TUESDAY, JULY 13, 2010


KLMNO OBITUARIES


HARVEY PEKAR, 70 His ‘everyday life’ appeared in the comics by Terence McArdle


Harvey Pekar, 70, the writer whose autobiographical comic book series “American Splendor” chronicled his life as a filing clerk, record collector, freelance jazz critic and one of life’s all- around misfits, was found dead July 12 at his home near Cleve- land. No cause of death was report- ed, but a police captain in subur- ban Cleveland Heights told the Associated Press that an autopsy was planned. The AP reported that Mr. Pekar had prostate can- cer, asthma, high blood pressure and depression. The largely autobiographical comic series portrayed Mr. Pekar — inevitably dressed in a flannel shirt and corduroy pants — as a rumpled, depressed filing clerk in a Veterans Administration hospi- tal. He filled the stories with wry observations about his frustra- tions with work and human rela- tionships and what Mr. Pekar called “the 99 percent of life that nobody ever writes about.” “The humor of everyday life is


way funnier than what the co- medians do on TV,” Mr. Pekar once said. “It’s the stuff that hap- pens right in front of your face when there’s no routine and ev- erything is unexpected. That’s what I want to write about.” Mr. Pekar’s comic vignettes


were often of the mundane: push- ing a girlfriend’s car out of the snow, helping friends move a mil- dewed couch into an apartment, arguing with an editor and sell- ing used records to his co-work- ers. Other strips featured Mr. Pe- kar engaging in dark, interior monologues against a winter sky. The series developed a devoted following that extended beyond the usual comic book audience. It was made into a film in 2003 star- ring Paul Giamatti as Mr. Pekar and was adapted for the stage in 1987 as “From Off the Streets of Cleveland Comes . . . American Splendor — The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar.” A great believer in the comics medium, Mr. Pekar also used the form for music essays that graced CD jazz reissues and a New York Times op-art piece about the de- cline of the Cleveland economy. From 1986 to 1988, Mr. Pekar was a frequent guest on “Late Night With David Letterman,” in- cluding one appearance in which Mr. Pekar antagonized Letterman for not endorsing a strike against General Electric, the parent com- pany of NBC. Letterman’s show


Arthur C. Close CIA OFFICER


Arthur C. Close, 85, a former


CIA officer who became president of a Washington-based publishing company, died June 19 at his home in McLean. He had Parkin- son’s disease and a blood disorder. Mr. Close spent 28 years with the CIA and was station chief in Tunis, Tunisia, and Tripoli, Libya. After retiring from the agency in 1978, he became a manager and editor with Columbia Books & In- formation Services, which pub- lishes directories of lobbying firms and public relations agen- cies. He became president of the company in 1984 and retired in 1995. Arthur Condit Close was born in Beirut, where his father taught at the American University of Bei- rut. He served in the Army during World War II. In 1948, he received a bachelor’s degree in public and international affairs from Prince- ton University. Two year later, he received a master’s degree in Near East studies from Princeton. A son, Stephen Close, died in


2008. Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Marcia Smith Close of Mc- Lean; a son, Thomas Close of Clif- ton; a brother; and three grand- children.


—Timothy R. Smith


Charles L. Guill FAA ELECTRONICS TECHNICIAN


Charles L. Guill, 84, who


worked as an electronics tech- nician at Reagan National Airport and a traffic control center in Leesburg, died of lung cancer June 15 at his home in Suffolk, Md. In 1957, Mr. Guill joined what became the Federal Aviation Ad- ministration and worked on radar systems in Washington and at the Leesburg air route traffic control center. He retired in 1983. Charles Lee Guill, a Takoma


Park native, had a Washington Post delivery route in his neigh- borhood growing up. After serving in the Army Air


Forces during World War II, he held a number of odd jobs, includ- ing at an auto parts store, a post office and a missile manufactur- ing plant in Lorton.


