Patch Pic of the Day

Fallen but Not Forgotten

The Atlanta Police Department remembers those who lost their lives in the line of duty.

The Atlanta Police Department lost three of its members last year and honored them Tuesday in a memorial service at Atlanta City Hall. The service was held in advance of next week's annual Police Memorial Week in Washington, D.C. where the names of those three officers, Gail D. Thomas, Richard Halford and Shawn Smiley, will be placed on the National Police Memorial Wall. Senior Officer Gail D. Thomas of Austell, 46, was struck by a vehicle while assisting another officer at a traffic accident on the Brookwood Interchange ramp in between Midtown and Buckhead. A sworn police officer for 15 years, she died at the scene. She is survived by her daughter, father, brothers and extended family. Officer Richard J. Halford of Lithia Springs, age 48…

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Jane Henson, Wife of Jim Henson and Supporter of Center for Puppetry Arts, Dies

Jane Henson was a supporter of puppetry arts. In lieu of flowers, it's been requested that donations be made in her honor to the Midtown puppetry center.

Jane Nebel Henson, creative partner and former wife of famed puppeteer Jim Henson, has died, according to a statement from the Jim Henson Company released yesterday. According to the statement, Henson, aged 79, passed away at her home in Connecticut yesterday after enduring a lengthly cancer diagnosis.  Instead of flowers, donations may be sent in Henson's memory to the Center for Puppetry Arts, the Jim Henson Foundation for the Support of Puppetry, or The Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theatre Centre. Vincent Anthony, founder and director of Midtown's Center for Puppetry Arts, released this statement: Jane Henson's relationship with the Center for Puppetry Arts goes back to our very beginning. She, along with daughter …

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Funeral For Congressman John Lewis' Wife Monday

The funeral for Lillian Lewis, the wife of U.S. Rep. John Lewis, will be held at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

The funeral for Lillian Lewis, the wife of U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 7, at Ebenezer Baptist Church at 407 Auburn Ave., Atlanta. Mrs. Lewis, 73, died Monday at Emory University Hospital. She and Rep. Lewis, whose 5th District includes Decatur and most of the city of Atlanta, had been married 44 years. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said, Flowers may be sent to Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home, 1003 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd. SW, Atlanta, until Sunday. After that day, flowers should be sent to Ebenezer Baptist Church. In lieu of flowers, donations in Lillian Lewis’ name can be sent to the American Kidney Fund Headquarters, 11921 Rockville Pike, Suite 300, Rockville, MD 20852. Please note in your …

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Rep. John Lewis' Wife Passes Away Monday

Lilian Lewis died on the morning of December 31, 2012.

The office of Congressman John Lewis has confirmed that his wife Lilian passed away Monday morning in Atlanta. Congressman John Lewis and his wife were married in 1968. They have a son together, by the name of John-Miles. Lilian is said to have played a major role in the civil rights movement at the side of the longtime GA congressman.  According to the AJC, "Lilian attended Los Angeles High School with the late Johnny Cochran, received an undergraduate degree in English from California State College (now California State University) at Los Angeles, and a master’s degree in library science at the University of Southern California." John and Lilian met at a New Year's Eve party which was being held at Xernona Clayton's house.  Now after 44 …

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Georgia Tech Football Great Larry Morris Dies

Known as "the Brahma Bull," the 1950 graduate of Decatur High became an All-American at Georgia Tech before enjoying an outstanding career in the NFL.

Larry Morris, 79, a Decatur High football star who became an All-American at Georgia Tech and played a dozen years in the NFL, died Dec. 19 after an extended illness. Morris led the 1949 and 1950 Decatur teams that won state championships while going 25-0. According to a 2010 Atlanta Journal-Constitution story that Decaturite Bill Banks wrote about a team reunion, The star player both years was halfback/linebacker Larry Morris. If today’s surviving Decatur players have foggy interpretations of individual games, each has palpable, living, breathing recollections of “The Brahma Bull.” “He was incredible,” said Morris’ son, Shan Morris, himself a three-year starter at Auburn in the late 1980s. “I’ve seen pictures from his high school and …

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Saturday Memorial Set for Local Shooting Victim

Lee Lowery grew up in the Morningside neighborhood and his killing this week ended a life that left a "trail marked by loyalty and kindness."

