People We have know about that are living with HIV/AIDS or have been lost to the virus, but never forgotten.

Someone on here you do not see, and you feel they should be? Send me the info on them, I will make sure they are added.

Arthur Ashe Born July 10, 1943 Richmond, Virginia Died February 6, 1993 New York, New York Married: Jeanne Marie Moutoussamy February 20, 1977 Children: (1) - Camera Elizabeth Served in the US Army from 1966-1968, during which he became Second Lieutenant Career Highlights •First African-American ever picked for US Davis Cup team (1963) •Winner of 1964 Johnston Award, prestigious honor awarded annually to the American tennis player who contributes the most to the growth of the sport while exhibiting good sportsmanship and character •Won NCAA individual and team (UCLA) championships (1965) •Won three Grand Slam singles titles: 1968 US Open, 1970 Australian Open, and 1975 Wimbledon, during 10-year playing career (1969-1979) •Elected as President of ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) in 1974 •First (and only) African-American to be ranked #1 in the world •Selected as captain of Davis Cup team in 1981 •Inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985 •A Hard Road To Glory is published in 1988 •Named Sport Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 1992	Tommy Morrison Tommy Morrison "The Duke" Born: Jan. 2, 1969, Kansas City, MO Pro Record: 46-3-1 (40 kayos) heavyweight boxer Tommy Morrison was identified as HIV positive after being tested prior to a fight, and as a result he was totally barred from the ring everywhere.	Gia Carangi Gia Carangi Biography: Gia Carangi was born in January of 1960 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and moved to New York at the age of 18 to pursue a modeling career. Gia lived life on the edge and though she became an extremely popular model, she was also a heroin addict. Unfortunately, Gia died of aids on November 18th, 1986 though she was at the time coming to terms with her addiction. Gia has become legendary in the modeling industry and a recent movie starring Angelina Jolie documented her life. Gia, who's fast rise to fame into one of the first super models, Paved the road for those to follow behind her. Because of Gia, such names in fame as Cindy Crawford for born into super model careers. Cindy Crawford was quickly raised into fame for her similar looks to the famous "Gia" and was not only nicknamed in the fashion industry "Baby Gia" but was actually made-up to look just like Gia by photographers who had once worked with their "thing of beauty". If Gia was so famous, why have not heard of her? Answer is so simple, She was on the brink of when super models we becoming known names, and not just known faces. Her rise to fame, which happened very fast, also came to a crash in the same record time while battling a severe drug addiction to Heroin.	Greg Louganis In 1988, several months before the Olympic games in Seoul, Louganis overcame his fears and had himself tested for the HIV virus. When the tests came back positive, his initial reaction was to quit diving and abandon his Olympic run. However, his doctor (who also happened to be his cousin) convinced him to continue training and put him on AZT. Louganis went on to win two gold medals, despite his infamous dive during trials, when he hit his head on the board. Louganis described the embarrassment and fear that he felt after the aborted dive. "I knew I had a responsibility to tell the doctor about my HIV status as he sewed my head up," said Louganis. Greg Louganis began competing in diving at age 10. By 16, he had won his first Olympic medal, a silver medal on the platform in 1976. At 24, he became the first man in 56 years to win two gold medals in diving by winning both the platform and springboard events. In 1988, competing against divers half his age, he became the first to win double gold medals for diving in two consecutive Olympics. Greg’s diving accomplishments do not stop there. He is a six time World Champion and has held 47 National Championship titles. At the Pan Am Games he earned six gold medals and in 1985 he was awarded the Sullivan Award as the nation’s most outstanding amateur athlete. Greg Louganis is clearly the world’s greatest diver and a fine athlete. At the 1988 Olympic Games he was awarded the Maxwell House/United States Olympic Committee Spirit Award as the Olympic athlete who had best exhibited the ideals of the Olympic spirit, demonstrated extraordinary courage and contributed significantly to the sport. Greg is more than just a diver, he stands out as a human being as well. Greg speaks out for many organizations including youth clubs, drug and alcohol rehabilitation groups, and organizations for the dyslexic.
Pedro Zamora Pedro Zamora was born in Cuba in 1972, Pedro came to Miami in the 1980 Mariel Boatlift. His mother died of cancer in 1985. After which, his search for love led him to be very promiscuous. He was diagnosed HIV+ in 1989 (b. 1972; d. 1994) AIDS activist and openly gay member of MTV's third Real World ensemble, Zamora became for many viewers AIDS most visible casualty when he passed away on November 11, 1994, shortly after the series first ran. Born in Cuba, Zamora came to the U.S. in 1980 on the Mariel boat lift. At 17, he discovered he had contracted the HIV virus from unprotected sex, and became a tireless AIDS activist and educator. Zamora was the RW cast member who most closely resembled an adult, educating MTV's audience on safe sex and gay romance (all while getting Puck evicted). While the episodes aired and Zamora grew sicker, MTV briefly became the subject of heavy viewer criticism for letting Zamora go without health insurance before setting up a fund for donations. Which points out the fact that Real World "cast members"--stars of a hit show and on call 24 hours a day for their network--do not qualify as employees earning regular health benefits.	Mary Fisher Mary Fisher has been a weaver, a television producer and assistant to the President of the United States. Her work is often featured in national broadcasts and widely read periodicals. Since 1992, Ms. Fisher has been recognized as both an artist and an AIDS activist. She is the founder of The Mary Fisher C.A.R.E. Fund. The Family AIDS Network, Inc. is Mary Fisher's national nonprofit organization dedicated to speaking out in response to AIDS. Network board members range from parents who've lost a son to AIDS (Bill and Marney Fletcher from Iowa) to celebrities who've dedicated themselves to this work (the NBC husband-and-wife team of Al Roker and Deborah Roberts are two East Coast representatives; actress Morgan Fairchild and others come from the West). The Network's programs focus on communication: publications, media, a variety of forums, targeted and general public events -- and, of course, Mary Fisher's speeches to audiences across North America. March 2, 2000 ''Tonight I represent an AIDS community whose members have been reluctantly drafted from every segment of American society. Though I am white, and a mother, I am one with a black infant struggling in a Philadelphia hospital. Though I contracted this disease in marriage, am female and enjoy the warm support of my family, I am one with the lonely gay man in the cold wind of his family's rejection.'' So said well-known AIDS activist Mary Fisher in her groundbreaking speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention. Diagnosed with the AIDS virus in 1991, Fisher addresses the need for tolerance, research, caring and a non-judgmental response to AIDS and its causes. The most recognized spokeswoman in the AIDS epidemic and a mother of two healthy sons, Fisher founded the Family AIDS Network dedicated to increasing compassion, resources and awareness in the fight against the deadly disease.	Phil Reed Born: October 19, 1932 Died: May 12, 1992 Robert Reed was born John Robert Rietz in Highland Park, Illinois, on October 19, 1932. When Robert was six his family moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma. Robert and his family were solid Midwesterners, raising cattle and turkeys. Robert had many hobbies in highschool, he played on a basketball team, he was on a debating program, but his favorite was the drama club. At age seventeen while still attending Central High School in Muskogee he was writing and producing for local radio stations KMUS and KBX, and even worked as an announcer. Upon graduation Robert enrolled at Northwestern University as a drama major. He continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, taking his new wife, fellow Northwestern student Marilyn Rosenberg, with him. Marilyn also attended Northwestern and like Reed was a drama major too. Although his marriage only lasted two years, they had one daughter together, Karen. When Robert returned to the United States, he joined an off-Broadway company called The Shakespearewrights, playing leading roles in "Romeo and Juliet" and "A Midsummer Nights Dream." In 1956 he became a member of Chicago's Studebaker Theater, where he met E.G. Marshall. Robert relocated to Hollywood and appeared in many TV shows like "The Lawman," "The Danny Thomas Show," and "Men Into Space." The turning point for Robert came in 1959 when he played an attorney on "Father Knows Best.," and "The Imposter," where he played a young lawyer. His scene lasted only about a minute, but it was an important minute. This led directly to the Emmy-winning "The Defenders." Robert also appeared on Broadway in Neil Simon's "Barefoot In The Park," replacing Robert Redford, and in the original company of Richard Rodgers's "Avanti!" As part of Paramount's stable of contract players, Robert tested for three pilots, and was ultimately cast as Mike Brady in "The Brady Bunch," a part he was unenthusiastic about. He was a method actor, a dramatic actor, not suited for the "gags and gimmicks" of "The Brady Bunch," as he once said. However, he did like his fellow actors enough to take them on a all-expense paid trip to London aboard the QE2 during the show's heyday. Concurrent with "The Brady Bunch," Robert had a recurring role as Lieutenant Adam Tobias in "Mannix". Robert continued his theatre work and continued to do well. He's appeared in an endless string of TV movies and mini-series, and he earned three Emmy nominations from 1975-77 twice for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor in a Drama or Comedy and once for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Robert also later taught a course in Shakespearean acting at UCLA toward the end of his life. On the evening of May 12, 1992 Robert Reed died in Pasadena, California. Like a real son Barry Williams (Greg Brady) helped in the arrangements for Reed's service. The cast of the Brady Bunch best remembers Robert Reed as a kind and generous human being. According to his death certificate, he died of cancer. He had the HIV infection, but it did NOT contribute to his death.	