4 OBITUARIES, NATION Union-News, Wednesday, May 30, 2001 4 Luke J. Smith, 87, executive, teacher EAST LONGMEADOW Luke J. Smith. 87. of 239 Somers Road.
cial, and longtime Air Reserve offian executive. teacher. town officer, died Monday at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. He was the research and development director at Milton Bradley Co. for 22 years, and retired i in 1976.
He worked previously at A.G. Spalding Co. (now Spalding Sports Worldwide) of Chicopee ar. for 20 years. He was a former teacher of adult education in the Springfield public schools.
taught public speaking at American Internation1 al College. and was a Junior Achievement instructor. He was born in New Britain. and lived in this town since He graduated from the former Classical High School in Springfield and Northeastern College (now Western New England and received a bachelor's degree in engineering and business. He was a communicant of St.
Michael's Church. An Army Air Forces veteran of War II, he was a captain in the Sixth Air Force stationed in -Panama. Guatemala, and the Islands. He was a group navigation officer at Gowen Field, Idaho. and the director of training at Fairmont (Neb.) Force Base.
He attended the University of Miami for air navigator training. Michael Longo le al Hospital in Stafford. He worked for General Electric Corp. in Connecticut for 17 years. and was previously a design engineer at Pratt Whitney Aircraft Division of United Technologies Corp.
in East Hartford for 19 years. 'Born in Brooklyn, N.Y.. he was raised in Pennsylvania. lived in Connecticut for 19 vears and in Massachusetts for 23 years. and moved to Enfield during the past year.
He received a bachelor's degree in engineering from Pennsylvania State University. He leaves his wife, the former Maureen Macken; a son, David of Boston; a Susan Longo of East Harwich. and a brother, Maurice of North Palm Beach, Fla. The funeral will be Saturday morning at Leete-Stevens Enfield Chapels and St. Bernard's Church, with burial in Rose Hill Memorial Park.
Rocky Hill. Callting hours will be Friday afternoon and evening. Memorial contributions may be made to the Circle of Friends. Florida Hospital, 613 Lake Winyah Drive, Orlando, FL 32803. 4.
ENFIELD, Conn. Michael Longo, 63, of Oldefield Farms, died Monday at Johnson Memori- Donald E. Fortier CHICOPEE Donald Edward Fortier. 56. of 90 Britton St.
in the Fairview section, died Saturday at Holyoke Hospital. He was a coordinator for AveryDennison Co. of Holliston. He was -born in Holyoke. lived in South Hadley before moving to Chicopee in 1966.
and was a communicant of St. Anne Church in Fairview. He was a Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War, and received the National Defense Service Medal and the Rifle Expert Badge. He leaves his wife, the former Frances D. Menard; a son, Donald E.
Jr. of Chicopee; two daughters. Deborah A. Reome and Anne Marie Fortier, both of Chicopee: his parents, George L. and Mary E.
(Purcell) Fortier of Granby; three brothers, William 'F. of Chicopee. Robert L. of Granby. and John J.
of Twentynine 'Palms, a sister, Jean E. Walker of Chicopee; and five grandchildren. The funeral will be Friday morning at Phaneuf-Blais Funeral Chapels and the church. with a military burial in Notre Dame Cemetery, South Hadley. Calling hours will be Thursday afternoon and evening.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Soldiers' Home. 110 Cherry Holyoke, MA 01040. Larry Wise SPRINGFIELD Larry Wise, 148. of 110 Lucerne Road, died Thursday at Baystate Medical He was born and schooled in this city. He leaves five daugh-ters, Marcy WiseShawn Wise and Nicole Wise, all Georgia, Springfield, and Shanel Shawnique Elsberry Glaze of North Carolina; his parents, Joe and Lucille (Wilbon) Wise of Springfield: three brothers, Jonathan of Connecticut, and Donelle and Joseph, both of Springfield; it five sisters, Eutha Green, Juanita Ernestine Holmes and Wise.
all of Springfield, Kathy Paxton of Chicago: and 11 grandchildren. The funeral will be Thursday afternoon at Hendervson Funeral Home, with burial in Grove Cemetery. A calling "hour will precede the service. de 1 Obituaries Desert survivor charged Catherine L. Krol WARE Catherine L.
Krol, 93, formerly of 178 Thompson Springfield, died Monday at a Wilbraham nursing home. She was a secretary at the former Coca-Cola Co. plant in Ware for several years. She was born in this town. lived here for most of her life, and graduated from Ware High School and the Bay Path Institute in Springfield (now Bay Path College in Longmeadow).
She was communicant of St. Mary's Church. She leaves a sister, Sophie E. Hawley of Ware. The funeral and burial will be private and at the convenience of the family.