MARK DUNCAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS


Harvey Pekar poses with a copy of “American Splendor” in 1986, seven years before being portrayed onscreen by actor Paul Giamatti.


was on NBC at the time, and Mr. Pekar was reportedly angered by what he considered GE’s business conflicts as an arms manufac- turer and media conglomerate. The tirade prompted Letter- man, somewhat jokingly, to apol- ogize to the people of Cleveland. Mr. Pekar was absent from the show for several years but was in- vited back in 1993. “We had a fight, a falling out, a misunderstanding — all that’s be- hind us,” Letterman said on the air. “I’m genuinely happy to see you back.”


“Really?” said Mr. Pekar, with apparent skepticism.


Meeting R. Crumb


Harvey Lawrence Pekar was born Oct. 8, 1939, in Cleveland. His parents were Jewish immi- grants from Poland. His father, a Talmudic scholar, supported the family as a neighborhood grocer, and the family lived above his store.


In the mid-1950s, he graduated from the Bliss Electrical School and soon began working for what became the FAA. Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Doris Demaree Guill of Suf- folk; four children, Russ Guill of Washington, Jim Guill of Fairfax County, Nancy Guill of Isle of Wight, Va., and Jane Guill of Char- lotte Courthouse, Va.; three grandchildren; and two great- grandchildren.


—T. Rees Shapiro


Robert P. Kalish GINNIE MAE EXECUTIVE


Robert P. Kalish, 79, a retired


executive with the Government National Mortgage Association, known as Ginnie Mae, died of re- nal failure June 29 at Casey House hospice in Rockville. Early in his career, Mr. Kalish was a lawyer in private practice and worked for the Federal Hous- ing Administration as a specialist in housing and mortgage matters. In 1982, he joined Ginnie Mae,


an agency within the Department of Housing and Urban Develop- ment that guarantees securities linked to government-backed mortgages. He retired in 1995 in the post of


executive vice president, the high- est-ranking civil service job at Ginnie Mae. Robert Paul Kalish, a Potomac resident, was born in Trenton, N.J., and served in the Air Force during the Korean War. He was a 1955 graduate of George Washing- ton University and a 1958 gradu- ate of its law school. Survivors include his wife of 50 years, Kathleen Guihan Kalish of Potomac; four children, Brian Kalish of South Riding, Michael Kalish of Honolulu, Stephen Kal- ish of Potomac and Patricia Kalish of Corte Madera, Calif.; and two grandchildren.


—Sakina Rangwala


Helen T. Loerke EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT


Helen Loerke, 88, an assistant to the director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars from the early 1980s un- til her retirement in 1987, died June 21 at Northwest Hospital in Baltimore of sepsis.


Mr. Pekar attended what be- came Case Western Reserve Uni- versity, served in the Navy in the late 1950s and worked a series of menial jobs before taking what would become a 30-year job as a filing clerk at a VA hospital in Cleveland. In the early 1960s, he befriend-


ed cartoonist Robert Crumb, who was working in Cleveland for the American Greetings card com- pany. Crumb and Mr. Pekar had a mutual love of jazz, although Crumb preferred 1920s hot jazz and Mr. Pekar’s taste ran to swing and modern jazz. After Crumb’s success as an underground car- toonist — named R. Crumb — Mr. Pekar approached him with stick- figure story boards. Crumb of- fered to illustrate Mr. Pekar’s work and also put him in touch with other illustrators. Mr. Pekar self-published the


first “American Splendor” comic in 1976 and did the book at a rate of one a year. In addition to


During the 1970s, Mrs. Loerke was a secretary for the Society of Woman Geographers and an as- sistant to the director of what is now the National Museum of Afri- can Art. Helen Louise Trautmann, a na- tive of Lima, Ohio, moved to the Washington region in 1970. She was a member of Augustana Lu- theran Church in Washington and volunteered with Lutheran World Relief, a not-for-profit interna- tional aid organization. She moved to Catonsville in the early 1990s and to Baltimore this year.


