In Memoriam…

Hail and Farewell… Where we remember those who have recently passed into the next world after having made this one a better place.

William A. Del Monte

The last known survivor of the San Francisco earthquake and fires of 1906, died on Monday in Marin County, Calif. He was 109. A stockbroker, Mr. Del Monte was married for 55 years to the former Vera Minetti, who died in 1991. They never had children. In a statement, Mayor Edwin M. Lee of San Francisco called Mr. Del Monte “a true friend to our city.”

“After being forced out of his home in North Beach after the 1906 Great Earthquake and fire as an infant,” Mr. Lee said, “he ultimately witnessed our city’s rise from the ashes more than a century ago, seeing it rebuilt better than ever.”  More: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Last-known-survivor-of-1906-S-F-earthquake-dies-6751833.php

The earthquake came at 5:13 a.m. on the morning of Wednesday April 18, 1906. SF Gate published a series of photos from the 1906 Earthquake on Thursday, December 3, 2015 which can be seen here:

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/1906-Earthquake-saved-his-life-a-discovered-6635879.php

Shekhinah Mountainwater (1939 – 2007)

Memorial Fund: https://shekhinahmemorialfund.org/

“Foremother of the Womanspirit movement. She is the author of Ariadne’s Thread, the creator of the Moonwheel calendar, the WomanRunes and the Shekhinah Tarot, and a Faery Bard and Radical Muse. Shekhinah struggled with financial support during her lifetime. She died envisioning a world in which women were supported for their skills and gifts. A world in which all Pagan, Goddess, and Polytheistic communities supported one another. A world in which no one suffered for lack of financial resources.

This memorial fund will be established to help make that dream a reality and to ensure that other women are able to complete the work that calls to them during their lifetime. In a country where women make 78 cents on the dollar compared to men (and that wage gap widening for women of color and transwomen), the struggle to support the often non-paying work of priestessing, creating, and community organizing is great. This leads to many women never being able to develop their talents and contribute to the community.”

David Bowie

David Robert Jones

(January 8, 1947-January 10, 2016 )

Website: http://www.davidbowie.com/

See tribute this issue:  “Farewell Goblin King” 

This was the hardest of all memoriams for this editor to write:  One of the very best of the postwar generation of musical giants is gone. All too soon.

From The Man Who Sold The World to Darkstar, Bowie became Ziggy Stardust the Rockstar Starman looking in, the apocalyptic Diamond Dog, the Thin White Duke in the Serious Moonlight, the Goblin King, the chameleon artist who created worlds and inspired two generations of artists who continue his legacy in art, fashion, film, and, most of all, music. His music will live on and on.

Bowie, in turn, outraged, enchanted, inspired and made us put on our “red shoes and dance the blues.”

Most of all: Ziggy played guitar.

He is still playing in the land of Rock ‘n’ Roll Dreams, Goblin Kings, Diamond Dogs, and Spacemen of Uncertain Repute.

“I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.” David Bowie, 1997

~ L. Kinyon, editor, 2/22/2016

We allow Mr. Bowie to speak for himself, as only he could:

Keith Emerson (1944 – 2016).

Website: http://www.keithemerson.com/

With great sadness we also mourn the death of another of the best of an era: keyboardist and pioneer of the moog synthesizer Keith Emerson, possibly best known for his work with Emerson, Lake and Palmer, emerson’s career as one of the most awarded and recognized keyboard players of his generation spanned several decades, from the THE KEITH EMERSON TRIO in the early 1960s and, briefly a member of the progressive band, The Nice in 1967, to world renown in the 1970s as the flamboyant keyboard artist for ELP and beyond in a solo career and the critically acclaimed Keith Emerson Band with Travis Davis and Tony Pia.

” … a gentle soul whose love for music and passion for his performance as a keyboard player will remain unmatched for many years to come.” Carl Palmer, BBC News, March, 15, 2016 http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35806414

Again, we allow Mr. Emerson to speak for himself