8/18/2008 – Florence Griffith-Joyner, also known as Flo-Jo, was a triple-gold medalist at the 1988 Olympics. With her flashy one-legged running outfits, long hair, and brightly painted fingernails, she captured the attention of the world with speed, grace, and charm. She broke world records in the 100 and 200-meter events, earning her the title "World's Fastest Woman." She also excelled in fashion design, acting, writing, and sportscasting. She was the wife of Al Joyner, a 1984 Olympic medalist.
(Suffocated during an epileptic seizure while sleeping - Sept. 21, 1998 - Age 38)

8/11/2008 – Lana Turner was an Academy Award-nominated actress who built a successful movie career on her first screen appearance as a teen-age "sweater girl. Said to have been discovered sipping soda at Schwabs drugstore in Los Angeles, she was well-known for glamour and sensuality on screen. Many believe her best performance was in "The Postman Always Rings Twice," where as an unfulfilled wife, she persuades a drifter to kill her husband. Off-screen, she led a stormy private life which included seven husbands, numerous lovers, and a scandalous killing. In 1958, her lover, Johnny Stompanato, threatened to disfigure her and was stabbed to death with a carving knife by her 14-year-old daughter, Cheryl Crane.
(Throat cancer - June 29, 1995 - Age 75)

5/19/2008 – Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was a member of the hip-hop R&B group TLC. Lopes, the group's rapper, was noted for her contributions to the hits "Waterfalls" and "No Scrubs." Her trademark was a pair of glasses with a condom in place of the left lens ... a method of promoting safe sex. In 1994, she set fire to the Atlanta-area mansion she shared with former Atlanta Falcon Andre Rison. She pleaded guilty to arson and was sentenced to a halfway house and five years' probation. She was killed while vacationing in Honduras when a car she was driving slammed head-on into another vehicle.
(Head injuries - April 25, 2005 - Age 30)

4/28/2008 – Indira Ghandi served as prime minister of India for three consecutive terms and later in a fourth term. The daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India, she entered government as an aide to her father and as minister of information in the government of Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri who she succeeded in 1966. She triumphed in foreign affairs with India's 1971 defeat of Pakistan. She was credited with India's increased industrialization and food production, but her regime also received its share of criticism. Domesticaly, her greatest problem was with Sikh nationalists. In her fourth term, she was assassinated by her Sikh security guards.
(Gunshot wounds - Oct. 31 1984 - Age 66)

4/21/2008 – Heloise, the advice columnist whose real name was Eloise Bowles, started writing her tips for housewives in the Honolulu Advertiser in 1959. When the column was syndicated to other papers, it was suggested she add an "H" to her first name, and the column became "Hints From Heloise." By 1962, the column was appearining in nearly 600 newspapers worldwide. Over 18 years, it's estimated she issued 15,000 time- and money-saving ideas to homemakers she called her “dear gals” or “precious ladybugs.” She often colored her hair blue, purple, or silver, depending on her outfit and mood. After her death, her daughter took over the column, which continues today.
(Heart attack - Dec. 28, 1977 - Age 57)

3/31/2008 – Dusty Springfield, described by Rolling Stone magazine as "Britain's best-ever pop singer," was perhaps best known for her 1960s hits "Son of A Preacher Man," "I Only Want To Be With You" and "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me." With her beehive hairdo and panda eye make-up, she help lead the British invasion of the U.S. pop charts and was dubbed the White Queen of Soul for her powerful, husky voice and evocative style. In 1998 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In her will, she left her cat, Nicholas, a lifetime supply of his favorite meal: baby food.
(Breast cancer - March 2, 1999 - Age 59)

3/10/2008 – Jeanne Kirkpatrick was the first woman to serve as United States ambassador to the United Nations. Although a longtime Democrat, she publicly criticized the foreign policy of President Jimmy Carter. Her views caught the attention of Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, and she became Reagan's foreign policy adviser during his 1980 campaign. As president, Reagan posted Kirkpatrick to the U.N. In 1985, she became a Republican.
(Congestive heart failure - Dec. 7, 2006 - Age 80)

