http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/ Because your life counts and what you leave behind is the evidence of the life you lived. Why not tell it your way. http://www.estatevaults.com/images/lm_banner_thumb.jpg http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/ 116 40 en-us jillfallon@gmail.com Jill Fallon Copyright 2013 Jill Fallon 2013-05-21T08:50:08-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/21/dribbling_socce.html Jill Fallon No Way to Go 2013-05-21T08:50:08-05:00 Father, 42, trying to dribble soccer ball from Seattle to Brazil is hit and killed by truck in Oregon just 14 days and 260 miles into his quest A Seattle man attempting to dribble a soccer ball 10,000 miles... http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/21/dribbling_socce.html Father, 42, trying to dribble soccer ball from Seattle to Brazil is hit and killed by truck in Oregon just 14 days and 260 miles into his quest A Seattle man attempting to dribble a soccer ball 10,000 miles to Brazil in time for the 2014 World Cup for charity has died after being hit by a pickup truck on the Oregon Coast just 14 days into his mission. Police in Lincoln City say 42-year-old Richard Swanson was hit on Tuesday morning while walking south along U.S. Highway 101 near the city limits. He was declared dead at a hospital. The driver has not been charged and is said to be cooperating. Very sad.  May he rest in peace. http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/20/relearning_the.html Jill Fallon Death and Dying 2013-05-20T13:29:42-05:00 We need to relearn the art of dying The taboo has simply shifted, however. As the door to the bedroom has been thrown open, access to the deathbed has been barred. No one seems to linger long there, conversationally... http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/20/relearning_the.html We need to relearn the art of dying The taboo has simply shifted, however. As the door to the bedroom has been thrown open, access to the deathbed has been barred. No one seems to linger long there, conversationally or otherwise: too often, a death is treated like an embarrassing fact, a regrettable failure of life that is best hushed up. As Dr Granger carried on talking, with admirable courage and lucidity, I began to feel that whatever tweets she felt able to send from her deathbed would be well worth reading, and might do the rest of us a great deal of good. She already has a blog, on which she discusses matters such as planning her own funeral, the vagaries of end-of-life care, and the irritations of the faintly bullying, upbeat language that people use when describing cancer patients. There, she writes with passion, humour and honesty, but without self-pity or mawkishness: none the less, when I got to the point at which she made comforting plans for her final hours – “I want Mum to read to me like she used to when we were kids” – it was impossible not to cry. We are built to cling to life, unless that instinct is withered in us through long suffering, extreme altruism or despair, and so when we read about the deaths of other people, we are moved partly because we start imagining our own: the pain of leaving the people we love, and their confusion at our departure. Or we think of the helplessness of watching someone we love slipping beyond our reach. The notion of death is so mysterious and enormous that, in many cases, it seems easier just to lock it away, although it has a way of escaping and sneaking up on our peripheral vision. -- Still, the option of pretending to ignore death (for a period of our lives, at least) has not been available to the bulk of humanity throughout history. In the 15th century, when the Ars moriendi, or “Art of Dying”, was written, the book desperately sought to popularise the concept of a “good death”, partly because – in the aftermath of the Black Death – an early demise was so frequent and lurid that some kind of etiquette guide was required. Both real-life accounts and novels were later preoccupied with the deathbed scene, which was, in many ways, the dramatic high point of a person’s life. It was their moment in which to forgive, regret, recant or curse, the final deal, the instant at which they revealed their essential self, and onlookers were unashamedly interested in it. I can never think of the deaths of those I knew and loved, even those who were very old, without some small recurrent aftershock, some fresh sense of the overwhelming strangeness of their disappearance. The ritual of mourning and the ceremony of the funeral or memorial provides shapes for grief to stumble into, yet even those are designed primarily to comfort the living. What our society presently lacks – save for a few enlightened homes and hospices – is much structured means of comforting the dying, who are too often abandoned in hospital wards surprised by fear and pain. http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/17/clothespin_grav.html Jill Fallon Cemeteries and graves 2013-05-17T00:23:58-05:00 Giant Clothespin Gravestone The clothespin gravestone marked the grave of