Andrew Meacham, Times Staff Writer
Andrew Meacham is the chief Epilogue writer for the Tampa Bay Times, writing obituaries about people from all walks of life. His subjects can be rich or poor, with lengthy or plain resumes. The premise behind the Epilogue is everyone has a story.
Andrew was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., and has lived in St. Petersburg since 1959. He enjoys singing and acting, and has performed with the Tampa Bay Master Chorale and local theater.
Andrew graduated from Eckerd College as a humanities major, then worked construction jobs for eight years, from laborer to laying out large commercial projects. He spent six years as an associate editor at Health Communications, a self-help book publisher in Deerfield Beach, Fla.; and is the author of Selling Serenity — Life Among the Recovery Stars (Upton Books, 1999).
He later earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. Andrew has been on its staff since 2005. Two of his stories — on the "sexting"-related suicide of a 13-year-old girl and a dishwasher's hit-and-run death — each won awards from the Society of Professional Obituary Writers, which covers North America. The society in 2010 also awarded him for best body of work in obituaries longer than 800 words.
Phone: (727) 892-2248
Email: ameacham@tampabay.com
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Bill Gower, 75, dies while snorkeling in the Caymans
05/18/13ObituariesTheir honeymoon 26 years ago in Cayman Brac had seemed the best possible beginning to their marriage.
Bill and Allene Gower explored the caves on the 12-mile strip of land in the Caribbean and climbed the craggy bluff rising 140 feet from its blue waters.
A native everyone called Capt. Shelby took them snorkeling.
Mr. Gower was a solidly built man who loved the outdoors. He had taken multiple dive trips to Honduras, the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands and Australia....
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Sam Lembo raced pigeons, produced songs, rubbed elbows with the famous
05/17/13ObituariesSPRING HILL — His assertive personality and wartime experience as a translator had brought Sam Lembo face to face with well-known figures in Europe and the United States. He had conversed with the king of Hungary, Richard Nixon and Robert Kennedy, and produced a hit record at the dawn of rock 'n' roll.
Before and after those experiences, from boyhood until his late 80s, Mr. Lembo communed with homing pigeons. He bought elite birds from Europe and sold them to other fliers....
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Stetson law student Kimberly Clark dies at 44
05/15/13ObituariesKimberly Clark showed up at law school 20 years older than her classmates, and looked upward at most of them.
Friends and family can't quite say she stood 5 feet tall, and append a "maybe" before guessing her weight at 100 pounds. The second-career student at Stetson University College of Law talked about her children but not her grades, which placed her near the top of her class.
Last spring, she aced a final 48 hours before delivering her youngest son. ...
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Colorful boxing matchmaker Johnny Bos dies at 61
05/13/13ObituariesCLEARWATER — John Bosdal worshipped boxing, and treated major bouts like Hollywood weddings.
Even among the flamboyant types, "the wizard of Bos" — a bear-like man with bleached blond hair topping his 6-foot-4 frame — was hard to miss sitting ringside in a pink suit, faux fur coat and dripping gold.
For a while, Mr. Bosdal, known to everyone as Johnny Bos, had reason to celebrate. Peers saw him as a matchmaking whiz whose selection of opponents shaped the careers of Evander Holyfield, Pernell Whitaker, Gerry Cooney, Paul Malignaggi and Mike Tyson. ...
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Alvena Pryor, who cut a singular path through life, dies at 84
05/11/13ObituariesST. PETERSBURG — As a wife and mother, Alvena Pryor embodied the traits of her generation.
She viewed the needs of her husband, well known physician Howard "Bud" Pryor, as synonymous with her own.
She dedicated herself to substitute teaching and civic organizations, including one she started for children with Down syndrome.
She played tennis at the country club, was active in a medical auxiliary, and served as PTA president for her children's elementary, middle and high schools....
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London Bradley — a promising future, an unfathomable loss
05/10/13ObituariesST. PETERSBURG — On the court, London Bradley was the ball handler, the playmaker. He loved the pace of the game, the way conditioning and practice had forced his passing and shooting to a higher level, all through his teenage years.
A 6-foot-2 point guard, he was always directing the flow of play.
Basketball had kept him grounded and focused, bonded with the father who raised him and friends who shared his values....
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Former POWs widow picked up pieces, raised four children
05/08/13ObituariesLARGO — Anne Densler learned midway through World War II that the man she had dated since middle school was missing.
She responded by joining the Marine Corps Women's Reserve.
Carl Hockman was eventually freed from a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. The longtime sweethearts married and raised a family, putting the past behind them.