David Sabella Known for his unique versatility, David Sabella has performed in Theater, Musical Theater, Cabaret, Opera, and Concert, throughout the United States and Europe. Most recently he originated the starring role of “Mary Sunshine” in the 1996 Broadway revival of CHICAGO, with Bebe Neuwirth, Ann Reinking, and Joel Grey. He continues to perform in various productions of CHICAGO as needed. He may next appear on Broadway in Kander and Ebb’s new musical The Visit. He made his Musical Theater debut at age 15 as The Corporal, in Shenandoah. Off-Broadway: Foxy, Watch Your Step, and So Long 174th Street. Other Musical and Theater credits include A Little Night Music, Seesaw, Godspell, Merrily We Roll Along, The Gingerbread Lady, and The Lisbon Traviata. His voice can also be heard on several network television’s Cartoon Series, including Teacher’s Pet for Disney. As a Countertenor in classical music, he has won several prestigious voice competitions including The Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition. The Metropolitan Opera National Council Eastern Regional Auditions, and The New York Oratorio Society Competition at Carnegie Hall. Other classical performing credits include the title role of Giulio Cesare, also available on CD; L’ incoronazione di Poppea; and Die Fledermaus; He appeared numerous times at both Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center as a principle soloist in such works as the Bach, B Minor Mass, Handel’s Messiah, and Peter Schikele’s comical Three Bargain-Countertenors at Carnegie Hall. His current CDs include A full length Giulio Cesare on Koch International Label; The soundtrack to the musical CHICAGO on RCA Victor; Foxy, Watch Your Step, A Special Place, (all on Original Cast Recordings) and Everybody's Getting Into The Act. David has appeared twice on the Rosie O’Donnell Show and has been featured in national magazines including Opera News, In Theater, Entertainment Weekly, A&U (Cover), OUT, and Next. His personal caricature was unveiled in June of 1998 and hangs in the world famous theater restaurant Sardi’s.
Ron Dennis The things Ronald Dennis has seen. The actor who originated the role of Richie in "A Chorus Line" is something of a veteran - not just professionally, but also as a survivor of AIDS. "Survivor" is a word only recently and still hesitantly associated with the typically fatal virus. But after several years of what Dennis calls the "physical and emotional hell" of full-blown AIDS, Dennis is healthy and working. His one-man-show details his battle with the disease and contains a segment called "The Things I've Seen." It's appropriate, as is the title of the entire piece: "Don't Grab the Gown Until You See the Gurney." Thanks to protease inhibitors and other new drugs, more and more artists are facing life after years of preparing for death. As the science of the disease changes, so do society's reactions. And since the mid '80s, theater has played a fairly large role in shaping views of AIDS. Looking at the history of AIDS performance may help one to understand a legacy of theatrical activism as well as speculate on what's to come. No one, perhaps, stands better positioned to do this than Michael Kearns. Kearns has immersed himself in the cause for more than a dozen years, as an HIV-positive writer, director, actor and producer. In 1985, he directed "Night Sweat" by Robert Chesley and "Warren" by Rebecca Ranson, two early AIDS dramas that conveyed the disease in very contrasting ways. "'Night Sweat' was very extreme," Kearns says. "('Warren') was simple, autobiographical, accessible - almost like a movie of the week on stage. Very easy to take for an audience." "They were certainly aware of the science of AIDS," says David Roman, an assistant English professor at USC and author of "Acts of Intervention: Performance, Gay Culture, & AIDS." "But for many people, these early AIDS plays put a human face on AIDS." "Warren," though, may have been the exception. Editor Therese Jones refers to "first generation" AIDS plays in her anthology, "Sharing the Delirium." These tend to be political, sometimes angry and usually centered around gay male characters. Many were solo pieces and many never reached mainstream audiences. Early AIDS works served three main purposes, Roman explains. They tried to educate audiences about HIV, a fact Kearns is painfully aware of as he recalls people phoning the theater to find out if they could catch the virus from being in the same room with HIV-positive actors. Many plays were also performed as fund raisers for service organizations and, finally, many paid homage to friends, lovers and family members who had died of AIDS. In this way, theater doubled as therapy. In 1986, Kearns led the first of several AIDS/U.S. workshops in which people with and affected by the virus staged performances based on their own experiences. "Unlike a play where you're dealing with a protagonist and a fictitious story, there were people saying, 'You better learn about safe sex' or 'Take it from me ...'" Kearns says. In 1993's AIDS/U.S. Women workshop, "They spouted out a lot of facts that had never even been in the L.A. Times." Kearns says that the greatest accomplishment of the workshops was the sense of catharsis the piece evoked for both audience and performers. "They could cry, they could laugh at themselves, they could mourn, they could grieve," Kearns says. "They could do all of those things in that blackened theater that they couldn't necessarily do in a support group, in a church, with their family." Kearns has worked with people of nearly every demographic affected by the disease. It's been a very deliberate undertaking. "About five years into it, I'd heard that gay white male story told so many times, I was about to scream," Kearns says. "For it to remain fresh and interesting to me, I had to go look at it in different cases." A more diverse take on the disease may be part of the next wave of AIDS performance. Dennis's piece presents AIDS-based discrimination as one of many examples of society's simple meanness. "When I got sick, it was like one more chance for society to put me down. Being black and gay and now AIDS. I say in my play, 'How many times can I be treated like the N-word in one lifetime?'" Dennis says. Yet Dennis is adamant that he doesn't see himself as a victim and anger is hardly the prevailing emotion in "Don't Grab the Gown." As the title suggests, he approaches much of his journey with humor, another common component of newer AIDS plays. He rattles off a few lines from the "T-Cell Tango," a song he wrote which lists the components of a cocktail medication in dizzying succession. He finishes "...and a protease inhibitor that's just right for you." Kearns' 1993 play, "Myron, a Fairy Tale in Black and White," has an air of romantic comedy to it. But as a twist on "Cyrano de Bergerac," it also juxtaposes inner beauty with physical. Myron is a 40-ish African American man dying of AIDS. He falls in love with Rex, his young white caretaker, but is conscious of the racial difference and his own decaying body. "'Myron' is just as much about racism as it is about AIDS," Kearns says. He explains that in the gay community, "One of the issues is looksism ... So much has been placed on physical beauty. And then this disfiguring disease comes along. It's really interesting, isn't it?" It is interesting, which may be why, in spite of new medical and theatrical treatments, AIDS theater continues. Kearns is currently working on a play which he confesses "is a little fluffy," but "I always go back to AIDS (as subject matter) because if you can say anything about it, it's dramatic," Kearns says. "Theater by its definition is politically incorrect. We're not interested in happy, lovely, functional people," Kearns continues. "What creates drama is somebody who can't stop having unsafe sex." Drama may sometimes be at odds with continual pressure to "get the message out." And while many AIDS performances may still have a social agenda, Roman says that many are geared toward a specific community rather than society at large. He recalls a play called "About Face," recently performed in San Francisco. "It was primarily by, for and about Asian Americans," Roman says. "So it was mainly Asian Pacific Islanders - gay, straight, bi, queer, whatever - who went to see it. I think in terms of the production's goals, that would be the level to monitor its success." Similarly, Cheryl West's "Before it Hits Home" profiles an African American family's ordeal with AIDS. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey welcome their son home after many years, only to find out that he is bisexual and dying of AIDS. While the work can certainly be classified as an AIDS play, it is arguably just as much about loyalty, family relationships and the power of parental love. This follows another trend in AIDS theater, says McClain. "There's a contour there where the AIDS question has become more integrated into a larger understanding of where we are in life." This may be the ultimate form of acceptance. But while some people seem anxious to declare the AIDS epidemic as waning, both Dennis and Kearns have seen enough to be cautious. "I trust these drugs for what they're doing now," Dennis says. "But I don't give it too much." "I think this hopefulness is laced with denial," Kearns adds. "In a certain way, I feel as compelled now as I did initially when people weren't talking about it. Now over a dozen years later, people aren't talking about it for a whole other reason ... I don't think we've seen the beginning of what AIDS is going to do." But whatever course the disease takes, rest assured that Kearns, Dennis and the artists that follow them will chronicle it all the way.	