Deaths elsewhere

Last update: September 29, 2009 - 8:45 PM

Paul (Red) Fay, 91, who met John F. Kennedy when they were both in the Navy, joined his administration as undersecretary of the Navy and then wrote a best-selling book about their friendship, died Sept. 23 at his home in Woodside, Calif. Fay met the future president in 1942 in Rhode Island. Their first meeting, in a story befitting the Kennedy legend, was during a touch football game. Fay was there for torpedo-boat training, and Kennedy was his instructor. They became close friends after both their boats were damaged -- Kennedy's PT-109 was attacked in an event that made him a war hero and Fay's boat was struck by a torpedo, which earned him a Bronze Star. While ashore, they roomed together. Fay became a political supporter and adviser, with a view of Kennedy's life that few other nonfamily members could match. His 1966 book, "The Pleasure of His Company," provided readers still grieving for the assassinated president with new details about Kennedy's life.

Henry Louis Bellmon, who in 1963 became Oklahoma's first GOP governor since statehood and is known as the father of the state's modern Republican Party, died Tuesday in Oklahoma City. He was 88. Bellmon served two nonconsecutive terms as governor, one that began in 1963 and one that started in 1987. As the state's first GOP governor, Bellmon was credited with making the party a viable force in state politics. In 1967, he served as national chairman of the Nixon for President campaign. Bellmon then went on to win election to the U.S. Senate in 1968 and again in 1974. During his first term as a senator, Bellmon supported a federal court order that called for crosstown busing to achieve racial balance in Oklahoma City public schools. Many state newspapers criticized him for his stance. At the end of his second term as governor, Bellmon saw passage of the Education Reform and Funding Act of 1990. The legislation called for an increase in funding for public schools by 27 percent, as well smaller class sizes, compulsory kindergarten and teacher incentive pay.

Gaylord Campbell, 81, a U.S. marshal who was appointed by President Richard Nixon and then served two subpoenas on him during the Watergate scandal, died of colon cancer Sept. 24 in Tarzana, Calif. Campbell was the Los Angeles County sheriff's public information officer when he was appointed marshal by Nixon in 1969. He became part of the Watergate scandal in August 1974 because the former president, then living in San Clemente, Calif., had to be served two subpoenas related to the case. Campbell's daughter said her father brought with him a photo of Nixon taken at a campaign event at Century Plaza Hotel and asked the former president to autograph it.

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Deaths elsewhere - September 29, 2009

Deaths elsewhere - Peg Mullen, 92, an author and former Iowa farm wife who hounded the U.S. military to find the truth about her son's death in Vietnam, died Friday in La Porte City, Iowa. More