Bill Carlson, Minneapolis News Anchor, 73
Brad Ferguson
at home surrounded by friends and family. Bill was 73.
Bill had been fighting prostate cancer, and in recent days, the cancer
had spread to his liver.
Bill died around 6 p.m. His wife, Nancy, was by his side.
Bill had worked for WCCO-TV for nearly 50 years, covering the Arts and
Entertainment beat for WCCO-TV. He started his journalism career in
1951 when he joined WCCO Radio while he was still in high school.
He moved to WCCO-TV in 1959 after graduating from the University of
Minnesota.
Bill did just about everything at WCCO-TV, including anchoring the
news, reporting the weather, hosting game shows, movies, events and
even did the sports.
What Bill truly loved, was the interview format, which led to his
specialty in arts and entertainment.
During his career, Bill interviewed thousands of Hollywood stars,
including John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Paul McCartney, Tom Cruise, Robert
Redford, Barbra Streisand and Britney Spears.
Bill and his wife Nancy are passionate about animal rights issues. They
worked extensively with the Minnesota Humane Society, the Fund for
Animals and other organizations.
Bill was born in Thief River Falls, Minn., and grew up in St. Paul.
In a message to the WCCO-TV staff, the station's Vice President and
General Manager Susan Adams Loyd said, "To say that he will be sorely
missed by the staff and the community seems a gross understatement ...
I enjoyed a cup of coffee with Bill and his wife, Nancy, at their home
just a couple of weeks ago. Please know how much he spoke of his love
and respect for all of you, how proud he was to work at WCCO and how
much he wished to return to work. It may be fitting that many of us
heard Bill's voice for the last time in his contributions to our
coverage of the Academy Awards just this past week."
-----
His page at the WCCO web site is still up, and you'll find a pic there:
MWB
> MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- WCCO-TV anchor Bill Carlson died Friday evening
> at home surrounded by friends and family. Bill was 73.
>
I don't want to die surrounded by my friends and family.
I know better than to do something that stupid.
GO RED SOX
Mark
La N
"MWB" <bic...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:47c8eefa$0$16689$4c36...@roadrunner.com...
Oh my gosh. I've been there, done that. A few years ago when I was
engaging in my little dust-up with leukemia in the Vancouver Hospital, all
sorts of family members whom I hadn't seen for years came around to my
isolation room ostensibly to say their final farewells. Of our tribe of
siblings, I was the first designated to go to the Other Side, and so it was
an awkward situation for which none of the others in our stiff-upper-lip
kind of family had rehearsed. Our parents had departed rather
ceremoniously in military type funerals, the Royal Canadian Legion and
whatever padre available, taking care of the arrangements.
I had, when I was diagnosed, left to my sister an enevelope of money
designated to go towards my farewell party. I specifically insisted on
pizzas and beer followed by a hike up the Cascade Mountains to scatter my
ashes. And, because so many churches in this small city were praying for
me, I left it to my daughter to decide on a funeral. Believe it or not, she
chose the Mormon church. I would have been sent off to some Celestial
Kingdom, escorted I presume, by the Angel Moroni, to be greeted by any
number of Osmonds and inlaws and outlaws.
And, so the sibs and a few of their kids gathered at the foot of my bed,
after washing their hands so not to give me "bugs", not really knowing the
standard final farewell protocol. They had arrived from various parts of
Canada, Sweden,
and Wales. I was lying in my bed, fully conscious, albeit hooked up to
machines that gave me life via the Hickman catheter in my chest.
One brother chipped through the uncomfortable ice by saying, "Well, when I
die, I don't want any kind of funeral. Just burn me up and throw me into
the river." Another sibling responded, "Yeah, I don't believe in the froo
fra of funeral and burial expenses." And then, for some reason, they
finally remembered that my mother's headstone and not been paid for and
placed. That was always a bugaboo of mine, since I was the one who lived
closest to the cemetary in question.
Although I was pretty ill - they say, "critically" - I was fully conscious
and could not help but
see the humour in the situation. Evidently, at one point I remarked.
"Hellooo ... I'm not dead yet!" Then I invited young nieces and nephews to
rub my bald head for good luck.
Fast forward to the future .....
Anyway, I survived .... blah blah blah ... was told I should write / have
written a book about my journey of survivorship ... blah blah blah ...