Michael Jeter Last week, Entertainment Tonight's top story was about Michael Jeter, who co-stared with Burt Reynolds on television's Evening Shade, coming out as a gay man living with HIV. ET highlighted Jeter's attitude of responsibility and his optimism in dealing with his HIV status. Explaining how it felt to come out as HIV-positive at a Hollywood AIDS symposium, he says, "'I was scared the moment I said it, I thought, 'Am I going to work again?' you know, 'Am I going to be able to get insurance?' Frankly, it feels good not to carry the secret anymore. Secrets rot your soul, they are useless things.'" He also says, "'For the wonder that is my life and has been my life, I am extremely, sublimely grateful.... I am a happy, happy man. I have a wonderful person in my life. If I died tonight, I'd die happy." He plans to continue living a full life, and expects to live as long with HIV than he would have without it.	Amanda Blake Amanda Blake (Deceased) Amanda Blake, actress, was born on February 20, 1927. She starred as "Miss Kitty," Marshal Matt Dillon's love interest, in the TV series "Gunsmoke". He role on "Gunsmoke" lasted for twenty years. She became infected with the AIDS disease through her husband, a bisexual person who knew he had AIDS himself but did not tell her. She died on August 16, 1989. Her remains were cremated. Amanda Blake appeared in such films as "Dutchess of Idaho"(1950), "Stars in My Crown"(1950), "Lilli" (1953), "The Glass Slipper" (1955), "Betrayal"(1974), and "Gunsmoke - Return to Dodge" (1992, TV). Sacramento, Calif.--Amanda Blake's physician, Lou Nishimura, said Saturday that the actress, "Miss Kitty" on television's Gunsmoke, died of AIDS. Blake died Aug. 16 at the age of 60 from throat cancer complicated by a type of viral hepatitis brought on by AIDS. No mention of AIDS was made at the time of her death. Nishimura said Blake never disclosed how she became infected with HIV, but that she did not use IV drugs and had not contracted the virus through transfusion. Nishimura said he diagnosed Blake, but that the AIDS diagnosis did not surprise her. He believes she was tested for HIV while travelling in Africa, where she went because of her love of animals.	Rebekka Armstrong Living With HIV In August of 1989 my life completely changed when I was given the news that I had tested positive for HIV. When I say completely, I mean COMPLETELY; my thoughts, actions, feelings, the way I viewed my future and my mortality. I was filled with an array of confusion, depression, and anxiety attacks. I was afraid of dying and of dying alone. But I was more afraid of being exposed; terrified of being shunned because I had this disease. So I was determined to to keep this huge, ugly secret deep inside of me. For five years I rode a nauseating roller-coaster through life. Trying to figure it all out. "Should I just party my ass off and not worry about anything because I was dying anyway?" I would stay out there in my drug and alcohol fueled world for great lengths until something would kick me into some sort of reality check. Then I would panic and seek medical treatment. Usually the kicking came from my body's response to an HIV related illness or too much partying. Part of the treatment was meds. I would become extremely ill from side effects and give up right away, not allowing my body the time it needed to adjust to them, and I would go back to "The Party" spinning out of control. The Secret was eating me alive. And all the lies I had told to cover up the secret, had gotten out of control. I couldn't keep up with all of them. This life seemed useless, and I certainly didn't have a place in it, in fact I hated it. Hated what I had to live with. Hated watching my friends drop like flies, one by one. Hated seeing the pain in my loved ones faces, I hated myself. I wished the virus would rear it's ugly head high and take it's course! When that didn't happen, I made a decision to take my own life. I thought about my options and that seemed like the only one that would work. My plan was to kill myself before the virus did. An unsuccessful attempt left me in and out of a coma for three days. Shortly after that while staying at a friends house, I received some information in the mail about a seminar for HIV positive women that was going to happen on my birthday, 7 years ago. I went... And you might call it the beginning of the end. The end of my roller-coaster ride; the end of my dysmorphic outlook on life; the end of my self destructive behavior and the end of my pity potty! I didn't know it then, but it would become the beginning of my life. And how ironic that it would happen on the day I initially began life. I became informed/educated, and this empowered me. So much even, that I went public with my status and began teaching others and sharing my story. With this, I began to grow and started feeling a sense of self worth, which has escalated ever since. It's not always easy and I still get scared at times. Especially those times when I too weak to lift my own head, unable to walk and barely able to breath. Or when I am hemorrhaging and being transfused because of a low platelet count. And I often times become overwhelmed with trying to do too much. The pain and suffering and utter loneliness I went through shouldn't be felt by anyone. And they certainly don't have to be alone. That's why I put myself out there, in hopes of reaching that person going through what I went through. And to spread awareness to hopefully prevent someone else from being infected. For me, going public has saved my life, and HIV has taught me that I have a purpose and it has given me a reason to live! This section is dedicated to sharing all of my personal experiences about living with HIV. I will also give the basics on HIV info, however the real information on the medical aspects I leave up to the professionals. Hence, I will show you where to go to get that info as it comes up and/or in the links page, which will have a description of the web site so you can get any desired information you choose! Thank you so much for coming to my site I hope you …
Ray Sharkey This slight, thin, intense actor guested on numerous TV series, such as "Kojak" and "Barney Miller" and "Police Story," often as greasy hoods, and first appeared on the big screen in 1976's Trackdown After working in Paradise Alley and Who'll Stop the Rain (both 1978) he won plum roles in Heart Beat (1980, as a character patterned after Allen Ginsberg) and Willie and Phil (also 1980, as one corner of the love triangle involving Michael Ontkean and Margot Kidder). But it was his performance in the title role of The Idolmaker (also 1980), as a rock 'n' roll promoter, that made people predict major stardom for Sharkey. But the 1980s were a rocky decade for the actor, with creditable movies (1982's Some Kind of Hero) giving way to utter junk (1984's Body Rock 1985's Hellhole). He returned to the mainstream in supporting roles in No Mercy and Wise Guys (both 1986), and on the TV series "Wiseguy" (1987-88 season). He continued to work in such films as Scenes From the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills, Wired (both 1989), Dead On (1991), and Zebrahead (1992), but by now it was no secret that he had a major problem with drugs that had dogged him throughout the 1980s. In 1992, he was arrested in Canada on drug-possession charges. Sharkey, a talented actor with too few films to prove his worth, died of AIDS.	Ricky Wilson ''The B-52's were an indie band that made it big by following their own idiosyncratic vision without any artistic compromise, and other bands were inspired by this ideal. ... I feel like a higher power of some sort, perhaps even fate, put those five people together, because they complemented each other in a way that can't be explained. The first time they played their music, the magic was there and it has never left. Perhaps that is the B-52's greatest legacy.'' -- Danny Beard From the forward of ''The B-52's Universe: The Essential Guide to the World's Greatest Party Band'' by Mats Sexton The northern climes of Minneapolis, Minn., were an awfully long way away from the steamy late '70s dance parties of Athens, but to a then-10-year-old Mats Sexton, the zany rhythms and unconventional style of Athens' beloved B-52's were enticing enough to win him over to B's fandom for life. ''The bright candy-yellow (album) background, the painted clothes, the hairdos, 'here comes a jellyfish!' It was all so mysterious,'' he writes in the introduction to his new book, ''The B-52's Universe: The Essential Guide to the World's Greatest Party Band.'' Now 32, Sexton completed and self-published the 232-page, full-color authorized account of the life and times of the band after five intense years of compiling data, collecting memorabilia and always, always listening to the music. ''I wanted to have it done in '97 for their 20th anniversary,'' says Sexton, an acupuncturist who still lives in Minneapolis and has been running B-Hive, a B-52's Internet fan site (www.b52s.com) since 1995. ''But with publishing it independently, it was so much work. Then I figured I had to get it done by their 25th anniversary; that really lit a fire for me, it was a good deadline.'' In the book, Sexton records the band's life year-by-year, compiled through interviews with the four members, Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Cindy Wilson and Keith Strickland, and their friends. Interspersed between the text are collages -- photographs, ticket stubs, flyers, posters, news articles, set lists, notes and letters. Sexton admits to being a big collector of memorabilia