Gordon Preston Poindexter Niday1,2,3

M, b. August 28, 1934, d. April 21, 2013
     Gordon Preston Poindexter Niday was buried at Old Dominion Memorial Gardens, 7271 Cloverdale Road, Cloverdale, Botetourt Co., Virginia.2 He was born on August 28, 1934 at Botetourt Co., Virginia.3 He married Ruby Louise Clark on February 10, 1957 at Florence, Florence Co., South Carolina.3 Gordon Preston Poindexter Niday married Doris Jean Jennings, daughter of John Malcolm Jennings and Elizabeth Alice Taylor, on October 24, 1995 at Botetourt Co., Virginia.4 Gordon Preston Poindexter Niday married Helen Irene Campbell on February 12, 2000 at Alleghany Co., Virginia.4 Gordon Preston Poindexter Niday died on April 21, 2013 at Virginia at age 78.2 He Gorden Preston Niday, 78, of Troutville, passed away on Sunday, April 21, 2013. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Carol Ashbrook; and stepson, Raymond Deisher. Survivors include his wife of 13 years, Helen Campbell Niday; children and spouses, Christopher (Susan) Niday, of Charlotte, N.C., Tonya (Alan) Plucker, of Goodview, Elwood (Lisa) Deisher ,of Clifton Forge, William Deisher, of Clifton Forge, Mary (Clyde) Childs, of Buchanan, and Timothy Newland, of Glenvar; grandchildren, Tracy, Jennifer, Amber, Joshua, Stephen, Michael, Maria, Jessica, Megan, Shannon, Sherry, Sara, and Brandon; numerous great- grandchildren; sisters, Goldie Dunbar, Ruby Dunbar, and Juanita Handy, all of Roanoke, Elsie Dunbar, of Fincastle, and Dolly Trent, of Amsterdam; and brothers, Tommy Niday, of Roanoke, and Michael Niday, of Buchanan. Funeral Service will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24, 2013, in the Mausoleum of Old Dominion Memorial Gardens with Pastor Peggy Brown officiating. The family will receive friends on Tuesday, April 23, 2013, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Botetourt Funeral Home, 14920 Lee Highway, Buchanan, Va., 540-254-3000. on April 23, 2013.2

Family 1

Ruby Louise Clark
Marriage*He married Ruby Louise Clark on February 10, 1957 at Florence, Florence Co., South Carolina.3 

Family 2

Doris Jean Jennings b. June 8, 1933, d. December 3, 1993
Marriage*Gordon Preston Poindexter Niday married Doris Jean Jennings, daughter of John Malcolm Jennings and Elizabeth Alice Taylor, on October 24, 1995 at Botetourt Co., Virginia.4 

Family 3

Helen Irene Campbell
Marriage*Gordon Preston Poindexter Niday married Helen Irene Campbell on February 12, 2000 at Alleghany Co., Virginia.4 

Citations

  1. [S102] Roanoke Times, From the Doris J. Niday obituary in the Dec 5, 1999 edition.
  2. [S102] Roanoke Times, From the Gorden Preston Niday obituary in the Apr 23, 2013 edition.
  3. [S5151] Virginia Department of Health, Virginia, Divorce Records, 1918-2014.
  4. [S5130] Virginia Department of Health, Virginia, U.S., Marriage Records, 1936-2014.

