Some More 2020 Deaths, October-December: Gibson, Morgan, Dinkins, Maradona, Prowse, and Johnson

DEATHS IN OCTOBER

BOB GIBSON, 84

Baseball Hall of Famer and dominating St. Louis Cardinals pitcher.  Died October 2.

JOE MORGAN, 77

Hall of Fame second baseman became the sparkplug of the dominant Cincinnati teams of the mid-1970s.  Died October 11.

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DEATHS IN NOVEMBER

DAVID DINKINS, 93

Broke barriers as New York City's first black mayor.  Died November 23.

DIEGO MARADONA, 60

Argentine soccer great who scored the "Hand of God" goal in 1986 and led his country to that year's World Cup title.  Died November 25.

DAVE PROWSE, 85

British weight lifter-turned-actor who was the body of arch-villain Darth Vader in the original "Star Wars" trilogy.  Died November 28.

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DECEMBER

RAFER JOHNSON, 86

Won the decathlon at the 1960 Rome Olympics and helped subdue Robert F. Kennedy's assassin in 1968.  Died December 2.

If It's Not Tonsils, It's Polio in DeKalb County in 1920 and 1945

 From the August 12, 2020,  MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1920, 100 Years Ago.

"Tonsil cases at the hospital occupied a great deal of the time of the attendants this morning because of the fact that there were four who had their tonsils removed instead of the usual one or two.

"The children having the occupation performed were Waite Embree, Evelyn Hiland, Marian Miller and Lilea Miller.  All of the children are doing nicely  and will be able to go to their homes this evening."

I had my tonsils removed  when I was child.  That was so mean, they promised me ice cream but my throat was too sore to eat any of it.  I screamed for ice cream.

1945, 75 Years Ago.

"The DeKalb Lodge Loyal Order of the Moose has purchases a portable  iron lung from the Portable Life Saving Company of St. Louis, Mo.  The new equipment is now at the fire station, where every member of the department will be taught how to use it."

The portable iron lung was used to treat cases of polio.

That Promising Ice Cream That You Couldn't Eat Was Not Nice.  --DaCoot

The First St. Louisan Killed in World War I

From the Feb. 23, 2013, St. Louis (Mo) Post-Dispatch "A Look Back: First St. Louisan killed in World War I is still honored with a city park" by Tim O'Neil.

David Hickey was 38 (kind of old) when he volunteered for the Army in April 1917.  He was assigned to an artillery battery and sent to France to the village of Seichepray, near the slaughter house of Verdun.  And, this is where he died.

Back in St. Louis, he had been a paperboy and later worked in a shoe factory, the Post-Dispatch mail room and played on local amateur baseball teams.

Sad to be the First.