JAZZ GREAT CHARLIE ROUSE, SAXOPHONIST, DIES AT 64
Charlie Rouse, 64, a Washington native who became one of the country's great tenor saxophonists and who played with many leading jazz groups, died of cancer Nov. 30 at a hospital in Seattle.
Mr. Rouse joined the Billy Eckstine Orchestra in 1944, where his fellow performers included Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan. Later in the 1940s, he played in the Dizzy Gillespie band and with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. In 1950, he joined Count Basie. From the mid- to late 1950s, Mr. Rouse performed with his own group, Les Jazz Modes.
From 1959 to 1970, he was a member of the Thelonious Monk quartet, gaining his greatest fame as a brilliantly sophisticated player whose improvising was blunt and clipped, yet emotional. If Mr. Rouse was a brilliant musician, he was not an outgoing showman, seeming content to leave much of the spotlight and the talk show circuit to others.
In 1979, Mr. Rouse formed the jazz group Sphere, which was dedicated to the musical legacy of Monk. It recorded a number of albums. Its 1987 album, "Four For All," on the Verve label, contained only one Monk number, the remainder featuring compositions of the group.
In a 1985 interview with The Washington Post, Mr. Rouse said he became interested in music while growing up on the 400 block of M Street NE. Also on the block was the rehearsal site of Bill Hester's band, where Mr. Rouse and other neighborhood children not only became enthralled by the music but also were allowed to play the band members' musical instruments.
Before he finished at Armstrong High School, Mr. Rouse was playing with John Malachi's band at the Crystal Caverns and played in school jazz groups. Among his classmates were baritone saxophone player Leo Parker, tenor saxophonist Frank Wess and drummer Osie Johnson.
Mr. Rouse's survivors include his wife, a son, two brothers and a sister.
ROBERT H. AMIDON
Government Lawyer
Robert Horace Amidon, 71, a retired lawyer with the President's Commission on Civil Rights who had been a member of the Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Washington, died Nov. 30 in a hospital in Orlando, Fla. He had a heart ailment.
Mr. Amidon, a former Washington and Alexandria resident who had lived in Locust Grove, Va., since 1974, was wintering in Florida when he was stricken.
He was a native of North Dakota and served with the Army in Europe during World War II. He was a graduate of George Washington University and its law school, where he also received a master's degree in general law.
He began his career as a government lawyer in 1950 with the House Judiciary Committee. Two years later, he transferred to the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee, where he spent three years. He worked for the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1955 until joining the Civil Rights Commission in 1958. He retired in 1973.
Survivors include his wife, Marjorie, of Locust Grove; a son, Robert B., of Los Angeles; three daughters, Patricia L. Packett of Halifax, Va., Louise A. Ficklin of Gaithersburg, and Meredith A. Amidon of Alexandria; 11 grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.
JESSE COHEN BURGETT
Chantilly Second Grader
Jesse Cohen Burgett, 7, a Washington area native who was in the second grade at Brookfield Elementary School in Chantilly, died of a heart disease Dec. 2 at Children's Hospital. He lived in Chantilly.
Jesse was born in Falls Church and later lived in California and Pennsylvania before returning to the Washington area last July.
He had been recommended for the gifted program at his school and made his highest grades in mathematics and spelling. His hobbies included skiing, rafting and science projects.
Survivors include his parents, Rodney J. and Cindy L. Burgett, and a brother, Justin, all of Chantilly; his grandparents, Harry and Betty Sampson of Temple Hills, Vera Lou Adam of Garden City, Kan., and Forest Burgett of Deerfield, Kan., and his great-grandparents, Wes and Alice Gable of Gordon, Pa.
RAMONA JOYCE MORALES
Area Resident Since 1964
Ramona Joyce Morales, 54, an area resident since 1964 who was a member of Largo Community Church, died of cancer Dec. 3 at Malcolm Grow Medical Center at Andrews Air Force Base. She lived in Upper Marlboro.
Mrs. Morales was a native of Kentucky. In 1950, she married John J. Morales, who later retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant commander. She accompanied him on assignments to Spain and Costa Rica. Before going overseas, she had taken language training, and once at their station had assisted in volunteer work and in diplomatic and social functions.
In addition to her husband, of Upper Marlboro, her survivors include a daughter, Carol Morales of Largo; two sons, John Jr., of Burke, and Brian, of College Park; her mother, Mary A. Bailey of Upper Marlboro, and two brothers, Wendell H. and Albert W. Bailey, both of Fort Washington.
AUGUSTA LADENHEIM KRAMER
Rockville Resident
Augusta Ladenheim Kramer, 90, a resident of the Washington area since 1982, died of congestive heart failure Dec. 2 at Suburban Hospital.
Mrs. Kramer, who lived in Rockville, was a native of New York City, where she had lived most of her life.
Her first husband, Morris Ladenheim, died in 1952, and her second husband, Isidor Kramer, died in 1980.
Survivors include a son, Charles Ladenheim of Bethesda, and two grandchildren.