Louise Nancy Virginia Kesler1,2,3,4,5

F, b. November 28, 1935, d. October 2, 1998
     Her Social Security Number was 230-40-6491.6 Louise Nancy Virginia Kesler was buried at Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens, 5737 Airport Road NW, Roanoke, Virginia.1 She was born on November 28, 1935 at Roanoke Co., Virginia.6,3,4,5 She married Malcolm Everette "Mac" Jennings, son of John Malcolm Jennings and Elizabeth Alice Taylor, on August 16, 1952 at Salem, Roanoke Co., Virginia.1,2,3 As of August 16, 1952,her married name was Jennings.3 Louise Nancy Virginia Kesler died on October 2, 1998 at Roanoke, Virginia, at age 62.6,1,7 She JENNINGS, Louise Kesler, 62, of Roanoke, passed away Friday, October 2, 1998 at her home. She was preceded in death by a daughter, Kathy Jennings Delp. Surviving are her husband, Malcolm E. Jennings; daughters and sons-in-law, Joyce Faye and Allen Mitchem, Roanoke, Vickie and Lynn Wilkerson, Botetourt County, Sue and Doug Huffman, Roanoke; son and daughter-in-law, Barry Wayne and Barbara Jennings, Roanoke; 12 grandchildren; sisters, June Howell, Roanoke, Ruby Dempsey, Red Oak; brothers, Cleve Kesler, Richmond, Clarence Kesler, Roanoke. Funeral services will be conducted 11 a.m. Monday, October 5, 1998, at Simpson-Tharp Funeral Chapel, 5160 Peters Creek Road, by Evangelist Tommy L. Blewett. Interment will follow in Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens. The family will receive friends from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 3 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday at Simpson-Tharp Funeral Home. (366-0707) on October 3, 1998.1

Family

Malcolm Everette "Mac" Jennings b. August 12, 1929, d. August 24, 2012
Marriage*She married Malcolm Everette "Mac" Jennings, son of John Malcolm Jennings and Elizabeth Alice Taylor, on August 16, 1952 at Salem, Roanoke Co., Virginia.1,2,3 
Children
  • Joyce Faye Jennings1,8,2
  • Vickie Jennings1,8,2
  • Susan "Sue" Jennings1,8,2
  • Kathy Jennings+1,8,2 b. December 5, 1956, d. November 8, 1997
  • Barry Wayne Jennings1,8,2

Citations

  1. [S102] Roanoke Times, From the Louise Kesler Jennings obituary in the Oct 3, 1998 edition.
  2. [S102] Roanoke Times, From the Malcolm Everette Jennings obituary in the Aug 28, 2012 edition.
  3. [S5130] Virginia Department of Health, Virginia, U.S., Marriage Records, 1936-2014.
  4. [S5223] Social Security Administration, U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007.
  5. [S5152] Virginia Department of Health, Virginia, U.S., Birth Records, 1912-2015, Delayed Birth Records, 1721-1920.
  6. [S9] Unknown subject, unknown file number, SSDI, U.S. Social Security Administrations Death Master File.
  7. [S5149] Virginia Department of Health, Virginia, Death Records, 1912-2014.
  8. [S102] Roanoke Times, From the Kathy Jennings Delp obituary in the Nov 9, 1997 edition.

Stanley Michael Gartler1,2,3

M, b. June 9, 1923
     Stanley Michael Gartler was born on June 9, 1923 at Los Angeles Co., California.1,3 He married Marian Ruth Mitchelson, daughter of Herbert Mitchelson and Sonia M. Knoppow, on November 7, 1948.2

Family

Marian Ruth Mitchelson
Marriage*Stanley Michael Gartler married Marian Ruth Mitchelson, daughter of Herbert Mitchelson and Sonia M. Knoppow, on November 7, 1948.2 

Citations

  1. [S908] California Center for Health Statistics, California Birth Index, 1905-1995.
  2. [S560] Joan Glanz Rimmon, "Knoppow Family Researcher Joan Glanz Rimmon," e-mail to Scott Schaffer, Aug 17, 2004.
  3. [S3706] 1926–1975, RG 147. The National Archives at Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia Records of the Selective Service System, U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947.

