Russ’s wife let us know that Russ passed away February 27th 2019. "He went quickly and had been sick with the flu for a week. His heart wasn’t able to withstand the strain. "
Russ shared with a story about the period he wirked at Zitting's Market. Speedy would come into the store to redeem his pop bottles to buy canned cat food for his cats. He never bought food for himself. Often he did not have enough $ to buy the cat food he needed given how many bottles he had picked up. So, Russ would pad the amount that Speedy was due and use his own money to pay the difference. I thought that was a real class act on Russ's part.
Russ loved to tell of his time on the USS St Paul (a cruiser home ported in San Disgo). Russ joinned the Navy out of high school and served as a fire control technician for the ship's guns. Years later, I served with his boss.
The ST Paul was used in filming of "In Harms Way" starring JohnWayne and Kirk Douglas. The actors went to sea to film the ship. John Wayne really interacted with the enlisted folks on the crew taking smoke breaks and playing chess with them. Rascal Russ (as he called himself) got to spend a lot of one on one time with the Duke. Kirk stayed in his cabin when not being filmed.
Richard Dillow
Russ shared with a story about the period he wirked at Zitting's Market. Speedy would come into the store to redeem his pop bottles to buy canned cat food for his cats. He never bought food for himself. Often he did not have enough $ to buy the cat food he needed given how many bottles he had picked up. So, Russ would pad the amount that Speedy was due and use his own money to pay the difference. I thought that was a real class act on Russ's part.
Russ loved to tell of his time on the USS St Paul (a cruiser home ported in San Disgo). Russ joinned the Navy out of high school and served as a fire control technician for the ship's guns. Years later, I served with his boss.
The ST Paul was used in filming of "In Harms Way" starring JohnWayne and Kirk Douglas. The actors went to sea to film the ship. John Wayne really interacted with the enlisted folks on the crew taking smoke breaks and playing chess with them. Rascal Russ (as he called himself) got to spend a lot of one on one time with the Duke. Kirk stayed in his cabin when not being filmed.
Dick Dillow