Survivors include her husband


of 66 years, William C. Loerke Jr. of Baltimore; seven children, An- na Hurd of Glen Burnie, Timothy Loerke of Baltimore, Eric Loerke of Munich, Alison Loerke of Seat- tle, Lisa Huff of Fayetteville, Ark., Ellen Loerke of Middletown, Md., and Martha Loerke of Yardley, Pa.; five grandchildren; and four great grandchildren.


—Lauren Wiseman


B. Harry McKeehan NASA OFFICIAL


B. Harry McKeehan, 83, who re- tired from NASA as the chief of the international affairs office in 1980, died July 6 at the Friends House, a retirement community in Sandy Spring, of complications from a stroke. He had lived in Ol- ney. Mr. McKeehan started his ca- reer with NASA in 1959 as chief of management services. From 1955 to 1959, he was a security officer for the Atomic Energy Commis- sion.


Benjamin Harry McKeehan, a


native of Williamsburg, Ky., re- ceived a bachelor’s degree of law from the University of Kentucky in Lexington in 1950. He was an Army veteran of World War II. He was a member of the Amer-


ican Legion. Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Virginia Ileene Stanley McKeehan of Olney; three chil- dren, Michael W. McKeehan of Silver Spring, Patricia A. Strom- berg of Olney and Sharon J. Hen- derson of Brookeville; seven grandchildren; and one great- grandson.


—Lauren Wiseman


Crumb, the many illustrators he collaborated with included Gary Dumm, Richard Corben, Spain Rodriguez, Gilbert Hernandez, Bill Griffith, Drew Friedman and Joe Sacco. “At that time I was single and I was spending thousands of dol- lars on rare records, so I thought I’d put out a comic,” Mr. Pekar told the Sydney Morning Herald. “And so I lost money on that in- stead.” He later added in one of his comics, “So what if I lose a couple thousand a year? At least, I’ll be doing something creative.” One of Mr. Pekar’s fans was


Joyce Brabner, a Delaware writer, teacher and civic activist. She started a correspondence with Mr. Pekar and became his third wife in 1983. On their first date, Brabner suffered through a home-cooked meal that caused her to vomit profusely. “That’s when I saw my future husband,” she told the Akron Bea- con Journal, “with his pants rolled up, mopping the floor and offering me all sorts of herbal teas he bought simply because we discussed that over the phone, and that’s all I needed to know about the kind of husband he would be.” Mr. Pekar proposed to Brabner on their third date. Besides his wife, a complete list of survivors could not be determined. After a diagnosis of lymphoma


curtailed his writing in 1990, Mr. Pekar collaborated with Brabner on “Our Cancer Year” (1994), a novel-length comic that recount- ed their experiences while he was in chemotherapy. The film “American Splendor,”


directed by Shari Springer Ber- man and Robert Pulcini, blended drama, documentary and anima- tion as interviews as Mr. Pekar and Brabner appeared in the film alongside their dramatic imper- sonators, Giamatti and Hope Da- vis.


A memorable moment in the movie occurs when Brabner, played by Davis, meets Mr. Pekar for the first time at the airport af- ter a lengthy correspondence. She tries to imagine what he looks like and conjures up four images of him by four different illustra- tors.


When the film was released,


Mr. Pekar speculated in a comic strip that he might “become a be- loved man of the people.” However, he added, “of course I


don’t think I have it made by any means. I’m too insecure, obses- sive and paranoid for all that.” mcardlet@washpost.com


Linda Morin CHURCH VOLUNTEER


Linda Morin, 66, a member for


52 years of Holy Redeemer Catho- lic Church in Kensington, died July 7 at Johns Hopkins Univer- sity Hospital in Baltimore. She had pneumonia. Mrs. Morin, a Kensington resi- dent, was a volunteer at Holy Re- deemer Catholic School and St. John’s College High School in Washington, where she was a past president of the mothers club. Linda Sadler, a native Washing- tonian, was a 1961 graduate of Ur- suline Academy in Bethesda and 1963 graduate of Immaculata jun- ior college in Washington. Survivors include her husband of 45 years, Howard F. Morin of Kensington; seven children, Tom Morin, Susie Hinton, John Morin, Vinnie Morin and Sharon Morin, all of Kensington, Michael Morin of Rockville and Matt Morin of Bethesda; a brother, J. Michael Sadler of Falls Church; and 22 grandchildren.