himself, but much of what's found on the pages of the book came from the personal collections of Pierson and Wilson, who'd kept all kinds of stuff over the years. (Sexton also helped Pierson organize and archive her collection.) ''I wanted to cram as much as I could into the book -- that's how fanzines are, it's all about the collectibles. So I had in mind a different kind of rock 'n' roll book; I couldn't find anything else like this one.'' Sexton ended up publishing the book himself in part to stay true to his own vision, and to keep in line with the B-52's charitable nature; a portion of the proceeds from the book's sales goes to a Minneapolis-based non-profit AIDS organization. (Sexton also heads up Party Out of Bounds, an annual dance party benefit in Athens organized by fans of the B-52's to raise money for the AIDS Coalition of Northeast Georgia.) The book also contains a discography complete with a section for each album titled ''In Their Own Words,'' which contains quotes from the band about how certain songs came to be or what they meant. From ''Whammy'' regarding the song titled ''Butterbean,'' Schneider says, ''It's about Athens' favorite food: butterbeans! A very popular food down there. It's just a vehicle for us to write a good dance song.'' And from Pierson: ''... It was a Southern ode to Athens.'' Even though Sexton has run the B-Hive Fan Club since '95 and knew plenty about the B's before he started work on the book, he still learned a lot about them along the way, he says. ''One thing (that stands out) is when I interviewed Cindy, how candid she was about (the death of) Ricky (Wilson, her brother and band mate, who died in 1985). I was shocked about how she found out (he had AIDS),'' Sexton says. An intern from Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital called Cindy Wilson out of the blue to tell her. Ricky Wilson had kept his illness from his sister and the other band members (except Strickland) a secret because he didn't want to upset them. At the time Cindy Wilson received the phone call, Ricky Wilson was in the hospital. He died three days later of pneumonia-related AIDS. Ricky Wilson's death was a dark period for the band. They considered calling it quits, but because they'd completed ''Bouncing Off the Satellites'' with much of Ricky Wilson's hard work, they wanted to see the album through. And in the end, they decided to stick together -- much to Sexton's, and all B's fan's delight. ''I think they've always attracted people who didn't connect to the mainstream,'' Sexton says regarding fans' feelings for the band. ''It's funny to go to a concert because you see all kinds of people -- the biker crowd, geeks, professor-types. ... They're just such a good band; when you go to a concert you know you're in for a good time.'' Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Thursday, February 14, 2002.	Liberace Age 67 (b. Wladziu Valentino Liberace, 16 May 1919, West Allis, WI, d. 4 February 1987) This larger-than-life pianist had no major chartbusters—but had an indefinable charm and talent that gave delight to multitudes of fans across the globe. Of Polish-Italian extraction, he was raised in a household where there was always music— particularly from father Salvatore who blew French horn in both John Philip Sousa's Concert Band and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. George and the younger Wladziu seemed keenest on likewise becoming professional players. Wladziu's piano skills were praised by no less than Paderewski, and he won a place at Wisconsin College of Music at the age of seven. During a 17-year scholarship—the longest ever awarded by the academy—he made a concert debut as a soloist at 11 and was fronting renowned symphony orchestras before leaving adolescence. He moved to Columbia Records where, supervised by Mitch Miller, he cut a flamboyant version of September Song which, supplemented by an in-concert album, brought Liberace to a national audience. Nevertheless, he struck the most popular chord with encores in which doggerel like Mairzy Doats or Three Little Fishes were dressed in arrangements littered with twee arpeggios and trills. He also started garbing himself from a wardrobe that would stretch to rhinestone, white mink, sequins, gold lame and similar razzle-dazzle. Crowned with a carefully-waved coiffeur, he oozed charm and extravagant gesture with a candelabra-lit piano as the focal point of the epic vulgarity that was THE LIBERACE SHOW, televised coast-to-coast from Los Angeles, which established a public image that he later tried in vain to modify. While in the UK, he instigated a High Court action, successfully suing the DAILY MIRROR, whose waspish columnist, Cassandra had written an article on the star, laced with sexual innuendo. Nonetheless, Liberace's mode of presentation left its mark on stars such as Gary Glitter, Elton John, and Queen. When the singer died on 4 February 1987 at his Palm Springs mansion, the words ‘kidney complaint’ were a euphemism for an AIDS-related illness.	gay rights activist Cleve Jones made the first panel for the AIDS Memorial Quilt in memory of his friend . Stitching a Revolution - The Making of an Activist by Cleve Jones, Jeff Dawson (Contributor) There can be few American stories more inspiring than that of the tremendous 43,000-panel AIDS quilt, a national memorial as powerfully symbolic as the Vietnam War Memorial--but made from a material as fragile and ephemeral as human life. The quilt is predicated on a simple concept: putting names to those who have died of AIDS humanizes the statistics and forces those who visit the quilt to look beyond the stigmatized categories of gayness and contagious disease that cling to the popular image of AIDS. Cleve Jones stitched the first panel in his backyard in February 1987 as a memorial to his best friend, Marvin. He has been speaking in public about the quilt for many years now, and his narrative in Stitching a Revolution is smooth and engaging. Perhaps his best quality as a storyteller is his generous recognition of others, shown in his memory of Rosa Parks in her Sunday hat: "When she handed me the quilts she'd made for her neighbors," Jones recalls, "she wanted to relish only their lives, not the divisions--just memorialize her friends and what they'd meant to her. You're doing a wonderful thing, young man, she'd said. There were no tears in her eyes, just a message for me to continue. Did my fatigue show? Did she see that the death threats and potshots had taken their toll? Dismiss them, she seemed to say, and grow old. A challenge. I brighten and feel combative." --Regina Marler
gay rights activist Cleve Jones made the first panel for the AIDS Memorial Quilt in memory of his friend Marvin Feldman. WHEN CLEVE JONES, co-founder of the NAMES Project, came to San Francisco to join the gay rights movement in 1972, he had no idea he would help bring AIDS awareness to the forefront of people's consciousness. The NAMES Project came to light when Jones asked gay rights activists at Harvey Milk's candlelight memorial in 1985 to write down the names of loved ones who died from AIDS and post them on the side of the federal building. As Jones looked at all the names, he imagined a quilt spread out before the National Mall. He began work on the project by creating one of the first panels to commemorate his best friend. Slowly, word got out about the project, and two years later, Jones and volunteers started to receive packages from several states for the inaugural presentation of the quilt at the gay and lesbian march on Washington. Today, people are still sending quilts to the 49 NAMES chapters throughout the United States. Jones left San Francisco in 1997 and moved to Palm Springs, where space is abundant and housing is affordable. He works from home and travels to The City about once a month to check on the NAMES Project, which has relocated to Townsend Street. Diagnosed with HIV in 1994, Jones said he's in good health and thriving on anger and work. The project includes about 43,000, 3-feet-by-6-feet panels, stretching 50 miles long. The state chapters send all the quilts to the San Francisco office, where staff and volunteers sew them into panels of eight. The undisplayed quilts are stored in the warehouse. Each quilt has its own characteristics. Some are decked with a loved one's favorite shirt or a picture of their most prized possessions, like a car or violin. And there are those that read like a tombstone, "In Loving Memory of .s.s. April 3, 1957 - November 1, 1993." The NAMES Project staff members are active in communities around the country, setting up quilt displays and education programs in high schools and at historically black universities. The staff and volunteers are working to arrange display sites in different cities, setting up sights in churches, synagogues, schools and especially in African American communities. With 40 independent quilt projects around the world, the fastest growing of these quilts is the South African AIDS Memorial quilt. Jones was surprised by the significance the quilt had on South Africans' lives. "When I first went to South Africa last year, I thought the quilt was sort of this luxury that only we in the West could afford," Jones said. "But I saw that the quilt has a very important role to play in combating the stigma and denial in Africa." NAMES is expected to bring a section of the South African AIDS Memorial quilt on Wednesday to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation conference in Washington. It also will be presented at the U.S. Conference on AIDS in Atlanta on Oct. 1. Jones said he also plans to use the South African AIDS Memorial quilt, first displayed last December on World AIDS Day in Capetown, "within African American communities to mobilize young people and help them see the epidemic in its true global context rather than through this white gay male lens." He wants to bring attention to the rise in HIV infection, not just in San Francisco, but in around the world. Although Jones has worked for years to raise AIDS awareness in San Francisco, in recent years, he has seen the rate of HIV infection creep up after a mid-1990s lull. As new drugs helped AIDS patients survive longer, and media coverage of the epidemic lost its urgency, people forget AIDS is fatal. An estimated 573 gay men in San Francisco have been infected with HIV this year, compared to 283 in 1997. Faced with this reality, Jones called for a constant renewal of aggressive HIV-prevention campaigns. "We used to be much more creative on how we encouraged safer-sex behavior," he said. "We have a whole new generation who did not experience the horrific days of hundreds of people dying every week. They're not being exposed to these creative community-based safer-sex campaigns. But this death rate is not going to stay down even with all the new drugs." Jones said the statistics are not surprising. Although it is often stereotyped as a gay man's disease, AIDS is killing heterosexual adults and children globally. "We in America, our policy makers, even people running our AIDS organizations view it as a white gay male disease." He hopes the South African AIDS quilt will have as powerful an effect on Americans as it did on South Africans.	