Cebula Funeral Home is in charge. There are no calling hours. Sidney Spiegel, at 81; was Ike's bodyguard Associated Press SOMERSET. N.J.- Sidney Spiegel. a World War II military policeman who served as a bodyguard to Gen.
Dwight D. Eisenhower. died on Wednesday of pneumonia. He was 81. During World War II, Spiegel, an Army sergeant in the Military Police, was assigned to Eisenhower, the Allied supreme commander in Europe, and gained mention in Ike's best-selling 1948 memoir, "Crusade in Europe." Eisenhower wrote.
"A sergeant who accompanied me everywhere in France was a motorcycle policeman named Sidney Spiegel. His personal loyalty and his anxiety to protect me knew no bounds." After the war. Spiegel became a bodyguard and chauffeur for tobacco heiress Doris Duke before joining the Somerville Police Department. In 1951, at the age of 31, he joined the New Jersey State Police. He retired in 1976 at the rank of lieutenant.
Spellers abuzz with strategies By GINA HOLLAND Associated Press WASHINGTON Young spellers zipped through tongue-twisters like "prolegomenon," "byssinosis." "catadromous" and "kamelaukion" as they tried to spell their way to a national championship. The 248 faced off yesterday in the National Spelling Bee, which combines obscure words and the pressure to think fast. Ten-year-old Brendan Guinn, among the youngest of the contestants, couldn't see over the microphone. Brendan, of Chinle, grimaced after misspelling "archivalia," which means archived material. stuck his hands in his blue jeans pockets and sauntered off the stage.
Unlike Brendan's study in frustration, spellers who survived the first round jumped up and down or pumped their arms in the air. Harry Altman, 14, of Glen Rock, N.J., almost was tripped up by the Hawaiian word "pahoehoe," a word for lava. He smiled and rolled his eyes before spelling i it right. All the spellers had a strategy. "When I get jumpy, I tell myself, It's like, 'OK, I'm not going to throw said Samantha Toigo, of Green Bay, who also likes to "cross my fingers, my legs, too I cross pretty much everything." Bethany Barnett, like Samantha.
a 13-year-old first-time contestant in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee, had another secret. She spells each word with sign language, thinking through each letter, before spelling aloud. The seventh-grader from Swoope. learned sign language from a deaf classmate and said the process keeps her from succumbing to pressure so intense you "just spell a bunch of gibberish because you want to get off the stage." Bethany was overwhelmed by the words. "My dad hasn't even heard of 75 percent of these words, and he's a teacher," she said.
The three-day competition includes spellers, sponsored by their local newspapers. from every state except Vermont and from several U.S. territories. Among them are 39 children returning for a second try. 12 back for a third attempt and an Indiana girl Joy Amanda Nyenhuis-Rouch.
of Lafayette making her fourth try. The winner of the event will take home $10.000. as immigrant 14 of the 26 Mexicans died before 12 were found and rescued by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the scorching Arizona wastes last week. By GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO Associated Press Associated Press PHOENIX One of 12 survivors of a border crossing that ended in 14 deaths in the scorching Arizona desert was charged yesterday with smuggling illegal immigrants. a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service said.
The charges against Jesus Lopez-Ramos, 20, of Sonoita in the Mexican state of Sonora are bringing in illegal aliens, conspiracy to bring in illegal aliens and harboring illegal aliens, court documents show. If convicted, he could receive up to life in prison or the death penalty. an INS news release said. INS spokesman Ron Rogers said Lopez-Ramos was among a group rescued from the southern Arizona desert east of Yuma last week. They were the survivors from a group of 26 that attempted to cross 70 miles of desert in temperatures reaching 115 degrees.
Three survivors of the border crossing were released into U.S. Border Patrol custody Monday. The immigrants spent five days wandering the desert after some of the smugglers told them they were leaving to get water and never returned. officials said. Mexican authorities planned to return the bodies home by tonight.
Eight survivors were released from the hospital into U.S. Border Patrol custody Saturday and Sunday. The last survivor who remained hospitalized was in good condition Monday. The Border Patrol has not released the names of any of the survivors. The Border Patrol was holding the men and teen-age boys who were released from the hospital at the Yuma County Adult Detention Facility.
They were being held as witnesses in the smuggling investigation. Officials said they also must check the immigrants for any past deportations or criminal activity before they will be turned over to Mexican authorities and sent home. The immigrants, who were from the Mexican states of Veracruz TWISTER DAMAGE house flipped and landed on the for 30 minutes. car, left rear, trapping him Associated Press Ryan Bekowitz salvages some belongings yesterday, a day after a tornado destroyed his father's mobile home in Ellicott, Colo. Larry Bekowitz had just pulled up in his car when the Colorado citizens survive shakeups citizens shakeups leak.
