In early February Davina Ryszka, who recently moved to Livingston, Mont., with her husband after living in Delta, Colo., called with sad news. She said that Louise Bowman, a longtime subscriber to The Star Beacon, passed away on Feb. 2, 2012 while riding her ATV on her ranch outside Livingston.
         Her death was apparently from natural causes. The local paper in Livingston (the Enterprise) said Louise died of an apparent medical condition while riding her all-terrain vehicle on a county road.
         Davina, once a MUFON investigator, said, “Louise and I got in touch with each other about 20 years ago because of our mutual interest in UFOs, but we found that we had a lot in common about many other subjects. We would call each other up after listening to late-night talk show Coast-to-Coast and say, ‘Did you hear what Richard Hoagland talked about last night?’ or ‘Did you hear Peter Davenport and/or Linda Moulton Howe?’ etc. She and I shared books back and forth on many subjects. I will sure miss her and it’s sad that now that we moved here we won’t be able to do the things we had hoped to do together. She was a very special lady with a heart of gold, always reading and searching for truth about many subjects. Louise loved your Star Beacon newsletter.”
         Louise would call me every so often as well and would sound excited about something she had just read in The Star Beacon, or want to send me a book she had found of interest. She didn’t know it, but about a year and a half ago, after I was recovering from emergency surgery and my funds were low, she sent me a check for 10 or 12 new gift subscriptions to people she wanted to introduce to The Star Beacon. It was a financial blessing to me at the time and an example of Louise’s “heart of gold.”
         Louise is survived by her husband Ben of Livingston, Mont.

Lou Farish from Arkansas

          News of Lou Farish’s passing reached me in February through an email from Jerry Blackburn (via Aileen Garrouté). Lou died of cancer on Jan. 26, 2012 in Morrilton, Ark., where he had been under hospice care since September.
          Lou is remembered for his involvement with the Ozark UFO Conference in Eureka Springs, Ark., as well as his many contributions to ufology. He did not have a wife, children or siblings. He left his estate, including 80 acres of land, to a trust to be used to encourage UFO research and education through awards, fellowships and mini-grants.

'Cosmic School's' Nina Ansley

          Some Star Beacon readers may remember Thokol of Saturn, who channeled information through Nina Ansley back in the ’90s. Nina was a regular contributor to TSB. Nina passed in 2003 and I recently heard from her daughter, Janis Ansley-Ungar, who sent me Nina’s book, The Plague of Provence, which was just published (see Web site: plagueofprovence.com). Set in 14th century France and Italy, The Plague of Provence tells the riveting drama of Lord Raimond de Turenne’s life -- and corrects the inaccurate legend that’s been told and passed on for the last six centuries.
          Nina Ansley was the author of numerous nonfiction features including Let’s Have It Out With Swords, Gentlemen, Not Pins; Mussolini: Out-Caesaring Caesar; and Sherlock Holmes Real? Sleuth Will Out. This was her second historical novel. Her first, The Crucible and the Cross, became orphaned during a publishing merger.
          Nina was in the process of updating the novel to address expanded global conflicts when she died. She was a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, an active body of 15,000 medieval aficionados around the world. Educated in journalism, her professional career was focused on advertising, marketing and public relations. Until her death in 2003, she lived, semi-retired, in New York City.

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