—Adam Bernstein


Arma J. ‘Jo’ Northup SECRETARY


Arma J. “Jo” Northup, 84, an ex-


ecutive secretary for the W.C. and A.N. Miller Development Co., a real estate firm in Bethesda, from 1978 until her retirement in 1988, died July 1 at Montgomery Hos- pice’s Casey House in Rockville of severe ischemic colitis. In retirement, she was a read- ing tutor for Bethesda elementary school students. Earlier in her ca- reer, she was a personnel special- ist for the Library of Congress. Ar- ma Josephine Smith was born in Morgantown, W.Va., and moved to Washington in 1934. She received a bachelor’s degree from George Washington University in 1947. She was a member of George- town Presbyterian Church in Washington and had been a resi- dent of Bethesda since 1950. Her marriage to Graham T.


Northup ended in divorce. Survivors include two sons,


Clifford R. Northup of Arlington County and James G. Northup of Munising, Mich.; and four grand- children.


—Lauren Wiseman www.hwestauctions.com JULY 13, 20, 27, 2010 11137172 BENNY POWELL, 80


Jazz trombonist performed with Basie, Hampton bands


by Claire Noland


Benny Powell, a jazz trombon- ist who played with Count Basie’s band from the early 1950s to the early 1960s, taking a solo turn in its 1955 recording of “April in Par- is,” died June 26 at a hospital in New York after undergoing back surgery. He was 80. Mr. Powell’s career ranged from Lionel Hampton’s big band in the late 1940s to the modern jazz of pianist Randy Weston and his African Rhythms ensemble for the past quarter-century. In between, he had a steady gig in “The Merv Griffin Show” band, studio session jobs, and work in Broadway musicals and touring shows.


Benjamin Gordon Powell was born March 1, 1930, in New Or- leans. The first instrument he picked up was a parade drum. His mother encouraged an interest in the trombone, and he had his first professional gig at 14. “The thing I most love about it is how expressive it is,” Mr. Powell


said of the trombone in an inter- view with the New Orleans Times-Picayune in 2001. “It’s like a voice. It can go from a whisper to a roar.” He played with bands in Texas and Oklahoma before touring with Hampton, beginning in 1948. From 1951 to 1963, he was a member of Basie’s celebrated band, which played at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961. Mr. Powell left Basie in 1963 to lead his own ensemble. He played and recorded with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and others in the 1960s. In 1970, Mr. Powell began an eight-year run with Merv Griffin’s TV talk show, and he moved with it to Los Angeles. He occasionally rejoined the Basie band, includ- ing for a brief scene in Mel Brooks’s 1974 comedy film “Blaz- ing Saddles.” He began playing with Weston in the early 1980s and in recent years taught at the New School in New York.


— Los Angeles Times OFNOTE


Olga Guillot BOLERO SINGER


Olga Guillot, 87, a Cuban singer who was a leading interpreter of the bolero, died July 12 at a hospi- tal in Miami. No cause of death was reported. Ms. Guillot, whose career in Cuba was interrupted by the 1959 Cuban revolution, had lived in ex- ile for years — splitting her time between Miami and Mexico. Her biggest hit was “Mienteme” (“Lie to Me”). A native of Santiago de Cuba,


Ms. Guillot and her family moved to Havana when she was a small


GASTON DE CARDENAS/ASSOCIATED PRESS


child. As a teenager, she and her sister, Ana Luisa, performed as the Dúo Hermanitas Guillot. In 1945, her talent as a bolero


singer was discovered by Facun- do Rivero, an influential man in the Cuban music industry of the era. In 1954, she recorded “Mien- teme,” which became a hit across Latin America and earned her three consecutive awards in Cuba as her homeland’s best female singer.