W. Jack Crowell, who owned the National Clothespin Company, the last wooden clothespin manufacturer in the United States (today it produces plastic clothespins and barrettes). Originally, Jack wanted a... http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/17/clothespin_grav.html Giant Clothespin Gravestone The clothespin gravestone marked the grave of W. Jack Crowell, who owned the National Clothespin Company, the last wooden clothespin manufacturer in the United States (today it produces plastic clothespins and barrettes). Originally, Jack wanted a giant clothespin with real spring so children could teeter on it. http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/16/unhappy_diners.html Jill Fallon No Way to Go 2013-05-16T16:15:26-05:00 Unhappy diners 'beat top Japanese chef to death' Top Japanese chef Miki Nozawa has died after apparently being attacked by two German men who were unhappy with the fried noodles from his restaurant on the North Sea island of... http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/16/unhappy_diners.html Unhappy diners 'beat top Japanese chef to death' Top Japanese chef Miki Nozawa has died after apparently being attacked by two German men who were unhappy with the fried noodles from his restaurant on the North Sea island of Sylt. The men, aged 36 and 50 are thought to have beaten 57-year-old Nozawa to death outside a strip club on the upmarket holiday island, Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Thursday. Earlier in the evening the pair had eaten Nozawa's beef, vegetable and fried noodle dish, which they disliked and refused to pay for. They left his restaurant and headed to a nearby strip club, where they bumped into the chef. Nozawa recognized them and insisted both give him €10 – a request that was not met well and as the argument escalated the trio went outside. It was allegedly there that the two handymen beat the chef so badly he had to be taken to hospital. He died on Tuesday as a result of his injuries, Ulrike Stahlmann-Liebelt, state prosecutor from the nearby city of Flensburg, confirmed. She would not say whether reports that the men beat him until his entire left side was, as the Bild newspaper said, “one big purple bruise,” were true. Rest in peace http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/16/going_to_the_ga.html Jill Fallon Last Words, Obits, Eulogies and Epitaphs 2013-05-16T15:51:28-05:00 Gallows used to hang bootlegger who SMILED as he faced death at one of America's last public executions in 1928 are discovered in an old barn The gallows used to hang an infamous prohibition-era gangster in one of America's... http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/16/going_to_the_ga.html Gallows used to hang bootlegger who SMILED as he faced death at one of America's last public executions in 1928 are discovered in an old barn The gallows used to hang an infamous prohibition-era gangster in one of America's last public executions have been discovered in a dusty old barn.  Bootlegger Charlie Birger was hanged in the town of Benton on April 19, 1928. He famously went to his death with a grin telling the crowd who had gathered to watch: 'It's a beautiful world.' He had been sentenced to death for ordering the murder of an Illinois town's mayor and was one of the last people to be publicly hanged in the state of Illinois. -- CHARLIE BIRGER Charlie Birger, a Russian immigrant whose real name was Shachna Itzik Birger, was executed on April 19, 1928 after spending a year in jail. According to the jail museum, he was a well-liked 'protector,' known for tossing coins to kids and even sharing his wealth among a few neighbors in the southern Illinois community of Harrisburg. In the mid 1920s he famously went to war with the Ku Klux Klan who supported supported prohibition viewing alcohol as 'un-American'. To law enforcement, he was known for for his bootlegging business, which he ran out of a speakeasy called the Shady Rest. The business is what led him to be convicted in plotting the murder of Joseph Adams, who was the mayor of West City, Illinois. Adams got into the middle of a turf war between Birger's gang and another group of bootleggers and as violence escalated, Adams wound up dead.  He was allegedly shot to death at the front door of his home by two of Birgers' men. Birger was later arrested for plotting Adams' murder. Some say Birger's smile on the day of his hanging could have been a result of the dosage of morphine he was provided just before he walked to the gallows.  