Some people spend their entire lives reading but never get beyond reading the words on the page, they don't understand that the words are merely stepping stones placed across a fast-flowing river, and the reason they're there is so that we can reach the farther shore, it's the other side that matters. José de Sousa Saramago
Former Growing Pains stars Kirk Cameron and Tracey Gold are mourning the death of their costar Andrew Koenig, whose body was found Thursday in a Vancouver park after he committed suicide.
"It is with great sorrow to hear about the final outcome of the search for my old friend Andrew," Cameron, 39, tells UsMagazine.com. "I hope everyone will be sensitive to the Koenigs and give the family some private time to reflect and to grieve the loss of their beloved son. At a time like this, we are all reminded of the briefness of life and the importance of being ready for our eternal destination. My prayers will continue to be with Andrew's family."
Adds Gold, 40: "Today is a sad day. My heart is broken for Andrew's family. I have such great memories of Andrew and our time together on Growing Pains."
"Kathryn Grayson was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on February 9, 1922. Her childhood was spent in St. Louis where she studied voice before training with Frances Marshall of the Chicago Civic Opera and later was signed by RCA Red Seal records at the age of 15.
Her opera career was nipped in the bud when she was seen and heard by Louis B. Mayer and was signed by MGM to a contract without even the formality of a screen test. Contrary to popular belief, Miss Grayson never appeared on Eddie Cantor's radio show. Her unusual combination of looks, singing voice and acting talent brought her official stardom in 1943. A major star at MGM Miss Grayson also made films at Warner Brothers and Paramount Studios.
Dramatic roles on television came including "Playhouse 90" and "General Electric Theater." Miss Grayson was nominated for an Emmy Award for best actress for GE Theater's "Shadow on the Heart." She made her opera debut in 1960 performing "Madame Butterfly," "La Traviata" and "La Boheme" and in 1983 starred in "Orpheus in the Underworld" for Opera New England.
Miss Grayson scored triumphs in such stage musicals as "The Merry Widow" for which she was nominated for the Sarah Siddons Award. She has toured in "Naughty Marietta," "Rosalinda," "Show Boat," "Kiss Me Kate" and "Camelot" and in 1983 a departure as Miss Tweed in "Something's Afoot."
In 1982 Miss Grayson received rave reviews for her first all dramatic stage performance in Lucille Fletcher's "Night Watch." In 1987, again in a departure, she starred in the much-acclaimed British farce "Noises Off."
From 1988 through 1997 Miss Grayson toured in her one woman show, "An Evening With Kathryn Grayson."
In 1996 and 1997 Miss Grayson appeared with Van Johnson in "Love Letters" with great success. This prompted them to tour in their own production "Red Sox and Roses."
Miss Grayson gave Master Classes and was privately teaching voice until her passing.
John Paul Larkin (March 13, 1942 – December 3, 1999), better known by his stage name Scatman John, was an American jazz musician and singer who created a fusion of scat singing and dance music, best known for his 1994 hit "Scatman (Ski Ba Bop Ba Dop Bop)". A stutterer, John liked to say scatting was a process of "turning my biggest problem into my biggest asset". Scatman John sold millions of recordings worldwide and was named "Best New Artist" in the Echo Awards in both Japan and Germany. He was a recipient of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's Annie Glenn Award for outstanding service to the stuttering community and National Stuttering Association Hall of Fame."
"Actor Filip Nikolic, former singer from the famous 2B3 boys band died at the age of 35. According to the first reports the cause of the death, an heart attack due to a combination of pills he used to get to sleep.
He became SUPER famous in France and Europe after creating a band with his two best friends in 1996 Adel Kachermi [below left] et Frank Delay [right] their voices were ok, their choreography were cheesy but extremely acrobatic and well executed, making their act very fun and engaging!
Ironically his first hit single was called 'partir un jour' [Gone One Day] and was about living his life knowing that you can be gone tomorrow and never return, following your dreams and live life at its fullest ... we sure hope he did and was happy along the way!
"A Champion of the Disabled at the Nexus of Political Power
Eunice Kennedy Shriver and the organization she founded, the Special Olympics, worked for more than four decades to erase the stigma surrounding the mentally disabled.
On Tuesday, as the world mourned Mrs. Kennedy Shriver's death, an athlete from Trinidad and Tobago, Kester Edwards, recalled how participating in the games as a swimmer and soccer player transformed his childhood.
"That's when I started to accept who I am," said Mr. Edwards, now 35 years old and an athlete coordinator for the Special Olympics' Washington, D.C., office. "I was coming from a small island where people didn't understand intellectual disabilities—they used the word 'retard.' "
From a groundbreaking 1962 magazine article that disclosed the mental disability of her sister, Rosemary, to the Special Olympics games that now host competitions for three million athletes in more than 180 countries, Mrs. Kennedy Shriver championed the potential of a once-overlooked community.
She was "an extraordinary woman who, as much as anyone, taught our nation --- and our world -- that no physical or mental barrier can restrain the power of the human spirit," President Barack Obama said in a statement Tuesday.
Mrs. Kennedy Shriver died Tuesday at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Mass., following complications from strokes and pneumonia. She was 88.
Part of the politically influential Kennedy clan, Mrs. Kennedy Shriver was a sister of the late President John F. Kennedy, the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Sen. Edward Kennedy, and the mother of Maria Shriver, the first lady of California. She had been married since 1953 to Sargent Shriver, who served as the first director of the U.S. Peace Corps. Mr. Shriver, who survives his wife, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
Mrs. Kennedy Shriver advocated for children's charities and improving urban communities, but was best known for her work raising awareness about the disabled. For years, she had invited mentally disabled children to a summer camp held in the backyard of "Timberlawn," as her Maryland home was known. In July 1968, she founded the Special Olympics, just weeks after her brother Robert was assassinated as he campaigned for the presidency.
Born on July 10, 1921, in Brookline, Mass., Mrs. Kennedy Shriver was the fifth of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy's nine children. A devout Catholic, she originally planned to become a nun, according to "The Kennedys: An American Drama" by Peter Collier and David Horowitz.
She earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from Stanford University, did social work in New York City's Harlem neighborhood and worked for the State Department helping Americans held prisoner during World War II adjust to life back in the U.S. For a while, she lived with her brother John, at the time a freshman congressman, in a Georgetown town house, working as a government secretary.
Sargent Shriver courted her doggedly for seven years, before concluding he had to start dating other women, Messrs. Collier and Horowitz wrote. Hearing this, Mrs. Kennedy Shriver rushed home from Europe, declaring, "He's not marrying anybody but me." When the couple wed in 1953, Mrs. Kennedy Shriver had to climb a ladder to cut the eight-layer wedding cake—a seven-foot pastry replicated in 1986, when her daughter married bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, now governor of California.
Mrs. Kennedy Shriver's siblings figured prominently in her life. She campaigned for her brothers at block parties and traveled to Texas when John Kennedy ran for president. Her sister Rosemary's struggles helped propel her to start the Special Olympics and initiate legislative changes.
In 1962, Mrs. Kennedy Shriver wrote an article in the Saturday Evening Post making public the Kennedy family's struggle with Rosemary's disabilities and the decision to commit her to an institution.
"It was a brave, brave thing to write because it was something no one talked about," said Special Olympics spokeswoman Kirsten Suto Seckler.
She wasn't shy when lobbying presidents, including her brother, who won passage of a law establishing research centers for mental disabilities. As president, John F. Kennedy joked that Eunice was the only family member he feared seeing.
"She always had an agenda," he said, according to a family Web site dedicated to Mrs. Kennedy Shriver."
SOURCE By KRISTINA PETERSON/The Wall Street Journal
