SANDY KOZEL

(1914 – 1999)

Joe DiMaggio (“Joltin Joe”) is widely considered one
of the greatest baseball players of all time and is best
known for setting the record for the longest hitting
streak in baseball (56 games from May 15 – July 16,
1941), which still stands today.

DiMaggio was a heavy smoker for much of his adult
life. He was admitted to Memorial Regional Hospital
in Hollywood, Florida, on October 12, 1998, for lung
cancer surgery and remained there for 99 days. He
returned to his Florida home, on January 19, 1999
and died thereon March 8 at age 84.

DiMaggio’s plaque at the National Baseball Hall of Fame
and Museum.

Steve Lawrence, the charismatic Grammy- and Emmy-
winning crooner who delighted audiences for decades
in nightclubs, on concert stages, in film and television appearances, died Thursday.

Publicist Susan DuBow announced Lawrence died in
Los Angeles of complications from Alzheimer’s disease. 

He partnered with the late Eydie Gormé, his wife of 55
years, in a very popular act (below). 

In 1959, Steve Lawrence released Pretty Blue Eyes as a single
and it spent 18 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking
at No. 9, while reaching No. 7 on the Cash Box Top 100.

MIKE GRACIA

A plane similar to the one in which Patsy Cline died.

A Kansas City resident named Mildred Keith snapped what
is believed to be one of the last photographs of the country music star.

Just before breakfast on the morning of March 4, Private
Albert Gitchell of the U.S. Army reported to the hospital at
Fort Riley, Kansas, complaining of the cold-like symptoms
of sore throat, fever and headache. Soon after, over 100
of his fellow soldiers had reported similar symptoms,
marking what are believed to be the first cases in the
historic influenza pandemic of 1918, later known as
Spanish flu.

The flu would eventually kill 675,000 Americans and an
estimated 20 million to 50 million people around the world, proving to be a far deadlier force than even the First World
War.

The comedic star John Candy died suddenly of a heart
attack on March 4, 1994, at the age of 43. At the time of
his death, he was living near Durango, Mexico, while
filming Wagons East, a Western comedy co-starring 
comedian Richard Lewis. Lewis died recently on
February 27th.

1987