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JOHN E. CLAYTON SR., 81, of Guilford, Ind., died Monday. He was a retired technical writer for Campbell-Hausfeld and a former bus driver for Cincinnati Transit. Services: 2 p.m. Saturday at Cook Funeral Home, Sunman, Ind. Visitation: noon Saturday at the funeral home.
Date of announcement: 03-07-2003
Nebraska SMITH, 82, of Evanston, died Wednesday. He was a veteran. Services: 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Thompson, Hall and Jordan Funeral Home, Walnut Hills. Visitation: 9 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home.
Date of announcement: 03-07-2003
Rev. Robert C. Berson served poor
Greater Cincinnati has lost a priest known for serving "the poorest of the poor" in Appalachia and other areas of the United States.
Rev. Robert C. Berson, a member of the Fairfield-based Glenmary Home Missioners, died Wednesday in Fairfield.
Rev. Berson, 79, affectionately known as Father Bob, spent 14 years leading Glenmary, first as superior general, from 1965 to 1971, and then as president, from 1975 to 1983.
Even when he became an administrator, he never stayed away from the missions for long.
Before the nation's interstates were built, Rev. Berson, a pilot, often flew from Cincinnati to remote areas to keep in touch with the Glenmary missioners.
Following his ordination in 1949, he spent 11 years in the mountains of Southwest Virginia. He then returned to Cincinnati in 1960 to serve in various administrative capacities.
He returned to the mission fields as a Deep South regional worker, based in Georgia, in 1971.
Rev. Berson served in several other mission assignments before Parkinson's Disease forced him to return to the Glenmary Residence in Fairfield in 2000.
Rev. Berson is survived by two sisters, Ruth Berssenbruegge of Cincinnati and Mary Spellmire of Lebanon.
Visitation will be 6 to 9 p.m. Monday at St. Gabriel Church in Glendale. A prayer service will be held at 7:30 p.m.
Mass of Christian Burial will be 10 a.m. Tuesday at the church.
Memorials are requested to Glenmary Home Missioners, P.O. Box 465618, Cincinnati, OH 45246-5618.
Date of announcement: 03-08-2003
ANNABELLE (WOLF) BRIGGS, 87, of Greensburg, Ind., formerly of Pleasant Township, died Thursday. She was a homemaker and helped her husband on their farm. Services: 2 p.m. Monday at Haskell & Morrison Funeral Home, Vevay, Ind. Visitation: 4-7 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home. Memorials: Long Run Baptist Church, with cards are available at the funeral home.
Date of announcement: 03-08-2003
MILDRED M. HENDERSON, 82, of Deer Park, died Wednesday. She was a nurse's aide. Services: 11 a.m. Monday at Thompson, Hall and Jordan Funeral Home, Forest Park. Visitation: 10 a.m. Monday at the funeral home.
Date of announcement: 03-08-2003
Shirley Jester, pianist, singer for 40 years
Shirley Jester, the reigning queen of Cincinnati night life for four decades, died of cancer Saturday at Hospice of Blue Ash. She was 70.
Ms. Jester, who often interrupted her songs with a comic quip or changed a lyric just for a laugh, was a fixture at important Cincinnati night spots. The pianist-singer opened the now-razed Sinton Hotel's romantically lit Coal Hole Bar & Lounge in 1958.
She was the only performer to play there for the first 5 1/2 years she held court at the large piano-bar.
Stars of touring musicals often would drop by the Coal Hole to perform a few songs after their shows at the Taft and Shubert theaters. Ms. Jester constantly increased her repertoire of Broadway songs -- often before the scores bowed on Broadway.
She moved from the Sinton to the Vernon Manor lounge in 1963 and played there for 14 years. Her most glamourous gig was at Stouffer's Top of the Crown (since then the Clarion, now the Regal Hotel), 1982-89.
Terry Moore accompanied her there on drums and Bob Poe was bassist.
Her long runs were attributed not only to her lively entertaining style but the loyalty of her audiences. Her fans followed her around from one watering spot to another.
Born in Cincinnati in 1933, she was playing the piano at 3. By 6, she still had not had a lesson but impressed the press by showing them she could play quite well blindfolded.
Ms. Jester would listen to songs on the radio and then go play them on the piano. Her father, Charles Jester, said she began by playing simple nursery rhymes. She soon became pianist for her kindergarten class in North College Hill.
Once out of high school at Our Lady of Angels, she was hired as staff pianist at WKRC.
Ms. Jester remained in Cincinnati and didn't make a good fit in New York. She told The Post in 1978, she had made an appearance on the Garry Moore show in New York soon after high school in 1955 but didn't like how staffers would barge into "my dressing room without even knocking. I guess I wasn't ready for the big time."
"I'm too nice; I'm not hard enough to become a star."
She said that one of the delays in her career was waiting eight years to marry newsman George Palmer. She married Palmer in 1962. A daughter, Haven, was born in 1965.
Another career block was alcohol. "Someone was always saying, 'have a drink on me, Shirley.'" so I did. She sought recovery as a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Four years ago she had a stroke that left her unable to sing. She still played piano regularly at Sunday brunches at Kenwood Country Club.
