June 15, 2016
Page 15
Ali! Ali! The Greatest Laid to Rest Blood Drive Needs You
C ontinued from p age 5
drone attacks, the gap between
rich and poor, and racist policing.
Earlier in the day, Ali’s casket,
draped with an Islamic tapestry,
was loaded into a hearse outside
a funeral home. The pallbearers
included former boxers Mike Ty-
son and Lennox Lewis and actor
Will Smith, who played Ali in the
movies.
Ali’s nine children, his widow,
Lonnie, two of his ex-wives and
other family members accompa-
nied the body to the cemetery on
the 19-mile drive past the little
pink house where he grew up and
the museum that bears his name.
At one point, the motorcade trav-
eled along Muhammad Ali Boule-
vard.
As the long line of black lim-
ousines rolled past, fans chant-
ed like spectators at one of his
ights, pumped their ists, stood
on cars, held up cellphones and
signs, ran alongside the hearse
and reached out to touch it. They
tossed so many lowers onto the
windshield that the driver had to
push some of them aside to see
the road.
Others fell silent and looked on
reverently as the champ went by.
“I’ve been crying all week,”
said Mike Stallings, of Louisville,
who brought his two young sons
to bid farewell to the sports leg-
end who grew up as Cassius Clay.
“As big as he was he never looked
down on people. He always min-
gled among the crowds.”
Ali chose the cemetery as his
inal resting place a decade ago.
Its 130,000 graves represent a
who’s who of Kentucky, including
Kentucky Fried Chicken founder
Colonel Harland Sanders. Fami-
ly spokesman Bob Gunnell said
he will have a simple headstone,
inscribed only “Ali,” in keeping
with Islamic tradition.
Ali himself decided years ago
that his funeral would be open to
ordinary fans, not just VIPs. As
a result, thousands of free tick-
ets to the memorial were made
available and were snatched up
within an hour.
Around Louisville, a sight-
seeing company offered tours
of Ali’s path through the city.
Businesses printed his quotes
across their billboards. City bus-
es lashed “Ali - The Greatest” in
orange lights. And a downtown
bridge will be illuminated the
rest of the week in red and gold:
red for his boxing gloves, gold
for his 1960 Olympic medal.
“I just wanted to show re-
spect to the champ,” said Martin
Dixon, who drove from War-
ren, Ohio, to watch the funeral
procession from Ali’s boyhood
home. “He inspired the world.
He shook up the world.”
C ontinued from p age 3
their story on living with sickle
cell.
As an infant, Latay Hammick
was diagnosed with sickle cell.
Multiple blood transfusions
were necessary to relieve her
pain crisis. Currently, it’s been
more than two years since she
received the blood transfusions
and on June 6, she walked across
the stage at Veterans Memorial
Coliseum to receive her Jeffer-
son High School Middle Col-
lege diploma. Graduating with
a scholarship presented by Self
Enhancement, Inc., she plans
on attending college this fall to
study journalism.
“The most important thing
to know is that giving blood is
not only for people with sick-
le cell disease,” said Latay’s
grandmother Dianne Lamberth.
“Blood is needed for those in
need of transfusions due to
an illnesses or accidents. If
you’re able and willing to put
in the time to donate blood, do
so. It could be a lifesaver for
someone.”
Diversity among blood do-
nors is important because red
blood cells carry markers that
determine blood type, and cer-
tain blood types are unique to
speciic racial and ethnic groups.
Patients are less likely to experi-
ence complications from blood
donated by someone with a sim-
ilar ethnicity.
All participating blood do-
nors will receive a free T-shirt,
a $10 Gift Card and a 50 percent
off coupon for Adidas.
To schedule your blood dona-
tion appointment, visit redcross-
blood.org or call 1-800-RED
CROSS (1-800-733-2767).
It Does Good Things
TM
This page is sponsored by Oregon Lottery
R
C alendar June 2016
SUNDAY
12
Race Unity Day
Anne Frank born,
1929
Magic Day
19
Father’s Day
Garield Debuted in
1978
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY
13
Mary Kate and
Ashley Olsen born,
1986
14
Caldecott Medal
First Awarded,
1938
National Flag
Day (US)
20
21
15
Fly a Kite Day (Ben
Franklin’s 1752
Experiment)
Power of a Smile
Day
22
US Department of
Justice Established
in 1870
First Day of
Summer
American Eagle Day
Juneteenth
26
Bicycle Patented In
1819
Toothbrush Invented
In 1498
27
Captain Kangaroo
(Bob Keeshan) born
1927
Helen Keller Born in
1880
29
First iPhone
released, 2007
Camera Day
30
Meteor Day
National
Organization of
Women Founded In
1966
16
National Fudge Day
23
Theodore Taylor
born, 1922
Typewriter Patented
In 1868
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
17
18
World Juggler’s Day
Eat Your Vegeta-
bles Day
Chris Van Allsburg
born, 1949
International Picnic
Day
24
25
Kathryn Lasky born,
1944
UFO Day (First
documented UFO
sighting)
LEON Day (NOEL
spelled backwards-
-it means six
months until
Christmas)