Huge Marriages Search Engine!
JOHN R. WILLIAMS
John R. ”Jack” Williams was born Oct. 29, 1909, in Los Angeles. His family moved to Mexico when he was a year old and in 1913 moved to Phoenix.
The future governor lost his right eye to a tumor when he was 6. Williams wore glasses with a frosted lens and in later years would be nicknamed ”One-eyed Jack.”
Williams was 14 when his father, a railway express agent, died.
”After my father died, we lived in a shack in the middle of a cotton field, with no income except what I brought in from loading baggage cars at the depot in Phoenix,” Williams once said.
The young man supported his mother through a variety of jobs such as railroad baggage handler, library page, private secretary and publicist for Phoenix College.
He joined Phoenix radio station KOY in 1929 as an announcer and newscaster. He advanced to program director in the 1930s and became a part-owner of the station in 1948. He sold the station shortly before becoming governor. He also was a columnist for the now-defunct Phoenix Gazette.
Williams married his wife, Vera, in 1942 in Tucson. The couple had three children, who survive their parents. Vera Williams died in December.
Williams served on the Phoenix City Council and as mayor of Phoenix for two terms.
A Republican, he ran for governor in 1966, 1968 and 1970 and won each race. He was the first Arizona governor to serve a four-year term.
Fiscally conservative, he devoted much of his efforts as governor to orderly economic growth for the state.
It is estimated that 250,000 jobs were created during his administration.
(Dated Aug 26, 1998)
=======
John R. ”Jack” Williams
Former Ariz. governor Jack Williams dies at 88
PHOENIX – John R. ”Jack” Williams, the first Arizona governor to serve a four-year elected term and a catalyst in bringing a major water project to the state, died last night. He was 88.
Williams, a Republican who served as governor from 1967 to 1975, passed away at his Phoenix home, said Biff Doughty, funeral director for A.L. Moore Grimshaw Mortuaries.
Williams was the second-oldest of the state’s seven living ex-governors behind 91-year-old Paul Fannin.
Williams, who was born in Los Angeles in 1909 and raised in Phoenix, lost his right eye because of a tumor at age 5. He was fitted with glasses with a frosted lens, which became his trademark.
Williams was 20 when he joined KOY radio in Phoenix as a broadcaster and later owned the station. He was appointed to the City Council in 1952 and in 1956 won his first of two terms as Phoenix mayor.
By the time he left the governor’s office in 1975, Williams had become the first governor in state history to serve a four-year elected term, along with a pair of two-year terms.
The tenure of Williams, a political conservative, included a recall movement spearheaded by farm labor organizer Cesar Chavez and the firing of controversial Arizona State University philosophy Professor Morris Starsky.
”It was a very intense period,” Williams said in a 1994 interview. ”(But the) years have given me the patina of age, so I think I’m a little better-liked.”
In retirement, Williams became a member of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District board. The group oversees taxing and spending necessary to operate the Central Arizona Project and pay off its costs.
Funeral plans were pending.
(Dated Aug 25, 1998)
=======
Local blues standout Gomez loses battle with cancer
Arizona Blues Hall of Fame keyboardist Richard Gomez died Thursday night in Tucson after a battle with cancer. He was 52.
Mr. Gomez had been part of the Tucson music scene since the mid-’60s, performing and recording with numerous national and local bands including the Bad News Blues Band, Steve Grams, Heather Hardy and, for the past two years, Tony & the Torpedoes featuring Anna Warr.
He received the 1997 Tammie Award for keyboards.
Band leader Tony Uribe of Tony & the Torpedos will remember his impact on Tucson’s music scene.
”He influenced a lot of players,” Uribe said. ”The way they play and the way they approach music – their attitude.”
Mr. Gomez always approached playing with a passion, Uribe said.
”He was a genius when it came to improvising.”
The packed houses probably noticed, and after all, he was playing for them.
”He always reminded us of how important the audience was, playing for people,” Uribe said.