The funniest part was when I asked my sister if she could return the money
that I gave her to throw my pizza-and-beer going away party. She gave me
that thousand yard stare as if she had already spent it and and was
traumatized that I actually survived to ask for a refund. And then she
laughed. I took the money and threw a big party. And I have been throwing
parties since with the theme "Celebrate Life!"
As a result, I have decided, in the future I'd just like to
slip away sneakily without all those peripheral players in my life seeming
so damned uncomfortable and making me feel that I'm inconveniencing them
...;)
- nilita - truly life is a blast! Celebrate every day by finding
something(s) to appreciate ...
Scott Brady
> MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- WCCO-TV anchor Bill Carlson died Friday evening
> at home surrounded by friends and family. Bill was 73.
>
> Bill had been fighting prostate cancer, and in recent days, the cancer
> had spread to his liver.
>
> Bill died around 6 p.m. His wife, Nancy, was by his side.
That would be Nancy Nelson, of infomercial fame.
Brad Ferguson
<8f69aba2-78f6-40f2...@z17g2000hsg.googlegroups.com>,
Scott Brady <sbra...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Thanks for that. For those like me who don't know her by name, she has
a site (pic there, and of course she's instantly recognizable):
Jane Margaret Laight
> "MWB" <bick...@gmail.com> wrote in message
very nicely done, and I am so glad that you confounded them by asking
for your money back--my uncle was a bachelor, retired US Marine and a
generally curmudgeonly soul, living off his investments, hanging out
with his buddies, and occasionally driving his neices crazy by
dropping in unannounced on them--in my case, that would sometimes
require a bit of doing, particularly when I was very far (like
overseas) from the home base. He was known for mammoth barbecues where
the partying would almost never stop--food, booze, and the occasional
bagpipe playing (my uncle was an avid, but supremely inept bagpipe
player), where he would be the calm center amidst a roiling sea of
turmoil. When he passed, he had allocated a certain sum for a going-
away party, and we did it up--bagpipes, dancing, booze, food, booze,
eulogies, and booze (and did I mention bagpipes?)--it turned out that
we overspent--considerably--more of his "friends" ("semper fi, babe!")
showed up than we had planned for, but thank God for the local ATM
machine--one of my brothers-in-law observed that us girls literally
raped the damn thing trying to insure that we could cover the overrun.
It was the first time, he said, that he ever saw one of those things
actually run dry. When all was finally over, with the place cleared
("I don't care where you go. You can't stay here. Get the hell out of
here"), jarheads sent packing ("you got to go. We got kids here.
Here's the last of the Jim Beam. I know you miss him. We do too. It's
four in the morning. Hit the damn road") the kids put to bed ("Oh
Maaaa, pleeeze can I stay up longer?" "It's two a.m. Get your butt to
bed, dammit!") and all of us dead damned tired watching the sun rise
slowly off in the distance, my third sister observed, "you know, this
is the kind of clusterfuck Uncle Chuck lived for," and to which my
oldest sister responded, "and it's a crying shame he wasn't here, he
would have enjoyed it," to which I said, "I suspect he was probably
here all along", to which we all responded "Amen".
JML
stay well
La N
"Jane Margaret Laight" <jml2...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:9805f4f1-37bb-46d5...@s12g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
JML
stay well
******************************
I absolutely love this story!
And, thank you, I plan on staying well, although I was told there is "not an
insignificant relapse rate". I'm past the 5 year mark now, will be screened
for secondary leukemias some 10 or 11 years post transplant due to a
particular chemo drug, Busulfan.
Anyway, I really didn't think I would last this long. So I have partied too
long and too hard ... and now I'm having to undo the damage at the gym ...
heheh. One of the participants in my online bone marrow group has as a
sig: "Life is short. Eat dessert first!" It helps to have a good sense
of humour. I've lost many friends, but I will be one who lives a normal
lifespan and will continue to toast to the memory of those who have
travelled with me on this earth and who are now in another realm.
- nilita
elton
year (1934).
Thank you.
Elton
Ron
He will eventually show up here on the Social Security Death Index - DOB
should be listed at that time:
http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi
elton
Ron,
Thank you or your reply. I did not know about that site. I'm sure
that will help me out in the future too.
Thank you,
Elton