Tuesday, July 23, 2019

UPDATE: GRAVE MARKER FOR HELEN FORREST

Congratulations and a thank you are in order for Don Romano. He organized a campaign to raise money for a tombstone for big band singer in Helen Forrest. His campaign was successful and became a reality finally!

Helen Forrest was one of the most popular female singers in the United States in the 1940's. She was known as "the voice of the name bands" and was the girl singer for the bands of Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, and Harry James. She is regarded by some as the best female vocalist of the swing era.

July 11, 2019 marks the 20th anniversary of her passing. She is interred at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery, Hollywood Hills, in Los Angeles. Her only surviving son, Michael, passed away on May 1, 2014. At her plot right now is this pitiful twenty-year-old temporary marker.

Here is what Don Ramano had to say:

"Friends, I have some great news. Earlier this year, I started a GoFundMe campaign to put a marker at Helen Forrest's burial site at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, California. A temporary marker had been placed at the site since her passing in 1999. Today, on the twentieth anniversary of her passing, I am happy to report she has been memorialized with a beautiful granite marker. The marker was just set on Monday July 8, 2019. None of this would have been possible without your donations, shares, and support. The sentiment on Helen's marker was not only a #1 hit for her and Artie Shaw's band in 1939 (written by Harry Revel and Mack Gordon) but also reflects our gratitude for Helen's work. And to all of you who supported me in this mission, I say, 'Thanks for Ev'rything'!"

Thanks for everything Don Ramano! And thank you for helping Helen Forrest get the memorial that she deserves...




2 comments:

  1. This was a truly wonderful thing to do.
    Its quite unbelievable that this situation occurred at all.
    A serious wrong has been righted.
    The really sad thing is that there are so very few people today who care about our great musicians and singers.
    There's something awful about todays society where young people think they know everything, have no respect for their elders or no willingness to learn what ART really is. Thanks to all who contributed to the memorial.

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  2. This is wonderful news and thank you!

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