Randy Shilts Randy Shilts, a tenacious, award-winning journalist who became the nation's foremost chronicler of gay life and the AIDS epidemic, died early Thursday at his ranch in the Sonoma County redwoods. He was 42. Shilts, who learned he was infected with HIV in 1987, died of AIDS, according to a statement released by the San Francisco Chronicle, where Shilts worked as a national correspondent. Best known for his groundbreaking writing on the disease that took his life, Shilts was hailed by gay leaders and fellow journalists as a pioneer whose work propelled AIDS out of anonymity and into the consciousness of mainstream America. "Each and every person claimed by AIDS is a loss to the movement," said David M. Smith of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "But Randy's contribution was so crucial. He broke through society's denial and was absolutely critical to communicating the reality of AIDS." William German, editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, said the newspaper where Shilts worked for 13 years is indebted to him, as society should be. "The entire world community has reason to honor Randy Shilts for his . . . relentless investigation that helped all of us become aware of a global epidemic," German said in a statement. Respected for his dogged reporting, painstaking research and obsession with fairness, Shilts became the first newspaper reporter to cover the gay community full time shortly after he was hired by the Chronicle in 1981. Later, he persuaded the newspaper to let him focus exclusively on the then-mysterious disease that came to be known as AIDS. In 1987, he published an acclaimed book about the epidemic and its neglect by government, science and some gay organizations. "And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic" was translated into seven languages and became a docudrama broadcast on HBO in September. His most recent book, "Conduct Unbecoming," was published last year and examined discrimination against gays and lesbians in the military. Like "And the Band Played On," it reached the bestseller lists. Shilts also wrote "The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk," about the gay San Francisco supervisor who was murdered along with Mayor George Moscone. Warner Bros. is developing a film based on the 1982 book. Cleve Jones, founder of the Names Project, which produced the AIDS quilt, called Shilts a hero whose writings are "without question the most important works of literature affecting gay people." But Jones also sounded a somber note, arguing that despite the efforts of Shilts and other prominent gays "who believed they could single-handedly stop the epidemic," AIDS rages on. "Randy's death is a very sad milestone because it underscores for me our utter failure," said Jones, a friend of Shilts for 20 years. "All of this extraordinary talent is gone and none of this has moved the Congress and President to responsible action." Although he was worshiped by many in gay circles for enlightening heterosexuals, Shilts was controversial among more radical members of the movement, some of whom labeled him a "gay Uncle Tom." In the mid-1980s, his stories suggesting that gay bathhouses in San Francisco were breeding grounds for AIDS made him a pariah, unable to walk through the city's Castro District without being jeered or spat upon. When "And the Band Played On" came out, he was attacked for charging that gay groups initially pretended that AIDS did not exist. More recently, he was faulted for opposing the "outing" of prominent, closeted gays, including two four-star generals he described anonymously in "Conduct Unbecoming." Shilts was hurt by such barbs, but refused to alter his message or obscure the truth to win friends. In the author's note for "The Mayor of Castro Street," he offered this explanation: "I can only answer that I tried to tell the truth and, if not be objective, at least be fair; history is not served when reporters prize trepidation and propriety over the robust journalistic duty to tell the whole story." Randy Martin Shilts was born Aug. 8, 1951, in Davenport, Iowa, but spent most of his youth in the Chicago suburb of Aurora. His father, Bud, sold prefabricated housing, while his mother, Norma, saw that Randy and his four brothers grew up as solid Methodists. Early on, Shilts appeared to share his parents' politically conservative views; in high school, he founded a local chapter of Young Americans for Freedom. He went west for college, choosing the University of Oregon in Eugene and beginning his journalism career on the student paper. At age 20, Shilts declared his homosexuality, and later ran for student office under the slogan "Come Out for Shilts." Despite graduating at the top of his class, Shilts struggled to find work in Oregon, a fact he attributed to homophobia. Eventually, he signed on as Northwest correspondent for the Advocate, a national gay and lesbian magazine, and later made his way to San Francisco. After several years as a television and free-lance journalist, Shilts was hired by the Chronicle, becoming the first openly gay reporter at a major metropolitan newspaper. That same year marked the emergence of a rare pneumonia and skin cancer afflicting a handful of gay men in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. In 1982, Shilts began covering what then was called "the gay plague." Shilts learned he was infected with HIV the day he wrote the final page of "And the Band Played On" in March, 1987. He had allowed his doctor to test him a year earlier, but asked not to be told the result, fearing it might influence his reporting. He did not disclose his condition publicly until last year. For three years, he took the drug AZT and his health remained good. Gradually, the drug's effects faded, and in August, 1992, the day before his 41st birthday party, he came down with AIDS-related pneumonia. Four months later, a lung collapsed, and he was forced to dictate the final pages of "Conduct Unbecoming" from his hospital bed. Last year, he was diagnosed with Kaposi's sarcoma, the AIDS-related cancer that causes lesions. Friends said Shilts had been mostly homebound since then, weak and tethered to an oxygen machine but continuing to enjoy life with his partner, Barry Barbieri, and beloved golden retriever, Dashiel. In January, he managed to take a long-anticipated trip to the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and in August attended what some called a highlight of his life--the Los Angeles screening of HBO's version of "And the Band Played On." Throughout his battle with AIDS, Shilts maintained a philosophical attitude about the disease, once likening it to "high blood pressure or some other life-threatening illness." As his battle worsened last year, he said in an interview with the New York Times that AIDS was "character-building." "It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character." Credited for his foresight about the danger of AIDS, Shilts died just days after a report that showed that the annual number of new AIDS cases in San Francisco peaked at 3,326 in 1992. City health department officials, who expect the number of AIDS cases to decrease dramatically by 1997, credit aggressive prevention efforts for the trend. Shilts is survived by Barbieri, who was beside him when he died; four brothers, Gary, Reed, Dennis and David, and his stepmother, Pat.	Ryan White On December 6, 1971, Ryan Wayne White was born. Three days later, doctors told his parents that he was a hemopheliac. That means his blood does not clot the way it is suppose to. Luckily, there was a new product out that contained the clotting agents found in blood. This product was called Factor VIII, and was made from blood. Ryan grew up having many hemorages, or bleeds, and would get IV's of Factor VIII twice a week. While he was battling pneumonia, he had to have surgery on December 17, 1984, to have two inches of his left lung removed. Two hours after the surgery, doctors told his mother that he had contracted AIDS. He was given 6 months to live. But he was a fighter. He was determined to continue at his school and live life normally. But in 1985, not many people knew the truth about AIDS. Not very much was known about AIDS. Ryan faced a lot of discrimination, mostly based on the unknown. His school tried to keep him from attending and the town in which he lived was not very supportive, to say the least. After legal battles, Ryan and his mother settled with the school to have separate restrooms and disposable silverware from the cafeteria. But that didn't stop much. Students vandalized his locker with the word "FAG" and restaurants threw his dishes away after he left. A bullet was even fired into his home. After that, he and his family moved to Cicero, Indiana, and were welcomed. People had been educated and Ryan was happy again. He had his learner's permit. He had friends, his family, and he was turning an incurable disease into a way to edcuate