3/3/2008 – Maria von Trapp was the guiding force behind the Trapp Family Singers, inspiration for the musical "The Sound of Music." In August 1936, the Austrian family's informal singing became a professional enterprise when they won a choral competition at the Salzberg Festival. As the Trapp Family Choir, they performed throughout Europe, but when Austria fell under Nazi rule in March 1938, the family realized their performances could only continue if it cooperated with the government. They fled with only a few possessions to Italy, then sailed on to New York, arriving nearly penniless. Successful world concert tours soon followed, however, and they eventually made their home on a 660-acre farm in Stowe, Vermont, where they founded a music camp.
(Heart failure - March 28, 1987 - Age 82)

2/25/2008 – Nefertiti was one of the most powerful, beautiful and controversial queens of ancient Egypt. She was the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten and perhaps a ruler in her own right after his death. It is unclear if she came to Egypt from a foreign land, was an Egyptian royal by birth, or just the daughter a high government official. The stepmother of Tutankhamen, she and her husband practiced monotheism, outlawing their subjects' polytheistic devotion and angering Egypt's priesthood.
(Cause of death unknown - c 1330 B.C. - Age about 40)

2/19/2008 – Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel was one of the premier Paris fashion designers of the 20th Century. She was famous for popularizing practical clothes, including pants for women, little black dresses, and box-like collarless jackets. Her biggest hits may have been bell bottoms and Chanel No. 5 perfume. The scent's name is said to have been inspired by what Chanel considered her lucky number. It may also have been named to coincide with its introduction to some of her close friends on May 5, 1921.
(Cause of death unspecified - Jan. 10, 1971 - Age 87)

1/28/2008 – LaWanda Page was an actress, perhaps best known for her portrayal of Bible-thumping Aunt Esther in the 1970s sitcom "Sanford and Son." She also appeared in TV commercials for Church's Fried Chicken, milking a "bumblecow" — a cow with bee's wings and antennae — and rendering the catchphrase, "Gotta love it!"
(Diabetes - Sept. 14, 2002 - Age 81)

1/21/2008 – Margaret "Mollie" Brown, widely known today as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown," was most famous for surviving the Titanic disaster. However, she was also an actress, an activist and a philanthropist. Her fluency in several languages allowed her to aid fellow passengers during the ship's sinking. She received the French Legion of Honour for her efforts, and for her work with wounded soldiers, disadvantaged miners, women's suffrage, and destitute children. She was never called Molly during her lifetime ... instead, she was known as "Maggie."
(Brain Tumor - Oct. 26, 1932 - Age 65)

1/14/2008 – Evelyn Wood coined the phrase "speed reading" and developed a fast-paced technique that was taught in Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics seminars. Her system was based on the idea that every person reads at the same rate, but poor readers re-read words. The method suggests moving a pointer or finger along the text as it is read helps prevent re-reading.
(Natural causes - Aug. 26, 1995 - Age 86)

1/7/2008 – Leona Helmsley was a billionaire New York City hotel operator and real estate investor whose cutthroat persona earned her the title “Queen of Mean.” During a federal tax-evasion trial, a former employee testified she once heard Helmsley snarl, “Only the little people pay taxes.” She was convicted on several counts and served 19 months in prison. In her will, $12 million — the largest single endowment outside that for a charitable trust — went to her dog.
(Congestive heart failure - Aug. 20, 2007 - Age 87)

12/17/2007 – Kim Perrot was a popular Houston Comets point guard. Widely recognized as the team's sparkplug in its 1997 and 1998 NBA Championships, she also held 26 athletic records at the University of Southwestern Louisiana.
(Lung and brain cancer - Aug. 19, 1999 - Age 32)