Kathy Jennings1,2,3

F, b. December 5, 1956, d. November 8, 1997
FatherMalcolm Everette "Mac" Jennings1,2,3 b. August 12, 1929, d. August 24, 2012
MotherLouise Nancy Virginia Kesler1,2,3 b. November 28, 1935, d. October 2, 1998
     Kathy Jennings was buried at Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens, 5737 Airport Road NW, Roanoke, Virginia.2 Her Social Security Number was 223-92-3590.4 She married Audie W. Delp.2 Her married name was Delp. Kathy Jennings was born on December 5, 1956.4 She died on November 8, 1997 at Virginia at age 40.4,2 She DELP, Kathy Jennings, 40, of Roanoke, went to be with the Lord on Saturday, November 8, 1997. She attended New Life Temple Pentecostal Holiness Church and was an employee of Hills Department Store. Surviving are her husband, Audie W. Delp; sons, Mark C. Delp, Monty W. Delp and A. Dwayne Delp, all of Roanoke; daughter, Wendy Delp Perkins and husband, Scott of Elliston; parents, Malcolm Everette and Louise Jennings; brother, Barry Wayne Jennings; sisters, Joyce Faye Mitchem, Vickie Wilkerson and Sue Huffman, and father-in-law and mother-in-law, John and Mary Delp, all of Roanoke, and a number of nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be conducted at 11 a.m. Monday, November 10, 1997, at Simpson-Tharp Funeral Chapel, 5160 Peters Creek Road, by the Rev. Walter L. Wood Jr. Interment will follow in Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens. The family will receive friends from 1 to 3 and 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday at Simpson-Tharp Funeral Home (366-0707) on November 9, 1997.2

Family

Audie W. Delp
Marriage*She married Audie W. Delp.2 
Children
  • Mark C. Delp2,5
  • Monty W. Delp2,5
  • A. Dwayne Delp2,5
  • Wendy Delp2,5

Citations

  1. [S102] Roanoke Times, From the Louise Kesler Jennings obituary in the Oct 3, 1998 edition.
  2. [S102] Roanoke Times, From the Kathy Jennings Delp obituary in the Nov 9, 1997 edition.
  3. [S102] Roanoke Times, From the Malcolm Everette Jennings obituary in the Aug 28, 2012 edition.
  4. [S9] Unknown subject, unknown file number, SSDI, U.S. Social Security Administrations Death Master File.
  5. [S102] Roanoke Times, From the Mary Elizabeth Hall Delp obituary in the Jun 2, 2012 edition.

John Sowers1,2,3

M, b. circa 1785, d. April 7, 1836
FatherGeorge Sowers4 b. 1750, d. March 18, 1834
MotherAnna Elizabeth Spangler4 b. circa 1764, d. November, 1857
     John Sowers was buried at Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery, intersection of Rt. 693 and Rt. 615, Floyd Co., Virginia; His tombstone reads "Age 51 ys."1 He was born circa 1785.1 He married Sarah "Sally" Phares on October 25, 1811 at Montgomery Co., Virginia.3 John Sowers died on April 7, 1836 at Floyd Co., Virginia.1

Census Records

1820Blacksburg, Virginia2

Family

Sarah "Sally" Phares b. circa 1792, d. September 25, 1883
Marriage*John Sowers married Sarah "Sally" Phares on October 25, 1811 at Montgomery Co., Virginia.3 
Child

Citations

  1. [S328] Donna J. Robertson, Tombstone Inscriptions of Floyd County, Virginia.
  2. [S409] National Archives and Records Administration, 1820 United States Federal Census.
  3. [S437] Jordan R. Dodd, Virginia Marriages, 1740-1850.
  4. [S763] Jack Spangler, Noffsinger, and others Spangler in "Floyd Co., Virginia Listserve," listserve message Feb 5, 2003.

Sarah "Sally" Phares1

F, b. circa 1792, d. September 25, 1883
     Sarah "Sally" Phares was buried at Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery, intersection of Rt. 693 and Rt. 615, Floyd Co., Virginia; Her tombstone reads "Age 91 yr."2 She was born circa 1792 at Montgomery Co., Virginia.2 She married John Sowers, son of George Sowers and Anna Elizabeth Spangler, on October 25, 1811 at Montgomery Co., Virginia.1 As of October 25, 1811,her married name was Sowers.1 Sarah "Sally" Phares died on September 25, 1883 at Floyd Co., Virginia.2

Family

John Sowers b. circa 1785, d. April 7, 1836
Marriage*She married John Sowers, son of George Sowers and Anna Elizabeth Spangler, on October 25, 1811 at Montgomery Co., Virginia.1 
Child

Citations

  1. [S437] Jordan R. Dodd, Virginia Marriages, 1740-1850.
  2. [S328] Donna J. Robertson, Tombstone Inscriptions of Floyd County, Virginia.