America. There was a movie made about him, titled "The Ryan White Story," that aired on ABC. Ryan got to be an actor as he played his friend Chad. Ryan White was making a difference. But on April 8, 1990, the world lost a wonderful person. He knew he was famous, took that, and turned it into something that everyone could learn from. He knew his purpose in life. Ryan White's Testimony before the President's Commission on AIDS "Thank You, Commissioners: My name is Ryan White. I am sixteen years old. I have hemophilia, and I have AIDS. When I was three days old, the doctors told my parents I was a severe hemophiliac, meaning my blood does not clot. Lucky for me, there was a product just approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It was called Factor VIII, which contains the clotting agent found in blood. While I was growing up, I had many bleeds or hemorhages in my joints which make it very painful. Twice a week I would receive injections or IV's of Factor VIII which clotted the blood and then broke it down. A bleed occurs from a broken blood vessel or vein. The blood then had nowhere to go so it would swell up in a joint. You could compare it to trying to pour a quart of milk into a pint-sized container of milk. The first five to six years of my life were spent in and out of the hospital. All in all I led a pretty normal life. Most recently my battle has been against AIDS and the discrimination surrounding it. On December 17, 1984, I had surgery to remove two inches of my left lung due to pneumonia. After two hours of surgery the doctors told my mother I had AIDS. I contracted AIDS through my Factor VIII which is made from blood. When I came out of surgery, I was on a respirator and had a tube in my left lung. I spent Christmas and the next thirty days in the hospital. A lot of my time was spent searching, thinking and planning my life. I came face to face with death at thirteen years old. I was diagnosed with AIDS: a killer. Doctors told me I'm not contagious. Given six months to live a being the fighter that I am, I set high goals for myself. It was my decision to live a normal life, go to school, be with my friends, and enjoying day to day activities. It was not going to be easy. The school I was going to said they had no guidelines for a person with AIDS. The school board, my teachers, and my principal voted to keep me out of the classroom even after the guidelines were set by the I.S.B.H., for fear of someone getting AIDS from me by casual contact. Rumors of sneezing, kissing, tears, sweat, and saliva spreading AIDS caused people to panic. We began a series of court battles for nine months, while I was attending classes by telephone. Eventually, I won the right to attend school, but the prejudice was still there. Listening to medical facts was not enough. People wanted one hundred percent guarantees. There are no one hundred percent guarantees in life, but concessions were made by Mom and me to help ease the fear. We decided to meet them halfway: Separate restrooms No gym Separate drinking fountains Disposable eating utensils and trays Even though we knew AIDS was not spread through casual contact. Nevertheless, parents of twenty students started their own school. They were still not convinced. Because of the lack of education on AIDS, discrimination, fear, panic, and lies surrounded me: I became the target of Ryan White jokes Lies about me bitting people Spitting on vegetables and cookies Urinating on bathroom walls Some restaurants threw away my dishes My school locker was vandalized inside and folders were marked FAG and other obscenities I was labeled a troublemaker, my mom an unfit mother, and I was not welcome anywhere. People would get up and leave so they would not have to sit anywhere near me. Even at church, people would not shake my hand. This brought on the news media, TV crews, interviews, and numerous public appearances. I became known as the AIDS boy. I received thousands of letters of support from all around the world, all because I wanted to go to school. Mayor Kock, of New York, was the first public figure to give me support. Entertainers, athletes, and stars started giving me support. I met some of the greatest like Elton John, Greg Louganis, Max Headroom, Alyssa Milano (my teen idol), Lyndon King (Los Angeles Raiders), and Charlie Sheen. All of these plus many more became my friends, but I had very few friends at school. How could these people in the public eye not be afraid of me, but my whole town was? It was duffucult, at times, to handle; but I tried to ignore the injustice, because I knew the people were wrong. My family and I held no hatred for those people because we realized they were victims of their own ignorance. We had great faith that with patience, understanding, and education, that my family and I could be helpful in changing their minds and attitudes around. Finanncial hardships were rough on us, even though Mom had a good job at G.M. The more I was sick, the more work she had to miss. Bills became impossible to pay. My sister, Andrea, was a championship roller skater who had to sacrifice too. There was no money for her lessons and travel. AIDS can destroy a family if you let it, but hluckily for my sister and me, Mom taught us to keep going. Don't give up, be proud of who you are, and never feel sorry for yourself. After two and a half years of declining health, two attacks of pneumocystis, shingles, a rare form of whooping cough, and liver problems, I faced fighting chills, fevers, coughing, tiredness, and vomiting. I was very ill and being tutored at home. The desire to move into a bigger house, to avoid living AIDS daily, and a dream to be accepted by a community and school, became possible and a reality with a movie about my life, The Ryan White Story. My life is better now. At the end of the school year (1986-87), my family and I decided to move to Cicero, Indiana. We did a lot of hoping and praying that the community would welcome us, and they did. For the first time in three years, we feel we have a home, a supportive school, and lots of friends. The communities of Cicero, Atlanta, Arcadia, and Noblesville, Indiana, are now what we call "home." I'm feeling great. I am a normal happy teenager again. I have a learner's permit. I attend sports functions and dances. My studies are important to me. I made the honor role just recently, with 2 A's and 2 B's. I'm just one of the kids, and all because the students at Hamilton Heights High School listened to the facts, educated their parents and themselves, and believed in me. I believe in myself as I look forward to graduating from Hamilton Heights High School in 1991. Hamilton Heights High School is proof that AIDS EDUCATION in schools works."	Kimberly Bergalis As the first person to contract AIDS from a health care procedure -- the Centers for Disease Control told her she almost certainly got the AIDS virus from her dentist, Dr. David Acer -- Bergalis represented a new and frightening aspect of AIDS. She became the strident spokeswoman for a controversial cause, the mandatory testing of health care workers and patients. She traveled to Washington, D.C., three months ago to testify on behalf of the Bergalis Bill. The bill, which would require doctors who perform invasive procedures to be tested for HIV, is still stuck in the same committee before which she testified and isn't likely to get passed anytime soon. The dying woman unabashedly sought to turn the sympathy and publicity she generated into support for mandatory testing. So the nation and the world followed Bergalis through the painful stages of AIDS, as the virus transformed the vibrant young college graduate into an infirm, mute skeleton of a human being. The people of Tamaqua turned out for her final homecoming, grim as it was. More than 200 people in this small town of 8,500 attended the midday funeral. "It's such a shame," 76-year-old Sylvester Dallas said, watching Kimberly's parents and two sisters follow the white and pink coffin out of the St. Peter and St. Paul Catholic Church on Pine Street, not far from where she grew up. "She was such a pretty, intelligent girl. It's a shame she had to die the way she did." Her parents, usually ready to speak about her cause, were silent Thursday. They shook hands with old friends and accepted the condolences of well-meaning strangers. But they gave no press conference, answered no questions. George and Anna Bergalis sat, gripping each other's hands, at the graveside. Their surviving daughters, 20-year-old Allison and 12-year-old Sondra, sat beside them. The brave effort to fight back tears in front of dozens of cameras was lost when the Rev. William Linkchorst blessed the casket with holy water for the last time. "She had beauty, wisdom and courage," Linkchorst said. "She is at rest now." The Bergalis family left Tamaqua -- an Indian word meaning land of the running waters -- for Fort Pierce in 1978, when Kimberly was in junior high. She didn't want to leave. She wrote friends often and visited. Her last visit was in February, when she was strong enough to ski on a nearby mountain and visit her grandparents. That journey had a somber purpose, too. "She came to the cemetery," said family friend Marie Terry. "She wanted to see where her place would be. She wanted to remember what it was like." Her spot in the three-acre Lithuanian Cemetery on Owl Creek Road overlooks dozens of stolid, unadorned headstones. She's at the top of a knoll, facing a mountain thick with oak, maple and pine. Deer graze between the tombstones at night. In the spring, a blanket of wild rhododendron brightens the hillside with thousands of pink flowers. The nearest sign of commerce is a Christmas tree farm a mile down the road. John Trudich, who like most of his townsfolk followed the Bergalis story with shock and sympathy, thought about what Kimberly might like as he dug her grave Tuesday night. "Everybody feels so sorry for her. It's a terrible thing," Trudich said as he watched the big TV satellite trucks lumber down the winding road from the graveyard. "But it's nice that they brought her back home."
