Alan Robert Copeland (October 6, 1926 – December 28, 2022)

(Hollywood Reporter) – Alan Copeland, the songwriter, Grammy-
winning arranger and ultra-smooth vocalist known for his many
years with The Modernaires and performances on Your Hit Parade
and The Red Skelton Hour, died December 28 in an assisted living
facility in Sonora, California. He was 96.

As recently as this fall, Copeland was still singing and playing
keyboards in a quartet called Now You Hazz Jazz.

Bessie Hendricks was the oldest living person in the US and
fourth in the world, according to Gerontology Research Group
before she passed away at Shady Oaks Care Center in Lake
City, Iowa, Tuesday at age 115.

Hendricks was born in that city on Nov. 7, 1907, and she grew
up on a farm. She later went on to raise five children, two of
whom she outlived.

Ronnie Walter Cunningham (March 16, 1932 – January 3, 2023)

Walter Cunningham, the last surviving astronaut from the first
successful crewed space mission in NASA’s Apollo program,
died Tuesday in Houston. He was a lunar module pilot on the 
1968 Apollo 7 mission. NASA confirmed Cunningham’s death
on Twitter.

Apollo 7 crewmates Donn Eisele (at left), Wally Schirra
(center) and Walt Cunningham.  (NASA)

Anita Marie Pointer (January 23, 1948 – December 31, 2022)

Anita was a founding member of the vocal group the
Pointer Sisters. She died from cancer at her home in
Los Angeles.

Barbara Jill Walters (September 25, 1929 – December 30, 2022)

Walters was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1989. On
June 15, 2007, Walters received a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame. She has won Daytime and Prime Time Emmy Awards, a
Women in Film Lucy Award, and a GLAAD Excellence in Media
award.