Others claim, however, that Birger had actually declined the drugs. http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/16/bill_murray_rec.html Jill Fallon Stories 2013-05-16T15:31:07-05:00 Old Love “Gilda got married and went away. None of us saw her anymore. There was one good thing: Laraine had a party one night, a great party at her house. And I ended up being the disk jockey.... http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/16/bill_murray_rec.html Old Love “Gilda got married and went away. None of us saw her anymore. There was one good thing: Laraine had a party one night, a great party at her house. And I ended up being the disk jockey. She just had forty-fives, and not that many, so you really had to work the music end of it. There was a collection of like the funniest people in the world at this party. Somehow Sam Kinison sticks in my brain. The whole Monty Python group was there, most of us from the show, a lot of other funny people, and Gilda. Gilda showed up and she’d already had cancer and gone into remission and then had it again, I guess. Anyway she was slim. We hadn’t seen her in a long time. And she started doing, “I’ve got to go,” and she was just going to leave, and I was like, “Going to leave?” It felt like she was going to really leave forever. So we started carrying her around, in a way that we could only do with her. We carried her up and down the stairs, around the house, repeatedly, for a long time, until I was exhausted. Then Danny did it for a while. Then I did it again. We just kept carrying her; we did it in teams. We kept carrying her around, but like upside down, every which way—over your shoulder and under your arm, carrying her like luggage. And that went on for more than an hour—maybe an hour and a half—just carrying her around and saying, “She’s leaving! This could be it! Now come on, this could be the last time we see her. Gilda’s leaving, and remember that she was very sick—hello?” We worked all aspects of it, but it started with just, “She’s leaving, I don’t know if you’ve said good-bye to her.” And we said good-bye to the same people ten, twenty times, you know. And because these people were really funny, every person we’d drag her up to would just do like five minutes on her, with Gilda upside down in this sort of tortured position, which she absolutely loved. She was laughing so hard we could have lost her right then and there. It was just one of the best parties I’ve ever been to in my life. I’ll always remember it. It was the last time I saw her.” http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/14/young_girl_kill.html Jill Fallon Dead used for propaganda or profit 2013-05-14T19:36:33-05:00 British schoolgirl 'murdered for her organs' in India, family claim Gurkiren Kaur Loyal's family said she was being treated for a simple case of dehydration when staff at a clinic gave her a mystery injection which took her life.... http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/14/young_girl_kill.html British schoolgirl 'murdered for her organs' in India, family claim Gurkiren Kaur Loyal's family said she was being treated for a simple case of dehydration when staff at a clinic gave her a mystery injection which took her life. Her relatives said they guarded the eight-year-old's body, meaning her organs could not be taken in time to be used in transplant operations. But she was then subjected to a "medieval" post-mortem, during which all her major organs were removed in a bid to hide the truth of how she had been killed, the grieving family claim. It was only once her body was flown home to Britain that they discovered her organs were missing and only her eyes remained, the family said. -- The Indian police and medical authorities made little attempt to investigate the death, they say. -- Her mother Amrit Kaur Loyal said: "My baby was innocent and now I am devastated without her. Gurkiren was fine, she was chatting to us and planned to buy some gifts for her cousins. While we were talking an assistant came up carrying a pre-filled syringe and reached for the tube in her hand. "I asked what was the injection for, but he gave me a blank look and injected the liquid into her. "Within a split-second Gurkiren's head flipped back, her eyes rolled in her head, and the colour completely drained from her. I knew they had killed her on the spot. I knew my innocent child had been murdered." Coun Kooner, a friend the family, said it was "highly probable" that she had been killed in a bid to harvest her organs. -- There is reportedly a "lucrative underground market" for human organs in India. In 2007, Ravindranath Seppan, of the Chennai Doctors' Association for Social Equality, admitted: "India's rich are turning to India's poor to live longer." He said the commercial trade of human organs remained big business, despite having been banned in 1994. http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/14/a_botched_funer.html Jill Fallon Funerals, Burials and Cremations 2013-05-14T00:44:19-05:00 Navy Seal Team 6 were the special forces that hunted down and killed Osama Bin Laden on May 1, 2011 Just 93 days later, 30 American troops, most of them members of Team 6 were among 39  killed in... http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/14/a_botched_funer.html http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/13/you_gave_me_an.html Jill Fallon Death and Dying 2013-05-13T16:38:12-05:00 Officer is reunited with suicidal man he talked down from from the Golden Gate Bridge eight years ago… to find he's now happily married with two kids A San Francisco man who almost took his life eight years