There will be a visitation period Saturday afternoon in Midtown in memory of Lee Lowery III. Lowery, 20, was shot and killed Monday afternoon in the breezeway outside a Ponce de Leon Avenue apartment loft complex. The visitation will be on Saturday, Nov. 17 from 3 – 5 p.m. at H.M. Patterson & Son-Spring Hill Chapel, located at 1020 Spring Street NW, The well-liked Lowery was a lifelong local resident who grew up in the Morningside neighborhood. He was baptized at Morningside Presbyterian Church and attended school at Morningside Elementary, Inman Middle and was a 2010 graduate of Grady High School, where he played on the soccer team. He entered Georgia State University in September 2010 as a Hope Scholar and had completed his sophomore …

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In Memoriam: Gudmund Vigtel (1925-2012)

Former director of the High Museum of Art oversaw the Midtown museum for almost three decades

Editor’s note: The following was posted by the High Museum of Art. The family-placed death notice for Gudmund Vigtel can be found here.   Gudmund Vigtel July 9, 1925 – October 20, 2012 The board and staff of the High Museum of Art honor the extraordinary life of our friend and mentor Gudmund Vigtel. Vig, as he was commonly known, served as the director of the High Museum of Art for 28 years, from 1963 to 1991. Gudmund Vigtel's official title was director, but in the early years, he handled everything from curatorial duties and development to volunteers and local artist encouragement. Vig took the helm at the High in the year following the tragic 1962 plane crash at Paris's Orly airport, which took the lives of 122 Atlanta arts patrons. …

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Ansley Park businessman championed spinal-injury fundraising

There will be a celebration of the life of Billy Hulse on Tuesday, Sept. 25 at the Piedmont Driving Club. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in memory of Mr. Hulse to the Shepherd Center Foundation, Betty and Billy Hulse Spinal Cord Injury Lab.

Ten days after a new spinal cord injury research lab at the Shepherd Center was named after he and his wife, Billy Hulse died at his Ansley Park home on Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. Frank “Billy” Wilson Hulse IV was 65. He is survived by his wife of 28 years, Betty Hulse, along with a sister, Bonnie Hulse Krebs; a niece, Cobby Witherington; and a nephew, Frank Young. There will be a celebration of his life on Tuesday, Sept. 25 at the Piedmont Driving Club from 5-7 p.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in memory of Billy Hulse to the Shepherd Center Foundation, Betty and Billy Hulse Spinal Cord Injury Lab, located at 2020 Peachtree Road, Atlanta, GA 30309. The Betty and Billy Hulse Spinal Cord Injury Lab was named after the Hulses …

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Midtown Historic Preservation Consultant Passes

Bamby Ray worked on many historic properties in the city including the Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills development project and the Glenn Hotel.

The Midtown Neighborhood and Atlanta recently lost one of its true historians with the passing of Muriel "Bamby" Ray on July 28, 2012. Ray was diagnosed with a very rare inoperable cancer in March just after an Italian vacation. She died at her home in Midtown. According to her obituary on Legacy.com: Bamby began her work as a historic preservation consultant working on many historic properties in Atlanta and throughout the Southeast. At the time of her death she was actively working on City Hall East. Bill and Bamby with their children lived all over the world including Hawaii, Germany, Hong Kong and the Philippines. She is survived by her husband Bill of 55 years; sons Bill Ray and Gus Ray; and a daughter Karen Ray. The family request …

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Warren Bruno of Atkins Park Dies After Battle With Cancer

Share your memories of Bruno here.

Atlanta lost a beloved community man Wednesday morning. Atkins Park owner Warren Bruno, 64, died after an eight-year battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife and four children. Bruno founded what is now known as Virginia-Highland Summerfest in 1983, the same year he purchased Atkins Park Tavern on N. Highland Avenue. He later helped opened Orsmby’s on Howell Mill Road. Overall, Bruno was involved in more than a dozen eating and drinking establishments in Atlanta, but his commitment to people and neighborhoods is what people will long remember him for. “He will be missed, he will be loved and he fought the good fight,” said David Laws, who first began working for Bruno some thirty years ago at the former Buckhead estblishment, Aunt …

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