A memorial service will be held at a future date. Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, 11117 Kenwood Road, Cincinnati, OH 45202.
Date of announcement: 03-10-2003
ANNABELLE WOLF BRIGGS, 87, of Greensburg, Ind., died Thursday. She was a former teacher, a farmer and a member of Long Run Baptist Church in Moorefield, Ind. Services: 2 p.m. today at Haskell & Morrison Funeral Home, Vevay, Ind. Memorials: Long Run Baptist Church.
Date of announcement: 03-10-2003
WILLIE SAMUEL BROWN, 70, of Western Hills, died Friday. He was a retired machinist with Condomatic Manufacturing Co., Detroit, and an Army veteran of the
Korean War. Services: noon Thursday at Allen Temple Worship Center, Bond Hill. Visitation: 11 a.m. Thursday at the church. Thompson, Hall and Jordan Funeral Home, Walnut Hills, is handling arrangements.
Date of announcement: 03-10-2003
BONNIE MAE RUNNER KING, 75, of Vevay, Ind., died Saturday. She was a former postal clerk with the Cross Plains, Ind., post office and a member of Cross Plains United Methodist Church. Services: 11 a.m. today at Haskell & Morrison Funeral Home, Vevay. Visitation: 9 a.m. today at the funeral home.
Date of announcement: 03-10-2003
WILMA JUANITA JAMES MCCLELLAN, 92, of Vevay, Ind., died Saturday. She was a writer with Vevay Newspapers for 30 years and a member of Ruter Chapel United Methodist Church, Vevay. Services: 3 p.m. Wednesday at Haskell & Morrison Funeral Home, Vevay. Visitation: 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home. Memorials: Fredonia Baptist Church or Tina Sue's Kindergarten Class.
Date of announcement: 03-10-2003
MARSHALL MEEKS, 71, of Bond Hill, died Thursday. He was a retired construction worker. Services: 7 p.m. Tuesday at Jamison & Jamison Funeral Home, Evanston. Visitation: 6 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home.
Date of announcement: 03-10-2003
Dr. Noble Fowler, UC director of cardiology
Dr. Noble Fowler, director of cardiology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and at University Hospital for more than 15 years, died Saturday.
His research was recognized by numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health, and he received one of the first million-dollar research grants awarded to UC.
Dr. Fowler earned his medical degree from the University of Tennessee in 1941 and continued his medical education at the University of Cincinnati Hospital.
He became professor of medicine at UC in 1964 and was director of the Division of Cardiology from 1970 to 1986, when he was named Professor Emeritus of Medicine. He worked until 1999, when he retired completely.
Dr. Fowler served on the editorial boards of eight medical journals, including the American Heart Journal, Journal of the American College of Cardiology and American Journal of Noninvasive Cardiology. He wrote eight books, 46 textbooks chapters and 149 medical papers.
He received numerous awards, including the Gifted Teacher Award of the American College of Cardiology, the Distinguished Alumnus award of the University of Tennessee, the Samuel Kaplan Visionary Cardiology Award and a Special Recognition Award from the Council on Clinical Cardiology of the American Heart Association.
Survivors include his wife, Charlotte Ruth Fowler; daughters, Jo Ann Basset and Anne Stewart Christen; son, Michael Owen Fowler; sister, Katherine Getske; six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
A memorial service is set for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Knox Presbyterian Church in Hyde Park.
Memorials may be sent to the Division of Cardiology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 231 Bethesda Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio 45267.
Date of announcement: 03-11-2003
MESCAL M. (KOONS) BROWN, 81, of Rising Sun, Ind., died Sunday. She was retired from Dearborn County Hospital, Lawrenceburg. Services: 11 a.m. Wednesday at Rising Sun Church of Christ. Visitation: 5 to 8 p.m. today at Markland Funeral Home, Rising Sun. Memorials: Dearborn County Hospice.
Date of announcement: 03-11-2003
ELEANOR ANN FLETCHER, 53, of Lawrenceburg, Ind., died Sunday. She was a postmaster for Cross Plains Post Office. Mass of Christian Burial: 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Lawrence Catholic Church, Lawrenceburg. Visitation: 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Fitch-Denney Funeral Home, Lawrenceburg. Memorials: St. Lawrence Sister Parish.
Date of announcement: 03-11-2003
PAUL JEROME HARRIS, 47, of Lawrenceburg, Ind., died Sunday. He was an electrician for Delta Faucet. Services: 11 a.m. Wednesday at Fitch-Denney Funeral Home, Lawrenceburg. Visitation: 5 to 8 p.m. today at the funeral home. Memorials: Kidney Foundation.
Date of announcement: 03-11-2003
MELVIN LEE MOFFETT, 74, of North Avondale, died Friday. He worked in maintenance for Metropolitan Housing Authority. Services: 11 a.m. Thursday at Thompson, Hall and Jordan Funeral Home, Walnut Hills. Visitation: 10 a.m. Thursday at the funeral home.
Date of announcement: 03-11-2003