Crews emptied the tank yesterday. There were no deaths in the town of 4.600, but 18 people were treated for minor injuries at two Colorado Springs hospitals, officials said. Most were released by yesterday morning. Search and rescue crews assessed damage to homes and building and tried to determine if any people were trapped under debris. By early afternoon, El Paso County Sheriff's Sgt.
Jim Groth said authorities believed all residents were accounted for. The storm moved in shortly after dinner time Monday and dumped about 6 inches of hail. some the size of nickels, on the town of about 4.600 people. The hail had mostly melted several hours after the tornado moved through. Forecasters said there was a chance of thunderstorms last evening near Ellicott.
Missie Long and her greatgrandmother. Ella May Burnham, took shelter in their milk barn. The tornado blew over a horse barn, but their home was spared. "We looked over and saw the trailer park disappear and that's when we decided we better skedaddle," Burnham said. "We are just real thankful we all got through this alive." The high school was a total loss.
with damage estimated at up to $6 million. said schools Superintendent Walt Cooper. He said the tornado ripped away 10 classrooms, a cafeteria, a choir room and two computer labs. The storm also brought heavy water damage to an elementary school under construction. Meanwhile.
Oklahoma was hit with a second round of heavy rain yesterday as utility officials worked to restore electricity to 000 customers who remained without power as a result of storms Sunday. 4. smuggler A L. Th 1. and graduated from the Command.
and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, and the Industrial 1 College of the Armed Forces. He retired as a lieutenant colonel and commander of the 9246th Air Reserve Squadron after 20 years in the Air Force Reserve. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus. served on the High School Building Committee. and belonged to the Lions Club and the Wilbraham Country Club.
He was a past vice president of Chapter 24 of the Reserve Officers Association, a past member of the Democratic Town Committee, secretary of the John F. Kennedy-forPresident Committee, a former Public Library trustee, and a former register of voters. He leaves his wife of 58 years. the former Dorothy E. Cosman: two daughters, Deborah S.
Zoffoli of Canton, and Donna F. Thayer of Burlington, a sister, Helen Hackett of Glenmoore, three grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter. A daughter, Anita L. Smith. died in 1980.
The funeral will be Friday morning at Hafey East Longmeadow Chapels and the church. with burial in the Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Agawam. Calling hours will be Thursday afternoon and evening. Memorial contributions may be made to the Rescue Mission. P.O.
Box 2435. Springfield. MA 01101. George L. Smithies SOUTHWICK George L.
Smithies, 72, of Depot Street, died Tuesday at Noble Hospital in Westfield. Born in Westfield. he lived there for many years before moving to Southwick eight years ago. He leaves two brothers, William of Springfield and Raymond of Longmeadow: and a sister. Hazel Krostoski of Westfield.
The funeral will be Thursday morning at Southwick Forastiere Funeral Home, with burial in New Cemetery. A calling hour will precede the service. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Diabetes Association, Bromfield fifth floor, Boston, MA 01028. William M. Fennell William M.
Fennell. 72. of 1455 Ten Rod Road. died Monday at a Coventry nursing home. He was a civil engineer for the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. Born in Tarrentum, he was schooled in Pennsylvania. lived in Sunderland, for several years, and was an Army veteran of the Korean War. His wife, the former Henrietta Sarver, in 1987. He leaves a son, John of Exeter: and five grandchildren.
The funeral will be Thursday morning at Wrisley Funeral Home Chapel in South Deerfield. with burial in Riverside Cemetery, Sunderland. There are no calling hours. Memorial contributions may the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. 121 Wall St.
(19th floor), New York, NY 10005. Theresa M. Slattery BELLOWS FALLS. Theresa M. "Tessie" (Gray) Slattery, 98, of this town.
died Monday at a local nursing home. She worked at Lecuyer's Manufacturing Co. and Liquidometer. She was born in Massena, N.Y., and attended New York state schools. Her husband, James E.
Slattery, died in 1962, and she was also predeceased by three sons, James John K. and Daniel and a daughter, Corinne A. Gillen. She leaves two daughters. Mary L.
Reed of Bellows Falls and Barbara E. Guindon of Springfield. 12 grandchildren; 15 greatgrandchildren; and a great-greatgrandson. The funeral will be Thursday morning at St. Charles Church, with burial in the parish cemetery in Westminster.
Calling hours are this evening at Fenton Hennessey Funeral Home. Memorial contributions may be made to the St. Charles church school fund. Cherry Hill, Bellows Falls, VT 05. 05101.
Jeffrey K. Grant EAST LONGMEADOW Jeffrey K. Grant, 48, of 2 Scheyler Drive, died Monday at home. He owned Kimmell's Bagel Shop in Longmeadow for many years. Born in Springfield, he graduated from Longmeadow High School and Monson Academy, and lived in this town for 10 years.
