Topic: Comic Book History
TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3582 - The memorial service for Richard Franklin Alf was attended by approximately 100 persons, coming from at least as far North as Lake Arrowhead, as far West as Inglewood, East as far as Victorville, and South as far as Chula Vista. This I gathered from talking with those that I met at the memorial service and later at the reception. Richard Alf's life touched those that bought or sold from / to his mail order comic book business; those that were involved with the early start of what became the San Diego Comic Con International; those that bought and sold at his Comic Kingdom comic book shop - one of the first in San Diego, those that dealt with him in his later businesses; and those that interacted with him at the Leo parties. So many came from all those aspects of his life, (and more), to pay their last respects to him, and several stood up at the podium or from their seats in the pews during the memorial service yesterday. I didn't catch all of their names, and some didn't mention their connection with Richard, but all were heartfelt when stating why they were there honoring Richard. Those included: Mike Towry - who also read a letter from Barry Alfonso, Dave Clark - who read a letter from Greg Bear, Paul Salmon, Martha Alf (Richard's mother), Earl Bookhammer, Anthony Keith, Ed Cormier, Clayton Moore, Rich, Gloria, Greg Koudoulian, Anthony Keith, Will Clausen and others. (Pictured below L-R are: Mike Towry, Dave Clark, Paul Salmon, Martha Afl, & Ed Cormier.)
This memorial service was one that really touched me... Although there was underlying sorrow that Richard had passed away much too soon, his life and how it touched those that attended overwhelmed the chapel. The one song that was played and sung was beautifully performed... A couple of hours after first starting, the memorial service was over... Yet several stayed to talk with others, before many went on to Earl & Vicky Bookhammer's residence for a reception. Richard had elected to go with them to their home in Ramona because he knew the end was near. Good people and their reception was well attended and so many stories about Richard and his life filled the rooms in the house during the two hours that the reception was held there. My thanks to Earl & Vicky for their hospitality, and to those that shared their remembrances of Richard during the mid aftertoon into the evening yesterday. Although I hadn't kept up with Richard's life until we reconnected at the 40th San Diego Comic Con International Reunion panels at the 2009 Comic-Con International, I still remember fondly selling him my comic book duplicates back in the early 1970s when he had his mail order business. As seen by the turnout yesterday at the memorial service / reception, a LOT of people also have good memories of Richard Alf. He will be remembered for a long time to come! For those of you not able to attend, or even if you did, but weren't able to take photos... I have a special photo album set up at my Facebook Fan Page for this memorial service / reception, which you can see by clicking the following link: Richard Alf Memorial Service January 12th 2012. Please allow me some time to upload the photos there... As I have several that were taken at both the memorial service / reception that I would like to share there. ~Michael D Hamersky
BTW, You can 'follow' this blog by clicking the 'Follow' Button at this NetworkedBlogs app link! We currently have over 2,671 'Followers'! Thanks to ALL of YOU that have already clicked that button! And for those of YOU that haven't yet... I would appreciate it if YOU would!!! Note: My online 'Local' Comic Book Shop (LCBS), carries many different genres of comics, magazines, graphic novels, and comic con promotional items. Possibly even copies of the item(s) that was mentioned here today...! If I have it... You can find it under 'The Big Top of Comics', at ComicBooksCircus.com, including the book 'Gotham City 14 Miles' shown to the left. I'm 1 of 14 contributors to that book! Web Page Note: This blog post is written per the IE Browser standards. Chrome, Safari, Netscape, Firefox and the other browsers serve the page up slightly differently, sorry about that! The screen display resolution is best seen at the setting of 1024 x 768 on your laptop or desktop computer. Note: Your computer's resoulution may be set differently, but the above resolution is the most commonly used resolution at the time of this blog post. NOTE: All images and characters within this blog post are copyright and trademark their respective owners. Comics Creators: If you are breaking into, or already work in the comic book industry or other pop culture productions, you are welcome to email or mail us press releases, news items, and updates that you feel would be of interest to our blog readers. Including YOUR own works! To mail printed items to us for possible review, send to: Make It So Marketing Inc., PO Box 130653, Carlsbad, CA 92013  Also, if you are a Facebook member, I would have liked you to send me a 'Friend Request'. However, I have reached the maximum limit of 5,000 Facebook Friends and Fan pages already, so I've added a New 'Facebook Fan Page' so that even more of YOU can 'Like' what I am doing, and be interactive with me and others there. Here is the link to that 'Facebook Fan Page': Michael D Hamersky On Comics! Please click the 'Like' button on that page!---------------   In Addition, I started a YouTube Channel just before the 2011 Comic-Con International, where I am slowly uploading videos from conventions or other events that we attend that are also pop culture related. You are invited to 'subscribe' to that channel also! As found at 'HamerskyOnComics'! |
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