Category: obits

Gene Joyner, Died

Eugene Joyner died. https://www.tillmanfuneralhome.com/obituaries/eugene-joyner

We did not know him, personally, just botanically. Interesting man. He had an interest in rain forests and botanical gardens. So, right in the outskirts of West Palm Beach he built a tropical rain forest, supported it with private contributions and filled it with plants he had picked up traveling around the world. I wrote about him on this blog previously on August 14, 2018. https://www.duckpondworks.com/?p=7237

On visiting the gardens, he was the personal tour guide, always enthusiastic, always informed. There were plants and trees and fruits, several different kinds of avocados. He had tables for eating and lectures, but that never seemed to work out.

Yesterday, we called to make reservations at the garden and learned of Gene’s death. The web page said today and tomorrow would be the last days the garden would be open.

I found the two images displayed here and printed them 11×17, and looked for more. In my haste, I missed a couple. But, so what? During the drive, Sharon Googled Gene and much to her surprise, she gasped, the search turned up a picture I had taken in 2017

We arrived, parked, amidst several cars, a sign many were coming to pay their last respects. I photographed the guide we had walked with in the past who was helping to park cars. Tears welled up in my eyes.”Go in and see his sisters,” she said.

I carried my camera and the two prints. As we approached the interior, a woman sorta shrieked, “…, you’re the photographer. Come over here. We looked all night to find these pictures you took.” She remembered me and honored me by having my images displayed.  And, there on the table were the two images I had taken, 8.5×11 in the original sleeves I had sent them.

Sharon and I walked around up and down familiar paths, the only difference being that this is winter. We remembered all the seasonal views. Soon, after the property is sold and developed, all the trees will be gone and deflowered. Town homes will fill the space. There will be no sweet smells or exotic plants.

Natures natural noise won’t ever be heard again. Order will reign.

Caravaggisti Duckman

 

Mystery woman is a mystery to the photographer. “Carravaggistis in literature  use psychological fiction (also psychological realism); theirs is a narrative genre that emphasizes interior characterization and motivation to explore the spiritual, emotional, and mental lives of the characters….” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravaggisti

Bruce Harden died. Had I ever met him, I would have asked me to teach me how to see. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/10/arts/brice-marden-dead.html.

John Baldessari, Conceptual Artist, Dead at 88

Hat’s Off

John Baldessari will never die, even if he did. He was an artist who taught, did and saw. When he said Giotto influenced him, I looked at Giotto. When he covered his face with a hat, I did too. And when he did a picture I looked at it. We all steal from other artists; may he be the complainant in my case.

My Pirated Life

Bruce Kison died at 68. I got a few more years than he. He pitched in relief in  the 1971 World Series, one that heralded the end of day baseball in the Fall Classic. He left the game for a pitch hitter who drove in the winning run and therefore earned a win while not doing much more than holding the Orioles from scoring for 6 innings. He got an obit in the NYT with two pictures. Baseball stats don’t lie.

Raymond Sackler, Dead at 94

Raymond Sackler did the world a lot of favors. He donated art to improve our knowledge of the history of man and built a company which created the drug, oxycontin which threatens to destroy it.

Ironically, he built one of the world’s biggest drug empire based on product which numbs the taker, interfering with physical pain and inhibiting perspicacity, delivering it in measured doses, packaged in hermetically sealed containers, guaranteeing the absence of harmful additives. In most cases, the Government even pays for it.

Just for fun, figure out whether the net balance of his life added or subtracted from the human equation.

ANYBODY HOME

 

 

George Romero died. He taught me to be scared of the dark. Hell, I am old, which means I don’t carry heavy things and I get tired earlier. But age, the early age of television, let me watch Bela Lugosi while my parents were in the other room doing whatever.

Dracula didn’t scare me, because Zacherly was there to intercept them.

But, no one helped me with George. He made me believe in zombies.

“They’re coming to get you, Barbara.”

Stanley Green, Another Photographer, Dead

Now, why didn’t I have the courage to do this when I could? I guess it’s because I wanted to use words instead of images to change the world. I failed. Stanley Green didn’t.

Very sad. The world will miss his work. To replicate it, if that was possible, a photographer would need to be connected to the universe by strings, like he was. He could feel the beat and see it. I got the feeling from his work that he knew the answers. I wonder if he felt the same way.

BRADY’s LAWYER DEAD at 90

So, Brady’s lawyer died at 90, a good age, time to do enough and live. Didn’t you want to know what some of these lawyers and defendants looked like? How many times do you ask for Brady material? Did you ever read the original case and then look to see how it has been eviscerated?

Don’t forget Brady applies to stuff that inculates and exculpates, though prosecutors are loathe to say anything positive about those they think to indict and convict. One might ask the latest SCOTUS nominee what he thinks of it, too.