Morning Edition: Parting Thoughts

Through conversations with family members and close friends, Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer remembers the lives of Minnesotans who have touched their communities in ways big and small. | Parting Thoughts: Remembering lives lost to COVID-19

Parting Thoughts: Remembering a golden voice that graced Twin Cities airwaves for decades
Tom Ambrose had a long career as a Twin Cities broadcaster. Long-time friend James Rasmussen remembers Ambrose as a man with a heart as golden as his voice.
Parting Thoughts: Educator turned entrepreneur ‘wore his success quietly’
Richard Fontaine went from small-town kid to big-city educator and stocking shelves at a bookstore for extra money before he helped build a large videogame retailer. But one thing never changed: his love of books.
Parting Thoughts: ‘42nd mom’ adopted Vietnam soldiers and their dogs
In this edition of Parting Thoughts, we remember Jackie McIntyre, who boosted the morale of the 101st Airborne 42nd Infantry Platoon Scout Dog Unit by sending letters, dog treats, hot chocolate, magazines and a whole lot more, to soldiers and their dogs stationed in Vietnam.
Parting Thoughts: Remembering prolific writer, historian Joe Amato
Joe Amato was a Renaissance man, churning out more than 30 books on immigration, rural history, regional history and more. We remember Amato on this edition of Parting Thoughts.
Parting Thoughts: Remembering Paul Richard, who loved planes and died at 97 in St. Paul
Paul Richard was born in California, made a life in Evanston, Ill., and died on Jan. 14 in St. Paul, where his daughter Diane Richard lives. She spoke with Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer about his life and legacy for “Parting Thoughts.”
Gilberto Vázquez Valle was a beloved host on KFAI community radio in the Twin Cities. For nearly 15 years, before he passed away last week, he broadcast a deeply researched program on Latin American folk music. His show, Encuentro, aired on Thursday nights from 8-10 p.m.
A beloved member of the St. Paul community passed away last week. Manuel Cervantes was a longtime workers’ compensation appeals court judge and served as city attorney. His brother Ricardo Cervantes spoke with MPR News Host Phil Picardi about Manuel’s life.
Paying debts: Months after his COVID-19 death, woman sorts out what her father left behind
A Minneapolis woman lost her father to COVID-19 early in the pandemic. But she didn’t feel the impacts of his death in a single moment. They’ve rippled out over months. She’s still sorting through all he left behind.
For nearly fifty years, if you lived near Albany, Minnesota and needed a doctor, there’s a chance you went to see Dr. Richard Salk. He died of COVID-19 earlier this month, at the age of 95. Many of the people who cared for him in his final days were people he once served, as a small-town doctor.