“He Took the Idea of ‘Being Hard to Love’ as a Personal Challenge”
Alton Illinois, Kenneth Kenne Joseph Pluhar Jr., Obituaries

Category Archive 'Obituaries'
19 Mar 2025
“He Took the Idea of ‘Being Hard to Love’ as a Personal Challenge”Alton Illinois, Kenneth Kenne Joseph Pluhar Jr., Obituaries![]() 22 Feb 2015
Another Member of the Greatest Generation GoneLeon Kent, Obituaries, The Right Stuff, WWII![]()
The LA Times published a pretty impressive obituary for Leon Kent.
Read the whole thing. 12 Jan 2015
Anita Ekberg, Dead at 83"La Dolce Vita" (1960), Anita Ekberg, Obituaries![]() Federico Fellini had her portray an unattainable sex goddess in La Dolce Vita (1960). —————————– 04 Dec 2014
Nathaniel Branden, 9 April 1930 – 3 December 2014Ayn Rand, Libertarianism, Nathaniel Branden, Obituaries, Objectivism![]()
Reason and Huffington Post are both reporting this morning that Nathaniel Branden died yesterday in Los Angeles after a long illness.
Read the whole thing. ———————————
Read the whole thing. ——————————— The young Nathaniel Branden was apparently an enfant terrible, notoriously arrogant, inflexible, and intolerant. He is generally supposed to have been principally responsible for the cult-like quality of Ayn Rand’s private circle, and reports abound of the young Branden conducting inquisitorial trials for deviationist infractions leading to the defendant’s excommunication and expulsion. But, after the notorious break-up with Rand, he behaved with admirable dignity and restraint. While Rand hysterically denounced him and slandered him with false accusations, he avoided responding, merely relocating to the other side of the continent and building a new career as a pop psychologist counseling Californians on how to cure their neuroses by cultivating self-esteem. It was amusing to see how thoroughly the former head of the rigid and formal Rand Jugend became Californianized. The later Branden began to speak well of pot smoking, and had himself photographed in guyabera shirts lounging beside a swimming pool. Despite all that, he remained staunchly libertarian, and advocated essentially the same kind of politics and economics he had when he was Ayn Rand’s lover and deputy fuehrer. The only real difference was in his new-found personal modesty and sense of humor, overlaid with a thick layer of California squishiness. His memoir of his time with Ayn was tasteful, discreet, and obviously quite honest. Reading his later writings, no one was ever moved to worship him in the way true believers once had, but one could not avoid kind of liking him and according him a bit of grudging respect. Molliter ossa cubent. 14 Sep 2014
Melvin Poe, 24 August 1920 — 13 September 2014Foxhunting, Melvin Poe, Obituaries, Virginia![]()
The sad news arrived yesterday morning, via friends on Facebook, that Northern Virginia Horse Country’s most-admired huntsman, Melvin Poe, had passed away at his home in Hume at the age of 94. I suppose we were all expecting it. Last year, when the anniversary of his birth arrived in late August, there were gleeful reports about Melvin celebrating his birthday, on horseback as usual. When there was no such story this year, we began to worry. Melvin’s longevity, and extraordinary ability to ride and even to jump a horse at such an advanced age, had been noteworthy objects of envy and admiration throughout hunting circles for years. Melvin would occasionally ride with us, car following the Old Dominion Hounds, and when we’d leave the car to take up an observation position, I’d often find myself left behind, despite being almost 30 years younger, walking carefully and favoring a bad knee afflicted with damp weather arthritis, while Melvin could scramble up a hill as nimbly as a goat. I grew up in the mountains of Eastern Pennsylvania, where hunting and fishing were treated by many like religion, and though Melvin’s native Virginia milieu had a different sporting emphasis, on hounds and fox hunting rather than trout and deer, nonetheless, I recognized Melvin at once, on making his acquaintance, as a kindred sporting fanatic. We tended to hang out together at hunt meets, banquets, and hound shows. I last saw Melvin on Election Day of 2012, at the Episcopal Church Hall in Delaplane. We had both turned out to try to vote down Caliban, and we stood around together talking hunting for a long time. I remember that along came a lady member of a couple of local hunts from down the road in Markham who asked our advice about dealing with a skunk which had intruded into her horse barn. (Melvin and I recommended shooting the trespasser carefully in the head, from a safe distance.) Melvin had been working as professional huntsman for Old Dominion back when I was attending grade school. He left Old Dominion in 1962. I think he hunted hunted briefly for Piedmont and/or Middleburg, but before very long took to carrying the horn for Orange County (possibly the toniest Northern Virginia hunt). He was Orange County huntsman for decades, and his tenure there gained him national renown. Peter Winants published a Derrydale Press book on Foxhunting with Melvin Poe. A documentary film, produced in 1979, called Thoughts on Foxhunting, starred Melvin and preserves a living record of his remarkable dialogue in the field with hounds. Melvin retired from Orange County in 1991, but continued to hunt the neighborhood around his farm in Hume, and occasionally the vast Ohrstrom domain in Bath County in the Western mountains with a private pack made up of ill-favored, misshapen, or misbehaving hounds culled by local packs. Their quality didn’t matter in the least because Melvin could get any hound to cooperate and hunt well. We had the opportunity to go out with Melvin and his Bath County Hounds back in 2009. More frequently, we car-followed the Old Dominion Hounds with Melvin. I remember in particular one day when, I can’t remember why, Melvin and I were separated from Karen and we’d gotten in a spot well ahead of the pack when one fox after another began popping out of cover and dashing off to our left. Melvin let go with the most extreme example of the Rebel Yell (preferred by true Virginia aborigines to a mere “Tally Ho!”) I’ve ever heard. Melvin gave me a fishy look for standing there silently, so when the second fox appeared, there I was, imitating Melvin and Rebel Yelling away with him. What a memory! We will miss him. —————————————— Fauquier Times obituary —————————————— Norman Fine’s Obituary —————————————— Chronicle of the Horse: “No One Else Can Hunt Like Melvin Poe.” ——————————————
—————————————— Let’s have John Tabachka blow “Going Home” for Melvin. 27 Aug 2014
Father Jean-Marie Charles-RouxCatholic Church, Jean-Marie Charles-Roux, Obituaries![]() The Telegraph memorialized recently a colorful priest remarkable for the soundness of both his political and ecclesiastical views.
