Three passings of note

It's old news by now, but Patrick Swayze passed away of cancer Monday. His autobiography, The Time of My Life, is scheduled to drop September 29th. He was 57.

Dirty Dancing was on constant rotation in my house at the tail end of grade school, and I greatly admire his all too public fight with cancer. Not that they'll ever read this, but my condolences to the family, especially his wife of over 30 years.

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The real-life inspiration for the film Norma Rae, Crystal Lee Sutton, passed away from cancer as well.

She remains an icon of the labor movement, but Sutton never reaped the financial benefits of her life story. She had to return to the workforce as a nursing assistant before being sidelined with cancer. She was 68.

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Lastly, Jody Powell, long time Press Secretary for Jimmy Carter, died of an apparent heart attack.


Powell plays a role in a few upcoming posts about Carter, and so the timing of his passing struck a nerve. Powell was with Carter from the late '60's until his political end, and carried a deserved reputation as a hothead. He once dumped red wine on Sam Donaldson on an airline flight, and answered a letter to the then-Governor by referring to the writer as a moron.

He was 65.