posted in Woodlawn Cemetery Santa Monica with tags , on September 28, 2026 by Cade

May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012

Sally Kristen Ride was a celebrated American physicist whose work with X-rays – particularly their relative abilities and behavior in interstellar space – led to her being named as an astronaut in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Ride was selected as part of the first class of Space Shuttle astronauts, or “Group 8.”

Group 8 was notable, not only because of the Shuttle program, but for the fact that it was the first astronaut class to include women and minorities. Including Ride, there were a total of 6 women in the cohort of 35. All 6 would eventually fly in space, but someone had to be first.

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Ritchie Valens

Posted in San Fernando Mission Cemetery with tags , , , on September 21, 2026 by Cade

May 13, 1941 – February 03, 1959

Three hit songs, a coin flip and a day that changed American music forever. That’s the bitter legacy of Richard Steven Valenzuela.

Better known by his stage name, Ritchie Valens, the young rock and roll pioneer gained popularity playing theaters in his native San Fernando valley in California. He was discovered in the spring of 1958 and signed to a record deal while still in high school. His first day in the studio, he recorded “Come On, Let’s Go.” The single immediately sold well and within months, Valens had recorded a new single called “Donna”, based on his real-life girlfriend at the time. “Donna” was released with a B-Side recording of his take on the Mexican folk song, “La Bamba”. The record sold a million copies and high school was no longer needed.

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John Phillips

Posted in Forest Lawn Cathedral City with tags , , on September 14, 2026 by Cade

August 30, 1935 – March 18, 2001

Look, life is complicated.

Greenwich Village in New York City in the early 1960s was a hotbed for musical creativity and countercultural movements. Nearly two decades into the influential American Folk Revolution, a new generation of singers and musicians all gravitated toward the lower east side of Manhattan. It was in this incubator, that a young singer-songwriter from Virginia named John Phillips met Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot.

Phillips had moved to New York with his band, the Journeymen, and soon-to-be wife, Michelle Gilliam, in search of a record deal. The Journeymen recorded 3 albums with Capitol Records and gained a fair following. Phillps married Michelle, the British Invasion started getting ALL the attention and the Journeymen quietly fell apart. John and Michelle continued to perform as a duo in and around the Village. In 1964, Denny Doherty – fresh off the breakup of his own group, the Mugwumps – joined them. Shortly thereafter, fellow Mugwump, Cass Elliot, also joined and the Mamas & the Papas was born.

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Quincy Jones

Posted in Hillside Memorial Park with tags , , , on September 7, 2026 by Cade

March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024

If you had to choose one person, and one person only, to serve as a lens to view the entirety of 20th Century American music, you wouldn’t even need a full name. A single letter would more than suffice: Q

Quincy Jones was perhaps best known as the groundbreaking and uber-successful record producer that shaped pop music for decades. But, he was also a talented musician in his own right, playing trumpet and, eventually, keyboards with some of the biggest names on the planet. I’ll get the name dropping out of the way early so we can focus on his accomplishments, but throughout his extraordinary 70 year career, Jones worked with the likes of Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughn, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Diana Ross, Billy Preston, Aretha Franklin, Lesley Gore, Little Richard, Chaka Kahn, George Benson, Tevin Campbell, Usher, Snoop Dogg and, of course, Michael Jackson.

And that’s not even counting the stars he worked with on the monumental 1985 charity recording of “We Are the World”…which he produced and conducted.

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Joe DiMaggio

Posted in Holy Cross Cemetery (Colma) with tags , , on August 31, 2026 by Cade

November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999

In 1924, on a playground in San Francisco, a baseball team made up of neighborhood kids paid $2 to entice a rival player to join their team. Little did anyone on that lot know that player would go on to be one of the greatest baseball players of all time. $2 for Joe DiMaggio? Even by 1920s standards, an absolute steal.

Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio was born in California to an Italian immigrant fisherman. He was one of nine kids in the family (two of his brothers also played baseball) and his father had hopes he would carry on the family business. Some time after the $2 trade, DiMaggio began playing minor league baseball and got pretty good, pretty quick. He set a Pacific Coast League record hitting safely in 61 straight games and was named the league MVP in his final season…a preamble of what was to come.

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Mary Wilson

Posted in Holy Cross Cemetery (CA) with tags , , , on August 24, 2026 by Cade

March 6, 1944 – February 8, 2021

Diana Ross may have been the most famous Supreme…but even she left the group. Only one member never left the Motown hitmakers: the legendary Mary Wilson.