Read the whole thing. Hat tip to Rafal Heydel-Mankoo. ———————————- Damian Thompson, the Spectator’s religious editor:
26 Aug 2014
Jean Redpath, 28 April 1937 – 21 August 2014Folk Song, Jean Redpath, Obituaries, Scotland![]() The Times reports that the renowned Scottish folksinger Jean Redpath succumbed to cancer recently in a hospice in Arizona at age 77. Redpath, in the course of her career, released forty albums. She was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire, and her portrait hangs in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Three Scottish songs with comical texts from an album of Scottish song released in 1962. The first one is the best. 13 Aug 2014
155-Year-Old Eel Dies in SwedenEel, Obituaries, Sweden![]() Sweden is in mourning, and not for Robin Williams. The Local.se reports:
Read the whole story. In Pennsylvania, where I grew up, farmers often kept a brook trout in their spring house for the same reason. If you believe the story, I guess Lamarckianism must be true. Hat tip to Karen L. Myers, Gawker, and Bird Dog. I guess everybody likes an old eel. 22 Jul 2014
James Garner Memorial PostingClint Eastwood, Entertaining Commercials, James Garner, Obituaries, Television![]() Americans were saddened this week by the passing of the good-looking and always affable James Garner. It seems appropriate to remember Garner with a look at a few of his best-known roles. Bret Maverick takes on Clint Eastwood (1959): ———————– Garner’s late 1970s-early 1980s Polaroid commercials with Mariette Hartley were considered one of the advertising industry’s biggest hits. Garner tended to play the graceful loser in the battle of the sexes. Their badinage was so persuasive that a lot of people believed that Garner and Hartley were really married. 09 Jul 2013
Browns Fan’s ObitCleveland Browns, Obituaries, Obituaries![]() 55-year-old Scott Entsminger died on July 4th. He was a passionate Cleveland Browns and he left a special request for his funeral, as the Columbus Dispatch reports.
15 Apr 2012
Goodbye, Flathead!Americana, Colorado, Mike Blanchard, Obituaries, Obituaries, The Right Stuff, Viral Entertainment![]()
It was reported with appropriate admiration by Britain’s Daily Mail. ——————————— Charlie Martin added a bit more at the Daily Caller:
Read the whole thing. The world is undoubtedly a poorer, wimpier, and more boring place without this old boy.
17 Mar 2011
Dan Dennehy, January 15, 1923 – January 16, 2011Custom Knives, Dan Dennehy, Obituaries, Obituaries![]()
Another of the great men of the golden age of custom knife-making, Daniel John Dennehy, passed away earlier this year in Del Norte, Colorado. Dan Dennehy began making knives while serving in the Navy in WWII. Dennehy knives are characterized by original, simple, and practical designs tailored for specific functions. He produced a number of models specially for use by members of the armed forces, including the Pilot/Crewman, a 6″ rugged modern bowie designed to be capable of chopping an exit through a downed aircraft’s plexiglass canopy or aluminum skin; the 8″ Model 11 Green Beret, a large, double-hilted fighting knife; and the remarkable 6 1/2″, 1/4″ thick Model 13 Hoss, designed by a Navy SEAL as an indestructible knife-shaped pry bar and hammer made of surgical stainless steel which actually simultaneously manages to have a usable knife edge. Dan Dennehy’s most popular productions, though, were simple and elegant hunting and fishing knives of slender and light easy-to-carry design, representative of the philosophy of the late 19th century outdoor writer George Washington Sears, better known as “Nessmuk,” who popularized the concept of ultra-light, minimal-sized sporting and camping equipment. Dennehy forged all his larger knives, and a Dennehy forged knife exhibits a peculiar and unique glassy surface unlike any other knife. Dan Dennehy was, along with Bob Loveless and Bill Moran, one of the founders of the Knifemaker’s Guild, and one of the most respected custom knife makers. Dennehy knives were favored by such celebrities as John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, Carlos Hathcock, Barry Goldwater, as well as by the controversial Watergate burglar and talk show host G. Gordon Liddy. Liddy’s own preferred model, a more ornate, stag-handled version of the 4 1/4″ Model 4 Pro Scout became a standard catalogued option, known as the “G. Gordon Liddy Special.” Dan Dennehy stamped “Dan-D” and a shamrock on every knife as his personal trademark. He mentions in his catalogue that he was only able to produce roughly 100 knives per year. He was in business for a little more than 60 years, so his total production must have amounted to only something on the order of 6000 examples. An obituary appeared on the Knifemaker’s Guild forum back in January. ———————————- A couple of commemorative videos of Dan Dennehy’s assistants at work during the last few few years in the Dennehy shop in Del Norte, accompanied with Johnny Cash songs, have turned up on YouTube. ———————————- Best viewed in full screen mode ———————————-
———————————- Dan’s son, John Dennehy, has a custom leather operation in Loveland, Colorado, and makes some knives of his own design. He is currently offering for sale a small number of his father’s knives, and his web-site has more information on Dan Dennehy. ![]() Feeds
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