J.C. "Jody " Bateman, 75, a former fiddler in the famous western swing group Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, died Tuesday in Kemp, Texas. He was discovered by Wills when he was 13, according to his daughter, Jona Mills. He also was a songwriter whose work included "Faded Love," his daughter said.
Lee Brevard,45, who designed jewelry for such actresses as Elizabeth Taylor and Heather Locklear, died Sunday in Los Angeles of undetermined causes. He won fans among Hollywood's rich and famous for his unconventional combinations of metals and use of semiprecious stones. His work appeared in dozens of fashion magazines and in department stores.
Daniel Laravie Jr.,59, the great-grandson of Chief Standing Bear, died Wednesday in a traffic accident in Lincoln, Neb. Chief Standing Bear led a group of Ponca Indians from Oklahoma to Nebraska, where they were detained by authorities, and was put on trial in 1879. The Ponca had refused to stay on land provided by the U.S. government.
William Francis McLaughlin, 55, who became a millionaire creating and marketing a plasma-collecting device used by blood banks worldwide, was shot and killed Dec. 16 at his home on exclusive Balboa Island in California.
Robert Osborn, 90, a caricaturist, cartoonist and satirical commentator known for his superior drawing ability and his sharp wit, died Tuesday in Salisbury, Conn., of complications from bone cancer. In The New Republic and other magazines, he often ridiculed presidents from Lyndon B. Johnson through Ronald Reagan.
Majel Patten, 111, matriarch of her clan and believed to be the last Apache to have known Geronimo, died Dec. 12 in San Carlos, Ariz. A member of the San Carlos Apache tribe, she said that as a teen-ager, she got to know Geronimo, the 19th- and early 20th-century Chiricahua Apache leader who fought the imposition of Anglo culture. She told relatives how she admired the inner strength of Geronimo.