Wilson founded the group (known originally as the Primettes) alongside schoolmate and friend, Florence Ballard, with Ross and Betty McGlown joining by recommendation from the Primes members, Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams. By 1962, the group was a trio and had a contract with Motown and had changed their name to “the Supremes.” The next 7 years would be one of the most successful runs in American pop music history.

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James Caan

Posted in Eden Memorial Park with tags , on August 17, 2026 by Cade

March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022

“A lot of stars take a while to warm up – Caan was good from the beginning.” – Stephen Vagg

As a kid in New York, James Edmund Caan, fancied himself a boxer. He often fought in the streets with friends and when he went to college, football was his life. He never graduated from college and football soon took a back seat to something new and exciting for the young man: acting.

Off-Broadway led to Broadway, which led to television and, ultimately, film. By his mid-20s, Caan was filming alongside the likes of Olivia de Haviland, John Wayne and Robert Mitchum. He gained fans – both the public and his co-stars – with every performance. In 1969, he starred in the movie, The Rain People, which was written a directed by Francis Ford Coppola and co-starred Robert Duvall.

It would not be the last time the three worked together.

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Suzanne Somers

Posted in Desert Memorial Park with tags , , on August 10, 2026 by Cade

October 16, 1946 – October 15, 2023

We have all heard every adage about blondes. Blondes have more fun. Gentlemen prefer blondes. She’s having a blonde moment…

Whatever stereotype you choose to accept or deny, one thing can’t be argued: Blondes get noticed.

So, when a bubbly blonde from California gets her first role in a motion picture (1973’s American Graffiti) and is billed as “Blonde in Thunderbird”…well, you better believe a career arc has been born.

Suzanne Somers (née Mahoney) didn’t have the best home life growing up. Her father was an alcoholic and was abusive. She was dyslexic and struggled in school. She dropped out of college after becoming pregnant. But she found a positive outlet in performing. She modeled in her native San Francisco. She appeared in some local TV game shows. She wrote poetry. After being noticed in the NBC Commissary in Los Angeles, she was asked to appear on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson to promote a book of poetry she had just written. Watching that night was ABC President, Fred Silverman, who remembered Somers a few years later when trying to find the third lead in a new sitcom called Three’s Company.

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Otto Preminger

Posted in Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx) with tags , on August 3, 2026 by Cade

December 05, 1905 – April 23, 1986

Otto Preminger was an Austrian-born film and theatre director who was as know for his successful projects as he was for his hot-tempered demeanor.

Born in what is modern-day Ukraine (formerly of the Austria-Hungarian empire) he was raised in a Jewish family. When World War I broke out and the Russian army invaded his hometown, the Premingers moved to Graz, and then later to Vienna, where young Otto gained an interest in the theatre. He worked his way up to directing and was eventually offered a chance to direct a film…which he reluctantly accepted.

Several German-speaking theatrical and film credits followed and when he was 29, Otto met Jospeh Schenck and Darryl Zanuck, who were looking for talent for their new studio in Hollywood: Twentieth Century Fox.

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Dom DeLuise

Posted in Calvary Cemetery (NY) with tags , , on July 13, 2026 by Cade

August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009

“I’m actually a thin serious person but I play fat and funny, but only for the movies.” – Dom DeLuise

Actor.
Comedian.
Author.
Musician.
Chef.

In the 1970s and ’80s, you could not look anywhere without encountering the brilliance of Dom DeLuise. Whether he was stealing scenes in classic Mel Brooks’ movies (History of the World Part I, Silent Movie, Spaceballs), buddying up on the open road with real-life pal and frequent co-star, Burt Reynolds (Cannonball Run I & II, Smokey and the Bandit II) or appearing on stage at the Metropolitan Opera, DeLuise was everywhere.

And absolutely no one complained.

Dominick DeLuise was born in Brooklyn and immediately sought a life in show business. After graduating from a performing arts high school and by way of college/regional theater in Massachusetts, he started finding work back in New York. He appeared in a number of Off-Broadway and Broadway shows and eventually made his way onto television. He appeared in a season 2 episode of The Munsters and was featured on The Dean Martin Show, where he became a crowd (and host) favorite. This led to his own, short-lived eponymous variety show…and so much more.

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