In Memoriam: A Tribute to Those We've Lost in 2011

Did you lose someone special to you this year? Post a photo here in honor of their memory.

For many of us, 2011 is a year we'll long remember because of the loss of a loved one. In honor of our departed family and friends, here's a photo gallery that you can add to and share with others. Just upload a photo of your lost loved one and enter a description of them. To add a photo, log into your Patch account. Then click on "Upload Photos and Videos." Select the file you wish to upload and click "open." Please include name, hometown and age.

•  4 Comments
• Photos (8)

Memorial Service Today for Kenda Jones, Popular Tonda Elementary Parapro

Kenda Jones went from being an active mother of two Tonda students to working for Plymouth-Canton Community Schools as a paraprofessional.

Editor's note: This story has been updated. Arrangements for Kenda S. Jones were posted by L.J. Griffin Funeral Home Inc., which is handling arrangements. Memorial services are set for 2 p.m. today, at St. Michael Lutheran Church, 7000 Sheldon Rd.  Graveside services are set for 2 p.m. Dec. 26 at Preble Memory Gardens.  In lieu of flowers the family invites you to make a donation to the American Cancer Society . Kenda S. Jones, 57, a paraprofessional at Tonda Elementary for 12 years, died Saturday after a battle with cancer, said Kurt Tyszkiewicz, former Tonda principal. Mrs. Jones was born in Ft. Knox, KY, on Apr. 28, 1954 and died on Dec. 4, 2011. She is survived by her husband, Stephen C. Jones; their children, Kerri E. Jones and Marcus…

• Photos (1)

Bollywood Star Dev Anand, Dead at 88

BBC.com called him "first really cool hero of the Hindi screen."

Canton Man Remembered by Fellow Pilots

Canton husband, father and friend to many leaves behind a legacy of joy and good will.

Flying was more than Patrick Lee Charles' hobby, it was one of his passions. “He was a great pilot, a safe pilot,” said Mike Scovel, a close friend of Charles, and hangermate at the Canton-Plymouth Mettetal Airport. “That’s the conundrum right now. Nobody knows what happened.” Charles died on June 29 while flying his Thorpe T-18; the plane crashed into a Howell Township, MI, house near the Livingston County Airport. Also aboard: flight instructor John Nowak, 70, of Westland. The crash remains under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. Charles, married and the father of two, belonged to the Canton-based Experimental Aircraft Association, Michigan Chapter 113. The organization …

• Photos (1)

Fellow Dealer Remembers 'Cadillac King' Don Massey

Lou LaRiche says Massey 'always did things first class.'

Lou LaRiche, owner of Lou LaRiche Chevrolet in Plymouth, said that when he came to Plymouth 41 years ago, longtime auto dealer and pitchman Don Massey already was a legend.  "He was an automobile man's automobile man" who "always did things first class," he said. Massey died this morning of congestive heart failure, according to a report by Crain's Detroit Business. He was 83. LaRiche said today that the two, whose dealerships were just about a mile apart, became friends and he always looked up to Massey as "being the dean of the automobile business" in the Metro Detroit area. He said Massey had a "great deal of community impact," including donating the lights to Don Massey Field, a baseball park in the community that bears his name. "Some…

• Photos (1)

Assisted Suicide Advocate Jack Kevorkian of Royal Oak Dies at 83

Longtime resident was a lightning rod for controversy and a familiar face around town.

Assisted suicide advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian of Royal Oak died at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak this morning after being hospitalized with kidney, liver and respiratory problems off and on for several weeks. He was 83. Kevorkian first made headlines for his right-to-die stand in 1990 when he assisted in the death of Janet Adkins, who had Alzheimer’s disease. The former pathologist admitted to assisting in an estimated 130 deaths from 1990-98. More recently, he served eight years of a 10- to 25-year sentence in the 1998 death of Thomas Youk, who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease. He was released from prison in 2007 and returned to live in an apartment in Royal Oak, where he was frequently seen at his favorite restaurants and shops. …

•  84 Comments
• Photos (1)
• Videos (1)

ecnalubma

5:15 pm on Friday, January 13, 2012

Rants go on and on here. Dr. Death was the wrong guy to follow as the Poster Child for this cause. People want dignity when their life ends, only to find the insurance company standing by the plug ready to pull it. I have seen many times, as recently as this past December, the insurance company wanting to withhold care and having the families told that they need to make sure things are in place …   more ›

Lincoln Scholar Dies at Age 88

Dr. Weldon Petz's collection of Lincoln memorabilia now resides in the Plymouth Historical Museum.

Dr. Weldon Petz, former Farmington Schools principal and renowned expert on President Abraham Lincoln, died Thursday. He was 88 years old. Visitation will be held at McCabe Funeral Home on 12 Mile Road west of Orchard Lake Road in Farmington Hills today, 3 p.m.-8 p.m. and Monday, 2 p.m.- 8 p.m. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, at Franklin Community Church, 26425 Wellington Road, in Franklin.  In the late 1990s, the Plymouth Historical Museum purchased Petz's substantial collection of Lincoln memorabilia, including rare family photographs, a book Lincoln owned as a boy, a life mask of Lincoln circa 1860, and even a lock of Lincoln's hair – along with more than 1,200 books, articles and other archival items. "We are …

• Photos (3)