Then Hockman died and his wife started over....
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The Rev. Thomas Stokes, who saved historic Ybor church, dies at 75
05/07/13ObituariesTAMPA — Parishioners often asked the Rev. Thomas Stokes how he slept through weekend nights in the heart of Ybor City. The humble rectory of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, where he lived for 26 years, stands a block and a half from Club Skye, Club Prana and the start of the Ybor strip, in which no one enters or leaves quietly.
In his lilting Irish brogue, the Rev. Stokes replied that he had tuned out the noise. But if the phone rang at any hour of the night, he was out of bed, dressed and out the door to help....
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Epilogue: Former Belleair Mayor Edward Moran dies at 90
05/04/13ObituariesBELLEAIR — For Edward Moran, a retired shipping executive and local politician, life moved in orderly cycles.
He and his wife spent five months a year in Cape Cod, then came back to Belleair, his home for 54 years.
He played golf four times a week at the Belleair Country Club, as long as his legs could carry him.
He watched the sun set over the gulf.
Mr. Moran, who fought to keep this town pristine through eight years as a commissioner and two terms as mayor, died April 27, of congestive heart failure....
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Yvonne Meade, wife of Kentucky Derby-winning jockey, dies at 93
05/03/13ObituariesBROOKSVILLE — Questions about her husband, the country's top jockey for two years and a fixture in horse racing history, started many a conversation.
Had she been watching on May 6, 1933, when Don Meade won the Kentucky Derby aboard Brokers Tip — the culmination of a saddle-cloth-grabbing, riding-crop-slashing shoving match down the stretch with jockey Herb Fisher, who finished second aboard Head Play?...
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Jimmy Pedigo of Tampa Bay ska band Magadog dies at 50
05/01/13ObituariesJimmy Pedigo did many things well as a musician, enough to find a niche in any genre.
He had played guitar and jazz piano, and wrote and sang songs. His gentle sense of humor entertained crowds, just as his peace-loving demeanor invited them onstage to dance.
Mr. Pedigo found his greatest success in ska music, a peppy mix of jazz, rhythm and blues rooted in Jamaica and called a precursor to reggae. He was an original member of Magadog, Tampa's best-known ska band in the 1990s....
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Former Times columnist Elijah Gosier dies at 63
04/25/13ObituariesST. PETERSBURG — In April 1989, the St. Petersburg Times published a searing inside look at a Jordan Park neighborhood nearly ruined by crack cocaine.
"The Twilight Zone: Life in Crack's Grip," a three-day series, introduced readers to life-and-death struggles going on right under their noses, a world of cheap guns and cheaper sex most readers had not seen so starkly.
In the second installment, writer Elijah Gosier told readers what it was like to watch a young man fatally shot a few yards from the car Mr. Gosier was driving....
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Paramedic Woody Harris and his wife had a life saving others
04/24/13ObituariesBRANDON — Woody Harris and Janet Taylor met more than 30 years ago, when both were in training as emergency workers for Hillsborough County.
She remembers the exact September day in 1981.
"The first time our eyes met, I just kind of knew that he was the one," said Janet Harris, 61. She liked his quiet confidence and his looks.
They worked as partners before anyone at Hillsborough Emergency Medical Services knew they were married: car wrecks, plane crashes, shootings and stabbings. An arsonist's attack on a Winn-Dixie that killed five and injured 13. Digging survivors from the rubble of a collapsed building....
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Former broadcaster and Pasco lobbyist Joe Mannion dies at 78
04/22/13ObituariesJoe Mannion, who followed an award-winning career as a broadcaster by becoming Pasco County's first full-time lobbyist, died Sunday at his Clearwater home. He was 78.
Mr. Mannion suffered from kidney cancer that had metastasized, his family said.
Blessed with a deep, resonant voice and soothing demeanor, Mr. Mannion won others over with a concise command of issues. Tampa Bay residents in the 1980s will remember his 60-second editorials on spending, public health, accountability for politicians or environmental issues that ended with his trademark, "That's what we think. Write and tell us what you think." ...
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Authorities identify teenager killed in St. Petersburg crash
04/20/13AccidentsST. PETERSBURG — Alexia Douglas was an unassuming 16-year-old, known as one of the best students at Northeast High School. She ranked in the top 1 percent of her sophomore class, wowing her teachers with her intellect and unflagging work ethic.
"She could have gone on to any college of her choice," said Sarah Newman, who taught Alexia in her honors-level World History class. "She was the kind of student who made you want to be a teacher."...
