William Franklin Graham Jr.
(November 7, 1918 – February 21, 2018)
Billy Graham was a evangelist and an ordained Southern Baptist
minister who became well known internationally in the late 1940s.
He was a prominent evangelical Christian figure, and according to
a biographer, was "among the most influential Christian leaders"
of the 20th century.
On February 19, 1847, the first rescuers reach surviving members
of the Donner Party, a group of California-bound emigrants
stranded by snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
In the summer of 1846, in the midst of a Western-bound fever
sweeping the United States, 89 people—including 31 members
of the Donner and Reed families—set out in a wagon train from Springfield, Illinois. After arriving at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, the emigrants decided to avoid the usual route and try a new trail
recently blazed by California promoter Lansford Hastings, the
so-called “Hastings Cutoff.” After electing George Donner
(below) as their captain, the party departed Fort Bridger in
mid-July.
The shortcut was nothing of the sort: It set the Donner Party back
nearly three weeks and cost them much-needed supplies. After
suffering great hardships in the Wasatch Mountains, the Great
Salt Lake Desert and along the Humboldt River, they finally
reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains in early October.
Despite the lateness of the season, the emigrants continued to
press on, and on October 28 they camped at Truckee Lake,
located in the high mountains northwest of Lake Tahoe.
Overnight, an early winter storm blanketed the ground with
snow, blocking the mountain pass and trapping the Donner
Party.
George Donner (1836 – 1874)
James F. Reed and his wife, Margret W. Keyes Reed, seen
in this file photo taken in the 1850s, were survivors of the
tragic Donner Party.
Map of the route taken by the Donner Party, showing the Hastings Cutoff—which added 150 miles (240 km) to
their travels—in orange.
Ralph Dale Earnhardt ( April 29, 1951 – February 18, 2001)
On February 18, 2001, Dale Earnhardt Sr., considered one of
the greatest drivers in National Association for Stock Car
Auto Racing (NASCAR) history, died at the age of 49 in a last-
lap crash at the 43rd Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Earnhardt was driving his famous black No. 3 Chevrolet and
vying for third place when he collided with another car, then
crashed into a wall. After being cut from his car, Earnhardt,
was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead of
head injuries.
Kannapolis, NC: Dale Earnhardt Memorial.
Stella Stevens (born Estelle Eggleston)
(October 1, 1938 – February 17, 2023)
(The Hollywood Reporter) – Stella Stevens,
the screen siren of the 1960s who brought
sweet sexiness to such films as The Nutty
Professor, Too Late Blues and The Ballad
of Cable Hogue, has died. According to her
son, actor-producer-director Andrew Stevens,
she died today in Los Angeles. He said “She
had been in hospice for quite some time with
Stage 7 Alzheimer’s.”
Stella Stevens and Michael Landon in an
episode of “Bonanza” on NBC.
Stevens and Jerry Lewis from
“The Nutty Professor” (1963).
Jo Raquel Welch (September 5, 1940 – February 15, 2023
(FOXNEWS) – Actress Raquel Welch died Wednesday at her
home in Los Angeles, following a brief illness.
The superstar catapult to fame in the sixties with "Fantastic
Voyage" and "One Million Years B.C."
Welch starred alongside a few of Hollywood’s leading men
through the years, including Frank Sinatra, Robert Wagner,
James Stewart, Dean Martin and Burt Reynolds.