May Mitchelson1,2,3,4

F, b. September 25, 1925, d. June 4, 1999
FatherHerbert Mitchelson1,2,3 b. August 17, 1901, d. November 16, 1947
MotherSonia M. Knoppow1,2,3 b. February 9, 1902, d. November 24, 1984
     Her Social Security Number was 566-24-8417.5 May Mitchelson was born on September 25, 1925 at Detroit, Wayne Co., Michigan.5 She married Arthur A. Albert on November 7, 1948 at California.1,4 As of November 7, 1948,her married name was Albert. May Mitchelson died on June 4, 1999 at Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California, at age 73.5

Census Records

1940Dwelling 15, District 60-77, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California3

Family

Arthur A. Albert b. May 30, 1922, d. July 19, 2002
Marriage*May Mitchelson married Arthur A. Albert on November 7, 1948 at California.1,4 
Children
  • Maryna Judith Albert1
  • Annette Lynn Albert1

Citations

  1. [S560] Joan Glanz Rimmon, "Knoppow Family Researcher Joan Glanz Rimmon," e-mail to Scott Schaffer, Aug 17, 2004.
  2. [S6438] Unknown compiler, U.S., Naturalization Records - Original Documents, 1795-1972.
  3. [S3353] National Archives and Records Administration, 1940 United States Federal Census.
  4. [S6439] California Department of Public Health, California, County Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1849-1980.
  5. [S9] Unknown subject, unknown file number, SSDI, U.S. Social Security Administrations Death Master File.

Arthur A. Albert1,2,3

M, b. May 30, 1922, d. July 19, 2002
     His Social Security Number was 556-28-3713.1 Arthur A. Albert was born on May 30, 1922 at Detroit, Wayne Co., Michigan.1 He married May Mitchelson, daughter of Herbert Mitchelson and Sonia M. Knoppow, on November 7, 1948 at California.2,3 Arthur A. Albert died on July 19, 2002 at California at age 80.1

Family

May Mitchelson b. September 25, 1925, d. June 4, 1999
Marriage*He married May Mitchelson, daughter of Herbert Mitchelson and Sonia M. Knoppow, on November 7, 1948 at California.2,3 
Children
  • Maryna Judith Albert2
  • Annette Lynn Albert2

Citations

  1. [S9] Unknown subject, unknown file number, SSDI, U.S. Social Security Administrations Death Master File.
  2. [S560] Joan Glanz Rimmon, "Knoppow Family Researcher Joan Glanz Rimmon," e-mail to Scott Schaffer, Aug 17, 2004.
  3. [S6439] California Department of Public Health, California, County Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1849-1980.

