Wedding advice

Final chapters

14.08.11

<strong>Jani Lane </strong>was the former lead singer of the metal rock band Warrant who wrote such hits as &#x201C;Heaven,&#x201D; &#x201C;Down Boys&#x201D; and &#x201C;Cherry Pie.&#x201D; Lane&#x2019;s body was found Thursday in a Woodland Hills, Calif., hotel. Coroner&#x2019;s officials did not determine a cause of death after an autopsy but said they would wait to see the results of toxicology testing that could take up to two months. Lane was 47. He had an on-and-off relationship with Warrant, leaving it in 1992 before returning and quitting several times. He left the band for good in 2008. Lane also appeared in a season of VH1&#x2019;s &#x201C;Celebrity Fit Club.&#x201D;</p><p><strong>Billy Grammer </strong>was a singer and guitarist who hit the top of the music charts in 1958 with the song &#x201C;Gotta Travel On.&#x201D; Grammer died Wednesday in Benton, Ill., after suffering a heart attack in March. He was 85. Grammer performed regularly on the Grand Ole Opry, beginning in 1959.</p><p><strong>Ray Anderson </strong>was the head of Interface Inc., the world&#x2019;s largest carpet-tile manufacturer, who became one of the nation&#x2019;s most effective corporate advocates for environmental sustainability. Anderson died Tuesday of cancer in Atlanta. He was 77. Anderson experienced something of an epiphany after reading the book &#x201C;The Ecology of Commerce&#x201D; by Paul Hawken in 1994. He then crisscrossed the country with a near evangelical fervor, urging fellow executives to reduce waste and carbon emissions.</p><p><strong>Hugh Carey </strong>was a New York governor who helped rescue New York City and the state from the brink of financial collapse in the 1970s and tamed a culture of ever-growing spending. Carey, a Democrat, died Aug. 7 on Shelter Island, N.Y. He was 92. </p><p><strong>Mark Hatfield </strong>was a U.S. senator from Oregon whose 35-year tenure illuminated his conviction that Republicans could be God-fearing conservatives and passionate advocates for ending wars and racial discrimination. Hatfield died Aug. 7 in Portland, Ore. He was 89. Hatfield infuriated his party&#x2019;s leadership by opposing the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, casting the deciding vote in 1986 against a proposed balanced budget amendment, and championing handgun control and family medical leave. </p><p><strong>Marshall Grant </strong>played standup bass in Johnny Cash&#x2019;s original trio and helped create the country singer&#x2019;s distinctive, rhythmic sound in the 1950s. Grant died Aug. 7 in Jonesboro, Ark., after suffering an aneurysm four days earlier. He was 83. Grant teamed with lead guitarist Luther Perkins in the Tennessee Two, whose first record with Cash, &#x201C;Hey, Porter&#x201D;/&#x201C;Cry, Cry, Cry,&#x201D; was released in 1955. Grant performed with Cash until 1980, and also was the manager of the Statler Brothers.</p><p><strong>Nancy Wake </strong>became one the Allies&#x2019; most decorated servicewomen for her role in the French Resistance in World War II. Wake died Aug. 7 in London. She was 98. Wake, an Australian, was trained by British intelligence in espionage and sabotage. While distributing weapons, money and code books in Nazi-occupied France, she evaded capture many times and reached the top of the Gestapo&#x2019;s wanted list.</p><p><strong>Harri Holkeri </strong>was a Finland&#x2019;s prime minister from 1987 to 1991 and brokered peace talks in Northern Ireland in the late 1990s. Holkeri died Aug. 7 in Helsinki, Finland, after a long illness. He was 74. In 2000, Holkeri served as U.N. General Assembly president. Three years later he was appointed the U.N. special representative to the Serbian province of Kosovo.</p><p><strong>Charles Wyly </strong>was a Texas billionaire whose family donated millions of dollars to Republican causes and Dallas arts projects. Wyly died Aug. 7 after a car accident in western Colorado. He was 77. Wyly founded and led several companies, including arts-and-crafts chain Michaels Stores Inc. Last year the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Wyly and his brother of using offshore havens to hide more than $500 million in profits over 13 years of insider stock trading. The brothers denied the allegations.</p><p><strong>Bernadine Healy </strong>was the first woman to direct the National Institutes of Health and was the leader of the American Red Cross during the 9/11 attacks. Healy died Aug. 6 of brain cancer in Gates Mill, Ohio. She was 67. Healy, a cardiologist, led the American Heart Association in the 1980s. She became president of the Red Cross in 1999 but was ousted two months after the 2001 terror assaults in a dispute with the agency&#x2019;s board. She ran unsuccessfully in 1994 for the Senate in Ohio&#x2019;s Republican primary. </p><p><strong>Fred Imus </strong>co-hosted a satellite radio show called &#x201C;Fred&#x2019;s Trailer Park Bash&#x201D; and wrote country songs. Imus, the brother of radio personality Don Imus, died in his sleep Aug. 6 in Tucson, Ariz. He was 69.</p><p><strong>Francesco Quinn </strong>was the son of movie star Anthony Quinn and appeared in the 1986 film &#x201C;Platoon.&#x201D; Quinn died Aug. 5 of a suspected heart attack in Malibu, Calif. He was 48. On TV, Quinn appeared in &#x201C;JAG,&#x201D; &#x201C;24,&#x201D; &#x201C;The Shield&#x201D; and &#x201C;The Young and the Restless.&#x201D; </p><p><strong>William Sleator </strong>wrote books for young people that pitted their heroes against aliens, ghouls and slimy things, and even their own siblings. Sleator died Aug. 3 in Bua Chet, Thailand. The cause was not determined, but he had been having seizures recently. Sleator, who was reared in St. Louis County, was 66. Among his best-known novels were &#x201C;Interstellar Pig,&#x201D; &#x201C;House of Stairs&#x201D; and &#x201C;The Green Futures of Tycho.&#x201D;

Source: Kansas City Star