The Passing of My Friend Martin S. Kadner

I was very saddened to learn last night that Marty Kadner, a friend of mine and a fellow teacher for thirty years at John T. Magee Middle School in Round Lake, Illinois, died.  Unfortunately, we lost contact after he retired.  My friend Kip said he had found out on Monday and given a call to me, but unfortunately, I didn't get the message until Tuesday morning and didn't get a call back until Tuesday night.  He and his wife had gone to the funeral and burial service.

I went to his obituary in the Chicago Tribune and it didn't have much information, just that Marty was 68, a Vietnam War veteran and recipient of a Bronze Star and that he had taught many years at Magee.  He was buried at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery near Joliet.

His wit and sharp tongue got us through some trying times at school.  If I didn't know better, I'd say his brother from another mother was Richard Belzer (Detective John Munch) from the TV shows "Homicide" and "Law and Order: SVU."

Marty was not a dog lover, but we once ran into him at Bill's Pizza in Mundelein and he went with us out to Lamb's Farm when we found and picked out Brandy to be our puppy.  The poor guy ended up holding Brandy on the way back to Bill's.  But he dogged through it.

Marty put out an occasional little newsletter called Burnt Offerings, something that he started when the district ceased giving us out Christmas bonus turkeys.  This was one of the funniest things to read I ever set hands to.  He had a way with words worthy of Mike Royko.  If not a teacher, he could have been a journalist easily.

He graduated from Southern Illinois in Carbondale and loved that area of the state.  He always planned to retire there and spend his days fishing.

I was amazed at how many students entered onto the Legacy to thank him.  He brought that wit and dry, really dry, humor into the classroom.

My Life Was So Much Better for Having Known Marty.

I'm Sure he Is Off Somewhere, Probably Fishing and Making His "Observations."

"Breaking Bad" Obit

From the October 4, 2013, Yahoo! News/ Reuters "'Breaking Bad' teacher-turned-druglord gets obit in Albuquerque newspaper" by Laila Kearney. //// As posted in the Albuquerque Journal as posted by the "Unofficial Breaking Bad Fan Tour" group in a paid obituary. "Walter White aka 'Heisenberg', 52, Albuquerque, died Sunday after a long battle with lung cancer, and a gunshot wound. He will be greatly missed." It went on to urge readers to donate to drug-abuse prevention programs in lieu of flowers. //// "Breaking Bad" was a popular AMC drama, with the final episode drawing 10.3 million viewers, including myself. //// I Was Hooked On the Show. --RoadDog

July 16th a Rough Day for Music

I was just looking at obituaries and saw that quite a few musicians of note, especially to me, died on this one day.

Kitty Wells, 92, country music "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels"

Jon Lord, 71, organist with Deep Purple and Whitesnake.

Bob Babbitt, 74, Motown house band Funk Brothers.  Played on 200 Top 40 hits.

I'll go into more detail on my Cooter's History Blog, but since this blog is based so much on music, I felt it necessary to mention. 

Sad to Lose These People.  --RoadDog