Two of his favorite places to play were Berky’s and Boondocks Lounge, Uribe said, particularly because of the crowds those clubs drew.
”Richard loved Tucson, and he loved the people here. The thing that he wanted to do more than anything else was play for a Tucson audience,” Uribe said.
Brother-in-law Bob Gahagan said Mr. Gomez’s genuine affinity for people and audiences was always apparent.
”He wanted the people to be able to dance and feel the music,” he said.
He put all his energies into his profession, said his sister Lesley Gahagan.
”My brother was married to music, that was his wife,” she said, ”His extended family was the Tucson music community and the Blues Society.”
Though she hated losing him, she encouraged him to let go in the end.
”I kept telling him, ‘that big blues session in the sky is waiting for you.’ ”
In addition to his musical talent, Mr. Gomez will be remembered by family and friends for his wonderful sense of humor.
”He had this marvelous sense of humor and outlook on life,” said Bob Gahagan.
”He always made me laugh,” Uribe added.
And he devoured life.
”He never let up on enjoying whatever he had at the moment,” Uribe said, ”He was always happy to be alive, always happy to play.
”Tucson is better for having had him.”
Besides being a talent keyboardist, Mr. Gomez was a Vietnam veteran, serving two years in the U.S. Army.
He is survived by his father, Edward Gomez; sister, Lesley Gahagan; brother-in-law, Bob Gahagan; two nieces; two nephews; and two grand-nieces.
In lieu of a funeral, family and friends will host a public memorial beginning at 1 p.m.
tomorrow at Boondocks, 3306 E. First Ave.
”Richard would want a party and people laughing telling stories,” said Lesley Gahagan.
The afternoon will feature many of the musicians who have shared the stage with Mr. Gomez over the years. Potluck dishes are welcome.
(Dated Aug 22, 1998)
=======
Ron Ridenhour, who exposed massacre at My Lai, dead at 52
NEW ORLEANS – Ron Ridenhour, an infantryman turned journalist who seared the world’s conscience with the first public account of the slaughter of 500 Vietnamese villagers at My Lai, died of a heart attack yesterday while playing handball in the suburb of Metairie. He was 52.
Although Ridenhour spent decades as an investigative reporter after leaving Vietnam, he was best known for exposing the events surrounding the My Lai massacre on March 16, 1968.
Ridenhour was a door gunner on an observation helicopter that flew over the village a few days after the killings. He heard about the incident from other soldiers and talked to enough people to become convinced that a massacre had occurred.
Three months after he returned home in December 1968, Ridenhour typed up what he had learned in a three-page, single-spaced letter and sent off 30 copies to Arizona’s congressional delegation and other federal officials.
Reporters soon took notice of Ridenhour’s unsparing account. In 1969, journalist Seymour Hersh won the Pulitzer Prize for his expose' of the massacre.
At the time of his death, Ridenhour was working on several projects. He was a stringer for People magazine, had co-produced a story on militias for NBC-TV’s ”Dateline” and had several speaking engagements on the 30th anniversary of My Lai in March.
He had worked as an investigative reporter in Springfield, Mass., and Phoenix, Ariz., before coming to New Orleans in 1981 to work for an alternative weekly publication.
(Dated May 11, 1998)
=======
Architect Lewis Hall apprenticed with Joesler
Tucson architect Lewis D.W. Hall, who designed custom homes in southern Arizona and led efforts to preserve the history of downtown, has died of cancer.
Mr. Hall, whose projects include Anthony’s in the Catalinas restaurant and the home that became the Tea Room at Tohono Chul Park, died Tuesday at his home. He was 83.
After studying business at the University of Arizona during the 1930s, Mr. Hall joined Murphey-Keith Building Co. There he worked with Josias Joesler, the designer of Broadway Village, St. Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church and many custom homes around Tucson.
