Personally, there were several deaths. In January, my grandmother, aged 91, died. In May, a guy in his early 20s I knew through work shot and killed himself. In September, a neighbor, in his early 20s, succumbed to cancer. So death touched me personally.
But it also touched me not so directly. I've listed below 25 deaths that occurred this year that affected me to one degree or another. There were other deaths this year (Abe Vigoda, Nancy Reagan, Fidel Castro), but those deaths were rather meaningless to me. The ones' listed below are the ones who affected me the most.
Bowie's death affected me pretty hard, as I've been into his music for that last dozen years or so pretty heavily. George Michael, while I didn't love his music as much as Bowie's, he did so much for me and other gay boys in the 80s just by being out and himself. Alan Rickman, I've loved him since I first saw him in Dogma back in the 90s, but he'll always be Snape to me. I grew up with Florence Henderson in the Brady Bunch reruns. We all know how I feel about the Heat Mizer song! And who can NOT be in mourning over Princess Leia and her mother dying within a day of each other? So sad. But all of these were just a shame.
David Bowie: Jan 8, 1947 - Jan 10, 2016 (69 yrs old)
Alan Rickman: Feb 21, 1946 - Jan 14, 2016 (69 yrs old)
Glen Frey: Nov 6, 1948 - Jan 18, 2016 (67 yrs old)
George Kennedy: Feb 18, 1925 - Feb 28, 2016 (91 yrs old)
Joe Garagiola: Feb 12, 1926 - Mar 23, 2016 (90 yrs old)
Patty Duke: Dec 14, 1946 - Mar 29, 2016 (69 yrs old)
Doris Roberts: Nov 4, 1925 - Apr 17, 2016 (90 yrs old)
Prince: Jun 7, 1958 - Apr 21, 2016 (57 yrs old)
Morely Safer: Nov 8, 1931 - May 19, 2016 (84 yrs old)
Mohamed Ali: Jan 17, 1942 - Jun 3, 2016 (74 yrs old)
Anton Yelchin: Mar 11, 1989 - Jun 19, 2016 (27 yrs old)
Noel Neill: Nov 25, 1920 - Jul 3, 2016 (95 yrs old)
Gary Marshall: Nov 13, 1934 - Jul 19, 2016 (81 yrs old)
Steven Hill: Feb 24, 1922 - Aug 23, 2016 (94 yrs old)
Gene Wilder: Jun 11, 1933 - Aug 29, 2016 (83 yrs old)
Arnold Palmer: Sep 10, 1929 - Sep 25, 2016 (87 yrs old)
American Democracy: Jul 4, 1776 - Nov 9, 2016 (240 yrs old)
Robert Vaughn: Nov 22, 1932 - Nov 11, 2016 (83 yrs old)
Florence Henderson: Feb 14, 1934 - Nov 24, 2016 (82 yrs old)
John Glenn: Jul 18, 1921 - Dec 8, 2016 (95 yrs old)
Carrie Fisher: Oct 21, 1956 - Dec 27, 2016 (60 yrs old)
George S. Irving : Nov. 1, 1922 - Dec 27, 2016 (94 yrs old)
(the voice of Heat Mizer)
(the voice of Heat Mizer)
Debbie Reynolds: April 1, 1932 - Dec 28, 2016 (84 years old)
I saw a tweet, I don't know by whom unfortunately, who said something to the effect of: "Clearly David Bowie's gone to another universe and he's populating it one by one with all the cool people." I like to think that's what's happening. And those souls are so lucky to be there and not stuck here waiting for the horrors that President Cheeto and his cronies will unleash on this nation.
POLT
