Milestones

By By Gilbert Cruz,, Andrea Ford, Justin Fox, Elisabeth Salemme, Carolyn Sayre, Tiffany Sharples, Alexandra Silver, Kate Stinchfield, Lon Tweeten

DIED

Everything was turning out exactly how he had always imagined. He was in the best shape of his life, recently married and running the qualifying marathon in a bid to make the U.S. Olympic track team after suffering an injury during the 2004 trials. But 5.5 miles (9 km) into the race, Ryan Shay, one of the nation's top distance runners, collapsed in the middle of Manhattan's Central Park. While the initial autopsy was inconclusive, many suspect that the Notre Dame graduate's untimely death was caused by an enlarged heart--a condition he suffered from since adolescence. Shay was 28.

Her life had a bitter beginning--most likely, her mother was killed by hunters in West Africa, who then sold the orphaned chimp to a dealer. She was taken to the U.S. by the Air Force and used in space research. But when Washoe began living with a human family, her tremendous potential began to show. By age 5, the chimpanzee was famous as the first animal ever to learn sign language; she eventually acquired a vocabulary of about 250 signs. Was she merely reacting to prompts, or was she really communicating? That question is still unresolved, even after she passed her language skills on to her son. Regardless, the chimp, who had an endearing passion for humans' shoes, provoked an important debate about just how similar we primates are to one another. She died after a brief illness at 42. The death of his wife, the lovely Deborah Kerr, seems to have been too much to bear. Barely three weeks after she died, writer Peter Viertel passed away, leaving behind his own legacy of books and screenplays. Best known for parlaying his relationships with writer Ernest Hemingway and director John Huston into novels like White Hunter, Black Heart, Viertel had a gift for exposing the dark nature that accompanied their genius. He made his mark in Hollywood by adapting famous novels like The Old Man and the Sea into popular films. Viertel was 86.

When you're a devout Mormon working as an insurance salesman, show business seems like an improbable career switch. But George Osmond was never one to worry about odds. Forty-five years ago, he drove his four sons--whom he taught to sing as a barbershop quartet--to Disneyland for an impromptu performance. It was a big break not only for the Osmond Brothers but also for his five other children--most notably daughter Marie, who hosted a variety show with her brother Donnie in 1976. "We don't care which Osmond is out in front," the patriarch, who had 55 grandchildren, once said. "As long as it's an Osmond." He was 90.

Many will remember him as a patriot; more than a few will remember the death he dealt to thousands of innocents. On Aug. 6, 1945, Air Force pilot Paul Tibbets Jr. climbed into his B-29 aircraft, the Enola Gay--named after his mother--and dropped the first atom bomb over the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Nearly 80,000 people lost their lives that day, but Tibbets never expressed remorse. "I sleep clearly every night," he once said, asserting that his actions--which brought an end to the war--saved lives. Fearful of protesters, he requested that no funeral arrangements be made and no headstone mark his grave site. Tibbets was 92.

The grandson of slaves, John Woodruff used his determination and athleticism to break down racial barriers in sports. He was the first African-American runner to win gold at the 1936 Olympic Games, coming from behind to win the 800-m race. Woodruff's victory--along with nine other black athletes who won medals, including Jesse Owens--was the clearest form of rebuttal to racism both in Nazi Germany, where the Games were held, and at home. Nicknamed "Long John" for his 10-ft. (3 m) stride, he was 92.

APPRECIATION

A Fabulous Fighter

Growing up with 12 older and much taller brothers, Mary Lillian Ellison wasn't considered the strong one. All that changed nearly 60 years ago, when she took her first step into the ring. At the time, women had a minimal presence in wrestling, but Ellison's signature flying drop-kicks and hair-pulling body slams quickly earned her a loyal fan base. Shortly after she started wrestling, a promoter nicknamed Ellison the "Fabulous Moolah" for her stated ambition in life: money. In 1956, she won the World Women's Championship. Twenty-eight years later she was defeated, but she regained the throne--in her 70s. "I love old people, and I love babies," said Moolah, who was the first woman inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame. "If anybody else steps in my way, I'll just kick [their butt]." She was 84.