Marvin Morris Mitchelson1

M, b. May 7, 1928, d. September 18, 2004
FatherHerbert Mitchelson2,1,3,4 b. August 17, 1901, d. November 16, 1947
MotherSonia M. Knoppow2,1,3,4 b. February 9, 1902, d. November 24, 1984
     Marvin Morris Mitchelson was buried at Hillside Cemetery, Los Angeles Co., California.5 His Social Security Number was 566-24-8073.6 He was born on May 7, 1928 at Detroit, Wayne Co., Michigan.5,6,1,3 He married Marcella Ferri on December 18, 1960 at Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California.7 Marvin Morris Mitchelson and Marcella Ferri were divorced in January, 1970 at Los Angeles Co., California.8 Marvin Morris Mitchelson died on September 18, 2004 at Beverly Hills, Los Angeles Co., California, at age 76.5,6,1 He Marvin Mitchelson, the flamboyant and controversial divorce lawyer who pioneered the right to "palimony" with a landmark lawsuit against actor Lee Marvin in the 1970s and two decades later spent more than two years in federal prison for tax fraud, has died. He was 76. Mitchelson, who had suffered from heart problems and skin cancer in recent years, died Saturday night in a Beverly Hills hospice of complications from those diseases, said attorney Cary W. Goldstein. Since handling his first high-publicity divorce case in 1964 on behalf of actor James Mason's wife, Pamela, Mitchelson established himself as Hollywood's premiere divorce lawyer. His clients were a virtual who's who of celebrities, including Sonny Bono, Tony Curtis, Mel Torme, Stephen Stills and Carl Sagan. But Mitchelson was known primarily as a "woman's lawyer," representing Joan Collins, Bianca Jagger, Rhonda Fleming and Connie Stevens, among others. His most famous case was that of Michelle Triola Marvin, who had abandoned her nightclub singing career to be Lee Marvin's live-in companion and, after they broke up, demanded half the actor's $3.6-million income made during the six years they lived together. Although they were never married, she had legally changed her surname to Marvin. A Superior Court rejected the breach-of-contract lawsuit Mitchelson filed for her and a state appeals court affirmed the dismissal. But in late 1976 the California Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling stating that unmarried, cohabitating partners could legally seek to share in a partner's property when they separated, if the partners had express written or oral contracts, and that judges also could consider the partners' conduct to determine whether a contract was implied. "I'm not trying to paint myself as a big crusader, but this was a case I believed in," he told People magazine. "I was waiting for one like it to come along. I believed that a woman who has lived exactly as a wife with everything but an $8 marriage license should have the same rights." Despite Mitchelson's new-law victory, Marvin vs. Marvin wasn't over. In 1979, after a 10-week trial, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled that there was neither an express nor an implied contract between the Marvins and that Triola Marvin was not entitled to anything. The judge awarded Triola Marvin $104,000 to learn new job skills, but in 1981 the state appeals court overturned that award. Despite Mitchelson's eventual loss in the trial, the high-profile case not only multiplied his business dramatically — "I made millions" out of the publicity, he boasted to the Los Angeles Times in 1986 — it made him one of the most famous lawyers in the world. In the process, he earned a reputation for what a New York Times writer once described as "a self-promoter intoxicated with his own success" — a lawyer who, as Los Angeles Times writer Ted Rohrlich put it in 1988, "is as well-known for his dramatic flair and courtship of the media as for his legal victories." "Although Marvin had some extremely difficult times," Goldstein said Sunday, "he was extraordinarily tenacious and eloquent. The law usually wasn't important to Marvin. He would fight for what he believed was right." Born in Detroit on May 7, 1928, Mitchelson was the youngest of three children and the only son of a Ukrainian immigrant mother and Polish immigrant father who was a painter and paperhanger. The family moved to Los Angeles when Mitchelson was 18 months old. A Los Angeles High School graduate, Mitchelson served in the Navy as a medical corpsman and earned degrees from UCLA in 1953 and Southwestern University School of Law in 1956. After passing the bar the following year, he set up practice in Beverly Hills. He handled run-of-the-mill cases before landing a capital murder case in 1958 that resulted in the acquittal of his client. Assorted divorce, child-custody and libel cases against tabloids followed. In 1963, Mitchelson successfully argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that, along with another case, led to landmark decisions guaranteeing indigents the right to counsel at the trial-court level and for appeals. "That was my proudest moment," he once recalled. In 1964, he took over representing talk-show host Pamela Mason in her divorce from her British actor husband. Two weeks before the trial, after Mitchelson subpoenaed about 40 of the Masons' prominent friends to describe details of James Mason's private sexual matters, the actor settled out of court. He agreed to a $1.5-million settlement for Pamela — the first divorce settlement to break the million-dollar mark. "After that, I never had to look back," Mitchelson told the Washington