Earvin (Magic) Johnson Earvin Johnson acquired the nickname Magic after a high school game in which he scored 36 points, grabbed 18 rebounds, and made 16 assists. At Michigan State University, the 6 ft, 9 in (2.06 m) Johnson helped the Spartans, the university team, win the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship in 1979. Johnson left college after his second year (1979) to join the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA. He helped lead the Lakers to five NBA championships (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988). Johnson was named the NBA's most valuable player three times (1987, 1989, 1990). He played in many All-Star games and, at the time of his retirement, held the NBA record for assists (9921). Johnson helped the Lakers become one of the dominant teams in the NBA during the 1980s, and is credited with helping revitalize fan interest in the NBA. In the autumn of 1991 Johnson announced that he had tested positive for the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)) and was retiring from the Lakers. He became a national spokesperson for AIDS awareness and prevention, and he established a foundation to promote AIDS research. His book What You Can Do to Avoid AIDS was published in 1992. After Johnson's poignant return to the 1992 NBA All-Star game, the Lakers retired his jersey number (32). Johnson was a member of the United States basketball team that won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, and served briefly on the President's Council on AIDS. He then announced his return to professional basketball, and in September 1992 he signed another contract with the Lakers. In November of that year, however, he once again announced that he would retire because of the controversy concerning his return to basketball. He subsequently became a television sports commentator and continued his efforts to become part of an NBA franchise ownership group. Late in the 1993-1994 season, Johnson became head coach of the Lakers but resigned at the end of that season. He returned to the Lakers as a player in 1996, retiring again at the end of the season. In 1998, Johnson hosted "The Magic Hour," a late night talk on the FOX network. The show lasted only two months due to poor reviews and low ratings.	Freddie Mercury "Goodbye everybody, I've got to go. Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth." FREDDIE MERCURY was born Farookh Bulsara on September 5th 1946 in Zanzibar, to Persian parents Bomi & Jer Bulsara. Freddie moved to India in 1947. He attended boarding school in Panchgani, just outside Bombay. Whilst there he began his piano lessons, reaching Grade 4 in practical and theory. The family, with the addition now of younger sister Kashmira, moved to England in 1963. Freddie left Isleworth school in 1964 with three 'O' levels and one 'A' level in Art. He went to Ealing College of Art to study Graphic Illustration. He left college in 1969 with a Diploma in Graphic Art & Design (The equivalent of a Degree). Freddie joined his first serious band in 1969, they were called IBEX. Freddie stood 5ft 9 and a half inches tall with black hair and dark brown eyes. He was single and shared his large house and garden with several cats, creatures he adored. He loved opera and ballet, Marilyn Monroe was his favourite actress and Aretha Franklin just one of his many favourite singers. He liked to drink either Champagne or iced Vodka and Indian food was one of his favourites. He sadly died on November 24th 1991.	Gugu Diamini n South Africa, Gugu Diamini, an AIDS activist, was beaten to death by her neighbours after revealing her HIV positive status on Zulu television. This happened just a month after Deputy President Thabo Mbeki had called for people to "break the silence about AIDS" in order to defeat the epidemic. 1998. In South Africa, Gugu Diamini, an AIDS activist, was beaten to death by her neighbors after revealing her HIV status on Zulu television. Forty-five percent of the cumulative HIV cases reported among Asian and Pacific Islander adult/adolescent females were acquired through heterosexual transmission. A cumulative total of 109,311 adolescent/adult females have been diagnosed with AIDS in the U.S. Sixty-three percent of newly reported female AIDS cases are African-American women. African-American women are three times more likely to die from AIDS than Caucasian or Hispanic women. Of the 6,051 new HIV cases reported in women, eight percent (461) were among Latinas. The Global Campaign for Microbicides is founded at the XII International AIDS Conference in Geneva. The creation of the Microbicide campaign came about from key members of the women's health and HIV community deciding to work together to focus world attention on the critical need for new HIV prevention options, especially for women. AIDS researcher Dr. Mary-Lou Clements-Mann is killed in the crash of Swissair flight 111. Kate Shindle wins the Miss America title. AIDS is her platform. She travels all over the country on a national speaking tour titled "On the Way to a Cure: Preventing HIV Transmission in America." She moderates a panel discussion on women and AIDS at the 12th annual World AIDS Conference in Geneva, Switzerland at the invitation of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. No Image of her available, but her I feel she is a woman that we should all know about, and remember in our hearts.	Rock Hudson America considered AIDS the "gay plague" until 1985, when Rock Hudson's death made AIDS a household word, according to an entry in the Wall Street Journal's Centennial Journal, which recounts major events in the paper's 100-year history. In 1983, the head of the U.S. Public Health Service said AIDS was no threat to the public--only 1,450 people were infected at the time, all of them gay and bisexual men and IV drug users. By 1985, AIDS was a global public health crisis, and statistics in Africa presaged rising heterosexual transmission of HIV. Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., was born on November 25, 1925, in Winnetka, Illinois. When young, Roy was eight years of age, his father left him and his mother. Although he tried out for school plays, he wasn’t given the parts, as he couldn’t memorize his lines. Upon graduating high school, he went to work as a postal employee until World War II, when he enlisted in the United States Navy as an airplane mechanic. Once the war was over, Roy went to work as a truck driver. He once again tried his hand at acting in the movies and this time he was a success. He signed a contract with Universal Studios. Universal changed his name to Rock Hudson, surgically lowered his voice, capped his teeth, and sent him for lessons in acting and singing. On his own, Rock had fencing and horseback riding lessons. His first film was 1948's "Fighter Squadron" where he had a one line part. His big physique made him a box office draw for twenty years. Women flocked to see him not knowing that he was homosexual. This remained a secret for over thirty years and he even tried to overcome his feelings by marrying his agent’s secretary in 1955. They remained married for only three years. Rock threw himself into the Hollywood social community and seemed very outgoing when in actuality he was a shy, quiet person. Rock appeared in movies, television series and even worked in the theatre. His fans were loyal and because of this, his acting career was a success. He had a very successful television series "McMillian and Wife" which also starred actress Susan St. James. After the show went off the air, Rock had a recurring role in the television series "Dynasty." In 1984, Rock Hudson publicly announced that he was dying of AIDS. He was the first public figure to make such an announcement. The world was shocked to find out that their favorite masculine Hollywood icon was a homosexual. It was this announcement that started a worldwide search for this disease. In 1985, Rock Hudson died from AIDS. It was after his death that his lover Marc Christian sued Hudson’s estate and won because of contracting the disease from his lover. Because of society’s rude jokes surrounding Rock Hudson’s homosexuality, Prudential Life Insurance changed their slogan about owning a piece of the rock. In 1995, Rock Hudson was chosen by Empire Magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in the movie industry. Rock Hudson made over thirty movies, was in two television shows and in three television mini-series