Sugar Minott REGGAE SINGER, PRODUCER


Sugar Minott, 54, a smooth- voiced singer and producer who helped to popularize reggae mu- sic, died July 10 at a hospital in Kingston, Jamaica. His wife, Maxine Stowe, did not disclose the cause of death but Mr. Minott (pronounced MY-naht) had can- celed performances in Canada af- ter suffering chest pains.


Olga Guillot, once called the “queen of bolero,” shown in 2008 in Miami Beach, Fla.


Born in Kingston, the singer, whose real name was Lincoln Barrington Minott, launched his musical career as a youngster in the late 1960s as a member of the African Brothers reggae trio. He started a successful solo career in the 1970s, gaining a following in Jamaica’s dance halls with songs like “Vanity” and “Mr. DC” while recording for the famed Studio One, the Caribbean island’s first black-owned music studio. In 1981, he had his biggest hit with a cover of the Jackson Five’s “Good Thing Going.” Mr. Minott was known for nurturing young talent with his own Black Roots record label and Youthman Pro- motion company. Reggae and dance hall artists such as Junior Reid and Tenor Saw began their careers under his tutelage. — From News Services


850 Montgomery County


Trustee Sale Notices 850 Montgomery County


TRUSTEE'S SALE


Trustee's Sale of valuable fee simple property improved by premises known as 804 1ST ST, Rockville, MD 20850.By virtue of the power and authority contained in a Deed of Trust from JOSE E. ARGUETA AND ROSA DEL CID, dated September 22, 2004, and recorded in Liber 28437 at Page 599 among the land records of the COUNTY OF MONTGOMERY, in the original principal amount of $279,000.00 with an interest rate of 6.625% . Upon default and request for sale, the undersigned trustees will offer for sale at public auction at the front of the Courthouse for the COUNTY OF MONTGOMERY, 50 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, Maryland, on July 28, 2010 at 11:10 AM, all that property described in said Deed of Trust including but not limited to::


Lot numbered eight (8) in the subdivision known as "BUR- GUNDY VILLAGE" as per plat thereof duly recorded in plat book 44 at plat no. 3307, among the land records of Montgomery county, Maryland. Property address: 804 1st street, Rockville, Maryland 20850. Tax ID#4-207-163937


Said property is in fee simple and is improved by a dwelling and is sold in "as is condition" and subject to all superior covenants, conditions, liens, restrictions, easement, rights-of-way, as may affect same, if any.


TERMS OF SALE: A deposit of $25,000.00 cash or certified funds shall be required at the time of sale. The balance of the purchase price with interest at 6.625% per annum from the date of sale to the date of payment will be paid within TEN DAYS after the final ratification of the sale. Adjustments on all taxes, public charges and special or regular assessments will be made as of the date of sale and thereafter assumed by purchaser. If applicable, condominium and/or homeowner association dues and assessments that may become due after the time of sale will be the responsibility of the purchaser. Title examination, conveyancing, state revenue stamps, transfer taxes, title insurance, and all other costs incident to settlement are to be paid by the purchaser. Time is of the essence for the purchaser, otherwise the deposit will be forfeited and the property may be resold at risk and costs of the defaulting purchaser. If the sale is not ratified or if the Substitute Trustees are unable to convey marketable title in accord with these terms of sale, the purchaser's only remedy is return of the deposit. Trustee's File No. 09-152631P. 315713V LOAN TYPE = Conventional.


John S. Burson,William M. Savage, Gregory N. Britto, Jason Murphy, Kristine D. Brown and ErikW. Yoder, Substitute Trustees.


SHAPIRO & BURSON, LLP, 13135 LEE JACKSON HWY., SUITE 201 FAIRFAX, VA 22033 (410) 769-9797


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