Post in 1982. Mitchelson enjoyed a jet-set lifestyle, with an elaborately furnished Sunset Strip-area mansion called "the Castle" and a car collection that included two Rolls-Royces and a custom-made convertible once owned by Clark Gable. Tanned and silver-haired, Mitchelson sported $5,000 hand-tailored suits, was known to make more than a dozen trips to Europe every year and, although married, was frequently seen with an attractive young woman on his arm. His conspicuous consumption extended to his Century City law offices, which were laden with Persian rugs, Victorian furniture and Renaissance, Pre-Raphaelite and art nouveau pictures of women. The red-plush throne-like chair behind his desk was once owned by Rudolph Valentino. A stain-glassed replica of Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" graced the ceiling. But the good life skidded to a halt in 1988, when the State Bar of California charged that in six separate instances Mitchelson either charged clients "unconscionable fees," failed to return unearned portions of financial retainers or performed his work badly — all of which Mitchelson denied. The Internal Revenue Service and the state Franchise Tax Board were after him for back taxes, and Sotheby's was suing him for more than $1 million for jewels he had bought at auction but hadn't paid for. And, according to a Los Angeles Times account of Mitchelson's travails, his former secretary told the district attorney and state bar investigators that Mitchelson was a habitual user of cocaine and the prescription painkiller Percodan during the five years she worked for him in the 1970s. Two women also filed charges against Mitchelson, alleging that he had raped them separately in his opulent law-office bathroom. The women repeated their allegations on a segment of TV's "60 Minutes," in which four other women also accused Mitchelson of rape or sexual assault. Mitchelson, who did not appear on camera, strongly denied the accusations. Prosecutors declined to file charges because of lack of evidence. In 1993, a federal jury in Los Angeles found him guilty of four felony counts of tax fraud for hiding nearly $2 million in income between 1983 and 1986. Mitchelson, who blamed his accountant for the tax problems during the trial, had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection shortly before his conviction. Placed on "indefinite suspension" by the state bar, which prevented him from practicing law during his appeal, he spent the next three years fighting to avoid prison while also undergoing treatment for malignant melanoma and heart disease and surgery for crushed spinal disks from a childhood injury. In April 1996, after all appeals were exhausted, Mitchelson entered federal prison. "I started to cry," he wrote in a law journal in 2001, "just as I had the day before when I bid my wife and son goodbye, apologizing over and over again for the pain and humiliation I had put us all through." While in prison — first in Fort Worth and later in Lompoc —Mitchelson ran the law library, wrote appeals for inmates and taught others to read and write. After his release in May 1998, he worked as a paralegal and consultant to other lawyers. Frail from his health problems but wearing a stylish black suit and signature glasses with tinted lenses, Mitchelson admitted at a State Bar Court hearing in 2000 that he had succumbed to fame, occasionally abused cocaine and neglected some clients by overextending himself to remain in the limelight. "I'm guilty of arrogance," he testified. "I know I did wrong. I can see it was a fast life, and it overcame me." With tears in his eyes, he said that he had survived in prison "by never giving up. I've lived just to be a lawyer again. I studied and read and worked … just in hopes I could come back to the profession." At the end of the hearing, State Bar Court Judge Eugene E. Brott lifted Mitchelson's suspension from legal practice, finding that "he is rehabilitated" and "is remorseful." Mitchelson, who opened a relatively modest law office above Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood in 2001, is survived by his wife, Marcella, and son, Morgan. Services will be private. on September 20, 2004.5

Census Records

1940Dwelling 15, District 60-77, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California4

Family

Marcella Ferri
Marriage*Marvin Morris Mitchelson married Marcella Ferri on December 18, 1960 at Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California.7 
Divorce* Marvin Morris Mitchelson and Marcella Ferri were divorced in January, 1970 at Los Angeles Co., California.8 
Child
  • Herbert Morgan Mitchelson5

Citations

  1. [S5223] Social Security Administration, U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007.
  2. [S560] Joan Glanz Rimmon, "Knoppow Family Researcher Joan Glanz Rimmon," e-mail to Scott Schaffer, Aug 17, 2004.
  3. [S6438] Unknown compiler, U.S., Naturalization Records - Original Documents, 1795-1972.
  4. [S3353] National Archives and Records Administration, 1940 United States Federal Census.
  5. [S513] Los Angeles Times, Fom the Marvin Mitchelson obituary in the Sep 20, 2004 edition.
  6. [S9] Unknown subject, unknown file number, SSDI, U.S. Social Security Administrations Death Master File.
  7. [S1450] Sacramento, California Department of Health Services, California Marriage Index, 1960-1985.
  8. [S1493] California Center for Health Statistics, California Divorce Index, 1966-1984.