Living and Dying in the Spotlight

[/media-credit] The Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles, California

Celebrities. We all love and know them. A celebrity’s fame is accountable to the things they do that impact others lives in one form or another. We continue to know them because they are in the media, but what about fame after they die? Does their legacy live on?

Stan Lee was born on December 28, 1922. He started co-writing comics in 1960 at Timely Comics (later named Marvel Comics) to compete with DC Comics. Lee and Jack Kirby started by writing the Fantastic 4 and then them and their co-workers went on to write Hulk, Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Daredevil, and X-Men. “Lee was particularly known for his dynamism with copy and for imbuing his characters with a sense of humanity, tackling real-world issues like bigotry and drug use, which would influence comics for decades.”1 Stan Lee passed away on November 12, 2018.

Stephen Hawking, a brilliant scientist that was stuck in a deteriorating body. He was born on January 8, 1942, but it wasn’t until he was 20 that he found out he had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Hawking was only given 2 years to live but he superseded that just by a little, and lived 53 years past the time his doctors thought he would make it. He studied black holes and made many advancements in the scientific world. Unfortunate to many people that looked up to and loved him, he passed away on March 14, 2018.

Cokie Roberts, a journalist and a family women. She was born on December 27, 1943 to two loving parents. Cokie’s family had always been in politics with both of her parents being in congress. Her father passed away in 1972 in a freak plane accident after serving in congress for 30 years. She followed in her family’s footsteps and head into politics but as a journalist. Roberts paved the way for women in political journalism. “With her insightful reporting, she won three Emmys; was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame; was named one of American Women in Radio and Television’s 50 greatest women in the history of broadcasting; and was honored as a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress.”2 Cokie Roberts passed away on September 17, 2019.

Cameron Boyce was born on May 28, 1999. He started out as a dancer in the world of show business. He slowly began acting in commercials, tv series, and movies. Cameron started with Disney in 2011 when he acted in the popular Disney series “Shake It Up” and “Good Luck Charlie”. Disney loved Boyce and made him one of the main characters on “Jessie”. He also starred in the Disney original movies, “Descendants”, “Descendants 2”, and “Descendants 3” as Carlos De Vil, Cruella De Vil’s son. Cameron passed away on July 6, 2019 at the age of 20. He passed away in his sleep due to a seizure from a medical condition that was being treated by doctors. Since he was so young people believed he could have accomplished so much more with his life.

Luke Perry was born on October 11, 1966. His parents got divorced in 1972 and his mother remarried and they moved to a quiet town in Ohio. Luke and his step-father had an amazing relationship unlike the relationship he had with his birth father. After graduating in 1984 he moved from Ohio to Hollywood to pursue his dream of acting. His first big break was in 1978 but was required to move to New York when he was casted in “Loving” and “Another World”. Luke moved back to LA in 1990 to start shooting the show he was best known for, “90210”, which aired for 10 years. His most recent project was “Riverdale”, a modern twist on the Archie Comics, Perry was casted as Archie’s father, Fred Andrews. Luke Perry passed away during the filming of the third season of “Riverdale” on March 4, 2019.

Eddie Money the writer of some of America’s favorite love songs. He was born on March 21, 1949. Eddie had always wanted to be a musician but he put it off in order to follow in his father’s footsteps and became a cop. He knew that being a cop wasn’t for him so he quit in 1968 to pursue music. His career finally took off in 1976 when he met Graham Bell. Graham quickly took a liking to Eddie and became his manager and mentor. His hits included; “Take Me Home Tonight”, “Baby Hold On”, “Two Tickets to Paradise”, “Think I’m in Love”, “Shakin”, and “I Wanna Go Back”. He passed away on September 13, 2019 with family surrounding him.

Each one of these people impacted many people’s lives: Eddie Money wrote people’s wedding songs. Stan Lee was a cherished icon that wrote some of our favorite comics and made sure that the stories were accurate in the movies.

Cameron Boyce helped to make water available in Eswatini and acted in some of our favorite childhood Disney shows. Stephen Hawking came up with many scientific theories and was a miracle to the medical field.

Cokie Roberts paved the way for women in the field of political journalism. Luke Perry was an example of the American Dream, he came from small beings and accomplished so much.

Their legacies live on through the people they knew and impacted. Each person was cherished in America, and other countries they visited and touched with their influence, and the world will surely miss them.

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Ashelynn Winter

My name is Ashelynn Winter and this year I’m a Senior at Orem High. When I attended Sophomore Orientation in late March 2018. They were displaying many of the clubs and classes, slowly I felt myself gravitate towards the Journalism table. Writing has always been one of my passions and many of my English teachers throughout the years have nurtured that love. As a child and early teen I would fill up notebooks with fictional stories. Now I crave to write genuine stories about real people, the people that don’t have a voice figuratively and physically. Those are the stories that deserve to be written and read.