Rudolf Nureyev Birth: Mar. 17, 1938 Death: Jan. 6, 1993 ballet dancer whose suspended leaps and fast turns were often compared to Vaslav Nijinsky's legendary feats. He was a flamboyant performer and a charismatic celebrity who revived the prominence of male ballet roles and significantly widened the audience for ballet.	Dack Rambo Birth Name: Norman Rambo Birth Date: November 13, 1941 Birth Place: Earlimart, California Vocation: Actor Height: 6' 0" Weight: 165 Hair: Brown Eyes: Blue Education: Studied acting with Lee Strasberg and Vincent Chase Avocations/Interests: Tennis, Jogging, Horseback Riding, Racquetball Family: Lester (father, deceased), Beatrice (mother), Bill (older brother), Beverly (younger sister) and Dirk (twin brother, deceased) Memberships: National Academy of Arts & Sciences, Mothers Against Drunk Driving Founder: Dack Rambo Productions Date of Death: March 21, 1994 Place of Death: Earlimart, California	Merritt Butrick Birth: Sep. 3, 1959 Gainesville Florida, USA Death: Mar. 17, 1989 New York New York, USA Actor, played Captain James T. Kirk's son, David Marcus, in the Star Trek movies 2 and 3. Cause of death: AIDS	Kevin Peter Hall Kevin Peter hall Stars in Predator in 1987. PREDATOR PREDATOR 2 HARRY & THE HENDERSONS MISFITS OF SCIENCE Kevin died of AIDS in 1991, survived by wife Alaina Reed Hall, who was Olivia on SESAME STREET. He is missed. Birthdate: May 9, 1955. Birthplace: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Deceased: April 10, 1991. He actually died from complications from the AIDS virus, which he unfortunately contracted through a blood transfusion
Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS activist Elizabeth Glaser has died of AIDS- related complications at the age of 47. Glaser, who contracted HIV through a blood transfusion in 1981, unknowingly passed the virus on to her two children. At the Democratic National Convention during the 1992 Presidential campaign, Glaser told of the death in 1988 of her seven-year- old daughter from AIDS. "She taught me to love when all I wanted to do was hate," Glaser said. "She taught me to help others when all I wanted to do was help myself." Glaser co- founded the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, which has raised more than $30 million for pediatric education and research, in 1988. Her autobiography, "In the Absence of Angels," described her frustration with the lack of information on children who have AIDS. It also described how she mobilized legislators, such as Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio). Glaser is survived by her husband, actor and director Paul Glaser, and her son. Elizabeth Glaser, the founder of the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, died on December 3,1994 in California. She was 48 years old. Ms. Glaser was having an almost idyllic life in California, married to an actor and the mother of a girl and a boy. When her daughter was born in 1981, Ms. Glaser had labor complications and received blood transfusions. Several years later, her daughter became myseteriously ill and eventually died. Late in her daughter's illness, the girl was diagnosed with AIDS, and both Ms. Glaser and her young son diagnosed HIV-positive. (AIDS was transmitted to the daughter from breastfeeding.) Ms. Glaser went on to found the Pediatric AIDS Foundation as a tribute to her daughter and to the thousands of other children with AIDS. She got people involved in the fundraising and awareness fight. She also wrote a gut-wrenching book about her daughter's illness and how her family has had to cope with the disease. She was my hero. Many people would have crawled in a hole after loosing a child and discovering their own mortality was staring them in the face. How that woman fought, for her son, for herself, for the hundreds of thousands of other people out there. No Image of her available, but her I feel she is a woman that we should all know about, and remember in our hearts.	Keith Haring Keith arrived in New York in 1978 as a scholarship student at the School of Visual Arts. All at once, he began to experience a multicultural urban community with its own expressive vocabulary; a lively environment in which to explore his gay identity; and a peer group, at the School of Visual Arts and in the vibrantly experimental East Village, as energetic and uninhibited as Keith himself. He was particularly inspired by the beauty and spontaneity of the graffiti he saw in the subways. Graffiti spoke of a world that was hip and streetwise, creative and spontaneous and underground--all that he admired and wanted to be. At the same time, he admired the technical mastery and calligraphic quality of the graffiti artists' 'tags.' Before Keith Passed away from AIDS, He set up an excellent foundation for his artwork to be sold, all profits going to children and the fight against AIDS. His artwork will live on forever.	Brad Davis His reputation for bad behaviour both on and off set meant that good parts were rarely offered and his roles in "Midnight Express" and "Querelle" remain the only ones for which he is remembered. He won plaudits for his Robert Kennedy in a TV movie (1985). Towards the end of his life, he played his only comedy role in the excellent "Rosalie Goes Shopping" (1989). His wife, Susan Bluestein Davis, is the author the only published biography of her husband. Worth reading (try Amazon.com), but you will be left feeling that she probably knew her husband rather less well than many of the others in his life.	Denholm Elliott Actor who took to the stage and then film, after surviving three years in a Nazi POW camp during World War II. Known for his character roles as an endearing, hapless Englishman, his films include A Doll's House (1973), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and A Room with a View (1986), for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He was married for several years to actress Virginia McKenna and died in 1992 of an AIDS-related illness. Died: 10/6/92
Wayland Flowers (November 26, 1939-October 11, 1988) Ventriloquist act with his dummy 'Madame' Starred in 'Madame's Place' and 'The Lander's Sister Show' Was a panelist on the original Hollywood Squares. He was extremely effeminate. When he died of AIDS, at 48, and was buried with his dummy, Madame. His dummy was that of an old female diva. Before he became somewhat famous, he used to bring Madame into bars and entice customers to buy her a drink.	Anthony Perkins Perkins began his career as a juvenile lead in the early 1950s and distinguished himself in films including "Tin Star" (1957) and, as baseball star Jim Piersall, "Fear Strikes Out" (1957). His gripping recreation of Piersall's mental problems made him a suitable choice for what would become his signature role, the mother-fixated Norman Bates in Hitchcock's classic thriller, "Psycho" (1960). He went on to appear in a number of interesting works, including Orson Welles's adaptation of Kafka's "The Trial" (1962), but could never quite shake the "Psycho" mantle. In the mid-1980s, Perkins returned to the scene of his early triumph, reprising the Bates role in three progressively campy sequels, the second of which also marked his directorial debut. He was the son of actor Osgood Perkins (Johnny Lovo in "Scarface" 1932) and husband of Berry Berenson, who appeared opposite him in two films, "Remember My Name" (1978) and "Winter Kills" (1979). His Wife, Berry Berenson, passed away in the tragic September 11th WTC center terroist attacks. She was on a flight from boston to LA, the first plane to hit the world trade center.	Ofra Haza November 19, 1957 - February 23, 2000 The first time I heard Ofra Haza sing was as a featured vocalist for Sisters Of Mercy on the song "Temple of Love," which was released in 1992. I was drawn by the sumptous vocals and depth of her voice, so I bought all of her albums and have been a devoted fan of hers for years. I am saddened by her death this year (February 23, 2000), and it was a major loss for the music community. Ofra was one of Israel's most famous vocalists and enjoyed international success with her music career. Tha Haza family have decided not to leave the death of Ofra Haza unnoticed. They have hired a lawyer and a private investigator to find out what exactly happened to her. The lawyer was quoted as saying: "The answers are with her husband and Dr. Mimi Hatman." The Israeli Media announced that Ofra Haza died at Tel Hashomer Hospital in Jerusalem on February 23, 2000 where she spent the last two weeks of her life in an intensive care unit, reportedly undergoing treatment for AIDS. Although there is no confirmation from officials, this seems the likely cause from published reports. A medical source at Tel Hashomer Hospital, said Ofra was a carrier of the AIDS virus, but that she didn't have AIDS. According to the same source, the singer died from the medicine she received and added, "in the history of AIDS we know of only 8 other death cases worldwide from this rare complication	Jose De Vega -1934 April 8th 1990 Jose De Vega was probably best know as "Chino" in West Side Story (1961) It seemed he was rather busy that year, as he also played in Blue Hawaii (1961) as "Ernie Gordon", one of Chad Gates' (Elvis Presley) friends on the beach. He wore orange and yellow trunks in early beach scenes, and at the party he said "...well let's get her off!" (which sounds awkward today) Jose died in Westwood, California, 8 April 1990 of AIDS at the age of 56
Klaus Nomi 1944, Germany - 1983, New York Nomi was one of the first public figures to die from AIDS, and his death brought the health crisis to a wider public. His career was terminated with much of the promise unfulfilled; now he is barely remembered. The albums are available on CD, there are three promotional videos, some paintings by admirers, and a few clips of Nomi's hilarious appearances on cable TV demonstrating his skill as a pastry chef.