ago... http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/13/you_gave_me_an.html Officer is reunited with suicidal man he talked down from from the Golden Gate Bridge eight years ago… to find he's now happily married with two kids A San Francisco man who almost took his life eight years ago by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge has been reunited with the hero who saved his life. Kevin Berthia was perched on the iconic bridge ready to take a fatal leap on March 11, 2005, when he heard the voice of California Highway Patrol officer Kevin Briggs calling out to him from above. Over 60 life-changing minutes, Briggs managed to convince Berthia, as he has done with hundreds of suicidal men and women, to climb back over the rail and give life another shot. Since that significant day Berthia hasn't looked back and is now happily married with two children. And this week he was able to thank the man who made all that possible. The pair reunited as part of an emotional ceremony honoring Briggs and other members of the CHP known as the Guardians of the Golden Gate Bridge, whose job it is to gently talk people like Berthia down from the structure. 'It was phenomenal,' Berthia, 30, told Yahoo News about the reunion at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention public service ceremony. 'I didn't know what I was going to feel, or how I was going to react,' he said. 'But when I first saw him, he walked up me and I just shook his hand. It felt like I had known this man my whole life. The nerves weren't there. It was just two old friends being reunited.' As he presented Briggs with the award, Bertha explained how grateful he was for Briggs' help and urged others to seek help, insisting they could too get better and life a fulfilled life. 'I didn't want him to try and stop me but now I'm glad he did,' he told the crowd. 'All I can say is that I am truly grateful. You gave me an opportunity to live.' A resounding image of the man clinging to the bridge as Briggs spoke to him provoked an outpouring of support from the Bay area community. After he received the award, Briggs said he was 'very humbled, honored and happy' to have the recognition for his team's hard work. 'I (accept this award) on behalf of the California Highway Patrol and police officers across this country who strive to do their best each and every time they receive a suicide call. 'During my career I've encountered numerous suicide attempts on the Golden Gate Bridge. Of those attempts, I've only lost one person. It's something you never forget. 'Kevin found the courage in himself that day to climb back over the rail, thus beginning a new stage in his life. Here, standing before us, is the reason we do what we do.' http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/10/i_never_dreamed.html Jill Fallon 2013-05-10T13:26:50-05:00 Seamstress weeps with relief as she is rescued from rubble SEVENTEEN days after Bangladesh clothing factory collapsed killing more than 1,000 people A seamstress wept with relief as she was pulled alive from the rubble of the Bangladesh clothing... http://www.estatevaults.com/lm/archives/2013/05/10/i_never_dreamed.html Seamstress weeps with relief as she is rescued from rubble SEVENTEEN days after Bangladesh clothing factory collapsed killing more than 1,000 people A seamstress wept with relief as she was pulled alive from the rubble of the Bangladesh clothing factory, 17 days after the disaster that has claimed more than 1,000 lives. Nineteen-year-old Reshma Begum, who emerged almost unscathed, had been trapped near a basement prayer room and survived by scavenging for dried food in the wreckage around her. She was discovered after rescuers heard groaning, moments before they were due to demolish a concrete slab surrounding the tiny space where she was entombed. Speaking from her hospital bed in Dhaka, she said: 'It was so bad for me. I never dreamed I'd see the daylight again.' She told police she had made contact with three other people under the rubble, but one by one they fell silent - rescue workers later recovered their bodies near from where Reshma was found. The incredible discovery came as the death toll from the accident, which has become the world's worst industrial accident since the Bhopal disaster in India in 1984, rose above 1,000. There are fears many more bodies are trapped inside. -- 'I heard voices of the rescue workers for the past several days. I kept hitting the wreckage with sticks and rods just to attract their attention,' she told the private Somoy TV from her hospital bed as doctors and nurses milled about, giving her saline and checking her condition. 'No one heard me. It was so bad for me. I never dreamed I'd see the daylight again,' she said. 'There was some dried food around me. I ate the dried food for 15 days. 'The last two days I had nothing but water. I used to drink only a limited quantity of water to save it. I had some bottles of water around me,' she said. It is unimaginable how horrific this fire and collapse has been.  How many grieving families.  More than 1000 people lost so we could have cheap clothes.