He was a member of Elks Lodge 62. He leaves two daughters. Allison Grant and Caitlin Grant, both of Longmeadow: his parents. Philip and Shirley (Kimmell) Grant of Longmeadow; and two sisters. Beverly Leibowitz of Lancaster.
and Michelle Russell of Springfield. A private graveside service will held today in Sons of Israel Cemetery, Springfield. Harold R. Ascher Son Memorial Chapel of Springfield is in charge. Memorial contributions may be made to any charity.
and Guerrero, crossed the into southern Arizona in the za Prieta National Wildlife uge. Family members in the highland villages of Veracruz the immigrants were seeking. better life after plummeting prices left them no other but to seek work in the States. Crackdowns at more and safe crossing points along border with Mexico the Southwest have pushed grants to attempt crossing in gerously remote areas. Since 1998, 991 people died crossing the border, from heat exposure or according to the Border More than 5.000 others were cued by agents.
The tragedy has prompted newed pledges from U.S. Mexican authorities to work gether to find economic and cal solutions that would illegal immigration. to find prosecute smugglers and to the word that crossing the can be deadly. Eduardo Rea. a deputy the Mexican Consulate in co, declined to when contacted by The Press.
Suspected Nazi tried 02 2nd time By THOMAS J. SHEERAN Associated Press CLEVELAND The govern ment said yesterday it would pres: ent an identification card. work rosters and other documents in its second attempt to prove that a retired autoworker was a Nazi death camp guard who lied about his past to get into the United States. John Demjanjuk. 81.
was not present at the first day of his federal trial in which the Justice Department is seeking to strip the Ukrainian-born man of his U.S. citizenship. government's new case is based partly on documents that became available after the demise of the Soviet Union and that also helped Demjanjuk escape a death sentence in Israel. But a Nazi guard identification card used against Demjanjuk 20 years ago is still a key piece of evidence against him. Justice Department attorney Edward A.
Stutman said evidence would focus on seven documents that include references to a man with the same birthdate. birthplace and physical description, in: cluding a scar matching Demjanjuk's. "It is as clear as the scar on the defendant's back." Stutman told U.S. District Judge Paul R. Matia.
The trial comes 20 years after Demjanjuk first lost his citizenship. That case eventually led to the death sentence before Demjanjuk was acquitted in 1993 of being the Nazi death camp guard "Ivan the Terrible" during World War IT; This time the Justice Department intends to offer documentary evidence that Demjanjuk was a Ukrainian who became a Nazi guard at death camps and forced labor camps, mostly in Nazi-occu: pied Poland. A key document in both his first U.S. trial and now is an identification card allegedly issued to him at Trawniki, a Nazi camp in Poland where guards were trained. The Trawniki camp ID number, 1393, is used to trace his duty at the various Nazi camps.
Lead defense attorney Michael Tigar told the judge that he would prove the case against Demjanjuk amounts to mistaken identity and "trial by archive." He said the height and dental work listed oh the government's documents do not match Demjanjuk's. "The government cannot meet its burden of proof." Tigar said. Demjanjuk has denied that he ever helped the Nazis. Tigar didnit specify whether Demjanjuk would attend any of the trial, expected to last three weeks. Demanjuk contends he served in a Soviet Army artillery unit.
was captured in 1942 and remained in German prisoner-of-war camps. mostly in Chelm, Poland. His defense will include an argument that someone else from the Ukraine. possibly a cousin also named Ivan Demjanjuk, could have been a Nazi guard. border Cabe- Ref- poor! said coffee' choice Unite popular the in immi A' have most drowning.
Patrol, res reand tox politereduce and spread border; consul Calexicomment Associated The high school was a total loss and 9 mobile homes were destroyed when the first of 2 tornadoes rolled through the state. By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press ELLICOTT, Colo. A tornado knocked down power poles, destroyed a trailer and damaged three homes yesterday about 95 miles southeast of another town where residents were still recovering from a twister the night before that injured 18 people. No injuries were reported after the tornado struck Lamar yesterday. Prowers County Sheriff Jim Faull said one family escaped harm by hiding under a mattress in the middle of their house.
Seventeen funnel clouds were reported in the area and eight touched down, Faull said. the sun came up yesterday over Ellicott, the extent of the damage from a tornado Monday evening became clear. The roof of a high school was torn off and pieces had been hurled a quartermile across the prairie. Large chunks of brick were scattered 200 feet down a road. About 30 people whose homes were damaged took refuge in a church, and Trish Davidson and her husband and six children were among those planning to spend a second night there.
The family's mobile home was lifted off its foundation and slammed down about 10 feet away. "I got my kids. That's what I'm worried about." she said. Barns were flattened, trees knocked down and nine trailer homes smashed to bits. People had to be evacuated because part of a roof hit a large propane tank.
ripping the valve off and starting a 1 1.
