2012 in Review: Remembering Those We Lost

We lost a lot of great ones this last year. Too many who were important, in one way or another, to WC. Here are notes and links to a few of them.

President Bill Clinton awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to McGovern at the White House. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)	George McGovern, the first presidential candidate for whom WC actively campaigned. An absolutely decent man. WC still wonders who the other vote for McGovern was in the Aurora Precinct.
Neil Armstrong (NASA photo)	“Neil Armstrong was also a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job.” Maybe so, but he was WC’s hero at an age when WC was really too old for heros.
Helen Gurley Brown, c. 1980	Helen Gurley Brown, author, editor, publisher, businesswoman and the very definition of a classy lady. She changed the public perception of women, and women’s self-perception.
Sally Ride (NASA photo)	Sally Ride, another class act among astronauts, she was America’s first woman in space, 20 years after the Soviets. “Ride, Sally, Ride.”
The Original Dillards, c. 1967, Doug Dillard on Banjo	Doug Dillard fused folk music and nascent bluegrass. And he brought a bit of humor to the far too serious genre.
Donald “Duck” Dunn – Photo 2007 by Rick Diamond/WireImage	Donald “Duck” Dunn defined the studio musician. A superb bass player, he laid down the brilliant open licks on Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay”
Levon Helm, 1975, from “The Last Waltz”	Levon Helm, perhaps the biggest loss among musicians. The heart of The Band, he changed pop music.
Doc Watson, Chicago, 1979	Arthel “Doc” Watson, master of flat-picking guitar and an authentic voice in Americana music. Endlessly copied, never surpassed. “Just one of the people.”
Donna Summer. Cover of Once Upon a Time	Donna Summer, the Queen of Disco, and the pioneer for many women pop stars today. She worked hard for her money.
Dave Brubeck, 2010	Dave Brubeck, who broke the chains of 4/4 time and was the inspiration for West Coast Jazz. His show in Fairbanks is on WC’s list of ten best concerts ever.
NEWTOWN SHOOTING VICTIMS Charlotte Bacon, 6 Daniel Barden, 7 Olivia Engel, 6 Josephine Gay, 7 Ana Marquez-Greene, 6 Dylan Hockley, 6 Madeleine Hsu, 6 Catherine Hubbard, 6 Chase Kowalski, 7 Jesse Lewis, 6 James Mattioli, 6 Grace McDonnell, 7 Emilie Parker, 6 Jack Pinto, 6 Noah Pozner, 6 Caroline Previdi, 6 Jessica Rekos, 6 Avielle Richman, 6 Benjamin Wheeler, 6 Allison Wyatt, 6 Rachel Davino, 29, Teacher Dawn Hochsprung, 47, School principal Nancy Lanza, 52, Mother of gunman Anne Marie Murphy, 52, Teacher Lauren Rousseau, 30, Teacher Mary Sherlach, 56, School psychologist Victoria Soto, 27, Teacher	We mourn.