Mr. Hall called his homes haciendas in the Spanish Colonial style, and saw to it that they included such amenities as large fireplaces, roof decks, entry courtyards, lots of Mexican ceramic and floor tile, carved doors, fountains and ornate wrought-iron grillwork.
”He was a great talent,” said developer Donald Diamond, who commissioned Mr. Hall to design his home in the Catalina foothills.
”Having learned from Joesler, he’s probably the last of that old school. He probably can’t be replaced.”
Mr. Hall’s outspoken, irascible manner sometimes hid his gentle, kindly personality.
A typical telephone greeting, uttered in a gritty, gravelly, no-nonsense voice, was, ”How in the hell ARE you?”
He didn’t have to say, ”This is Lewis Hall.” You knew immediately that it was him and that he had something on his mind.
More often than not during the past dozen years or so, that ”something” had to do with the Spanish Colonial-era presidio . The walled fortress, built on part of what is now downtown Tucson, protected Spanish soldiers, settlers and friendly Native Americans against Apache attacks.
To create a heart-of-the-city ambiance downtown, Mr. Hall believed the city should resurrect the wall, build a museum that would house working artists and artisans, replace motorized traffic with horse-drawn wagons, and plant lots of trees.
As part of his efforts in that direction, he co-founded Los Padrinos del Pueblo Viejo (grandparents of the Old Pueblo) and Tucson Presidio Trust.
”He was tenacious as hell, working so many years on the presidio thing downtown,” said Bob Shelton, founder of Old Tucson. Shelton became friends with Mr. Hall through their mutual interest in a Confederate cavalry re-enactment group.
Carol Culbertson, a co-founder of Los Padrinos and Tucson Presidio Trust, said Mr. Hall ”possessed the greatest imagination, design talent and determination of anyone I’ve ever met. And he was fearless in pursuing his goals.”
Diamond said Mr. Hall ”was always reminding all of us about our heritage – what Tucson was really like. And we need that voice in the community.”
Mr. Hall was born Oct. 5, 1914, at St. Joseph, Mo. He developed tuberculosis during his high school years, and his father, who operated a tire business and later a radio station, took him to California to recuperate.
Their train had stopped in Tucson, where they read an article about Southern Arizona Ranch School, which promised a healthful environment. California’s loss was Tucson’s gain.
The climate agreed with the young man, and he recovered his health, working on southern Arizona ranches before entering UA. His interests were in architecture, but UA had no architecture program then.
While working for Murphey-Keith Building Co. – John Murphey was a fraternity brother – Mr. Hall learned from Joesler.
”Joesler was my teacher. His influence shows in all my work,” Mr. Hall told the Tucson Citizen in 1967.
Mr. Hall said he was an apprentice to ”everyone they had in the firm – carpenters, brick layers, electricians, plumbers.”
On weekends, he gained expertise in real estate sales by showing homes.
Although Mr. Hall lacked a degree in architecture, he didn’t lack confidence in his abilities.
When a friend from his Southern Arizona Ranch School days, Tom Bell, acquired a ranch in the Nogales area, Mr. Hall suggested that he design a home for Bell and his wife. He did so, and assembled a crew of masons, plumbers and other workers to build it.
That was the start of a lifelong career in architecture. In addition to designing custom homes, he tried to build about one house a year on ”spec” – trying out ideas that appealed to him.
During World War II, Mr. Hall served with the U.S. Army in France and Ireland.
Survivors include a son, Lewis Oliver Campbell Hall of St. Louis; two daughters, Alice Hall of Durham, N.C., and Mercy Hall Huff of Tucson; and six grandchildren. He also is survived by his former wife, Mercedes Hall of Tucson.
A memorial service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Philip’s in the Hill Episcopal Church, 4440 N. Campbell Ave. The family suggests donations be sent to the Lewis Hall Memorial Fund, in care of the Tucson Presidio Trust, 1215 W. River Road, Tucson 85704.
(Dated May 14, 1998)
=======