12/10/2007 – Natalie Wood first became a star when she played the little girl who doubts Santa Claus in the 1947 film "Miracle on 34th Street." She went on to be a hit in her teens and as an adult in movies such as "Rebel Without a Cause," "The Searchers," "Splendor in the Grass," and as Maria in "West Side Story." She was twice married to actor Robert Wagner. She died mysteriously while vacationing with Wagner and actor Christopher Walken.
(Drowned - Nov. 29, 1981 - Age 43)

12/3/2007 – Florence Nightingale is most remembered as a pioneer of nursing and as a reformer of hospital sanitation methods in England. She was also, however, an innovator in the collection, tabulation, interpretation, and graphical display of statistics. During the Crimean War, for example, she famously plotted the incidence of preventable deaths in the military.
(Natural causes - Aug. 13, 1910 - Age 90)

11/12/2007 – Eva Perσn was the second wife of Argentine President Juan Perσn. She became a powerful personality, revered by the lower economic classes. A former stage and radio actress, she held the post of secretary of labour under her husband, supporting higher wages and greater social welfare benefits. She also led the campaign for female suffrage in the country. Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "Evita" is based on her life.
(Cancer - July 26, 1952 - Age 33)

11/5/2007 – Eva Gabor, a Hungarian-born actress, was the sister of actresses Zsa Zsa and Magda Gabor. Although she appeared on Broadway and in scores of movies and TV shows, she was best known for her role as Lisa Douglas, the wife of Eddie Albert's character Oliver Wendell Douglas, on the TV series "Green Acres."
(Pneumonia following food poisoning - July 4, 1995 - Age 76)

10/15/2007 – Agnes Moorehead was an Oscar-nominated American character actress. Although she appeared in more than 70 films and on dozens of television shows for more than 30 years, Moorehead is probably most widely known to modern audiences for her role as the witch Endora in the television series "Bewitched."
(Uterine cancer - April 30, 1974 - Age 73)

10/8/2007 – Karla Faye Tucker was the first woman to be executed in Texas since the American Civil War. In 1984, she was convicted of taking part in two 1983 pickax murders and sentenced to death. Tucker struck one victim with the pickax 28 times, and expressed to authorities that every time she hit him she received sexual gratification.
(Lethal injection - Feb. 3, 1998 - Age 38)

10/1/2007 – Jacqueline Susann was a less-than-spectacular actress, singer, and playwright who found tremendous success as a best-selling author. Her scandalous private life included passionate involvement with Ethel Merman, the basis for Helen Lawson in Susann's best-known book "Valley of the Dolls."
(Breast and lung cancer - Sept. 21, 1974 - Age 56)

9/24/2007 – Kate "Ma" Barker was said to have been the matriarch of the Barker-Karpis outlaw gang of brothers and allies engaged in kidnapping and in payroll, post-office, and bank robberies in the 1920s and '30s. However, her criminal history probably consists only of aiding and abetting the gang, particularly when it was on the road. Her purported role as "mastermind" of the gang was actually a myth, primarily spread by the FBI. She was killed with her son, Freddie, in a shoot-out with federal agents.
(Bullet holes - Jan. 16, 1935 - Age 63)

9/11/2007 – Minnie Pearl was the stage name of Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon. She was a country comedian who, along with friend Roy Acuff, was an institution at the Grand Ole Opry and on the television show "Hee Haw" from 1969 to 1991. She was known for wearing a big hat with a price tag that read "$1.98" hanging off the side.
(Stroke - March 4, 1996 - Age 83)

9/5/2007 – Frances Bavier was an American character actress, best remembered for her role as "Aunt Bee" on "The Andy Griffith Show" in the 1960s, which earned her an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
(Heart attack - Dec. 6, 1989 - Age 86)

8/20/2007 – Dale Evans was the stage name of Frances Octavia Smith, an iconic American actress and singer who parlayed Western charm into a multifaceted career. An active Evangelical lay minister, prolific author and songwriter, she was "Queen of the Cowgirls" to "King of the Cowboys" husband Roy Rogers. She starred in several Westerns and on television's "The Roy Rogers Show."
(Heart failure - Feb. 7, 2001 - Age 88)