Remembering Henry John Deutschendorf Jr.

As you read the title, you may have asked yourself, who the heck is that. If I would have said his more common name, John Denver, most of you would know who I am talking about.

John Denver was one of my favorite singers. I also liked him in some of the movies that he did, especially Oh God with George Burns and Terri Garr. But I loved when he worked with the Muppets, too. And the Christmas record and special he did with them. I look forward to hearing some of those songs every year.

His first wife, Annie, for whom he wrote "Annie's Song," was from St. Peter, Minn. They lived in Edina for a while and then he bought a house in Colorado. It was sad when they split up. He got re-married and eventually spent more time in California. Near the end of his life, he had some problems with alcohol, lost his pilot's license, and was technically flying illegally when he was testing a plane on October 12, 1997.

He made some bad judgments that day. Flying an experimental plane that had a tricky fuel tank control, not topping off the fuel tanks and flying without a license. A marker shows where he crashed in Monteray Bay, Calif.

But his music lives on, and probably will for a long time to come.

Some information on him came from his Wikipedia file.