The death has recently been announced of James A. Sjolund (1932-2014), former State Supervisor of Music for the State of Washington. Sjolund was awarded the Grand Prix Humanitaire de France et des Colonies (the Cross of Merit of the Order of the Crown of Thorns), by Prince-Abbot Edmond II on 28 January 1977, at a champagne reception in honor of Distinguished Humanitarians at the residence of Lady Patte Barham in Los Angeles.

Sjolund received his San Luigi award for his work in helping to establish and guide the National Committee, Arts for the Handicapped, which had been the result of a year spent in Washington, D.C. writing grants. He received his master’s degree at Western Washington State College and saw service in the Korean War. After several years of teaching music in the Shoreline School District he became State Supervisor of Music. During a year’s assignment on Orcas Island he administered the Arts for the Rural School District program.

A man of wide interests, he enjoyed an active retirement and is survived by his wife of 59 years, three children and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren, to whom the Abbey-Principality extends its condolences.

This photograph, dated 25 December 1961, depicts Prince-Abbot Edmond II (then the  heir-designate to San Luigi).

Virginia Knight (1918-2010) was admitted to the San Luigi Orders by Prince-Abbot Edmond II on 28 January 1977, at a champagne reception in honor of Distinguished Humanitarians at the residence of Lady Patte Barham in Los Angeles. She had been California’s First Lady and also provided that state with its first gubernatorial wedding.

On 2 August 1954, Virginia Knight became the second wife of Governor Goodwin Jess “Goodie” Knight (1896-1970), who was in office between 1953 and 1959. Their marriage was also her second; her first husband had been killed in action in World War II. Photographs of the wedding were widely circulated and helped in Knight’s successful bid for re-election that year.

Virginia Knight was the first to advocate that the governor’s residence in Sacramento (which reminded her of a palace) should become a museum, and that a major part of its work should be to honor the state’s First Ladies. Subsequently, with the assistance of Nancy Reagan, this came to pass.

An author of more than 300 poems and an effusive personality whose beauty led to comparisons with Vivien Leigh, she was named Honorary Poet Laureate of Delaware by that state’s governor.

In 1970 she suffered the death of one of her stepdaughters in tragic circumstances. Three months later, her husband died following a stroke. After this, she largely withdrew from society.

The Hon. Samuel William “Sam” Yorty (1909-98) (pictured center above) was admitted to the San Luigi Orders by Prince-Abbot Edmond II on 28 January 1977, at a champagne reception in honor of Distinguished Humanitarians at the residence of Lady Patte Barham in Los Angeles. He was the 37th Mayor of Los Angeles, serving for twelve years between 1961 and 1973.

Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Sam Yorty was educated at Southwestern University and the University of California at Los Angeles, being admitted to the Bar in 1939. He was elected to the California State Assembly in 1936 and served during World War II as a Captain in the Intelligence Branch of the United States Army Air Corps. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1950 and again in 1952. However, his two bids to be elected to the Senate, in 1940 and again in 1954, were unsuccessful.

His mayoralty was populist in its platform and was characterized by some successes, notably in the emergence of Los Angeles as a major city, the cutting of taxes, the streamlining of bureaucracy and the improvement of garbage pick-ups. He was known for his anti-communism, anti-feminism and criticism of the Civil Rights movement. Despite this, he was the first mayor to have a female deputy, and also the first to have a racially mixed staff.

In 1965, the Watts Riots showed that he had failed to gain widespread support amongst African-Americans in Los Angeles, and after this his politics shifted increasingly to the Right. In 1966 he challenged incumbent E.G. “Pat” Brown (also a member of the San Luigi Orders) in the gubernatorial primary, coming a respectable second. He was re-elected mayor in 1969 but was increasingly bored with the position and spent much of his time out of Los Angeles. In 1972 he ran for the Democratic nomination for President, but gained little ground in his campaign, and after its failure began to express open support for the Republicans.

After retiring from office, Yorty hosted a talk show on KCOP-TV for five years, and then in 1980-81 attempted a political comeback, which was not successful. Thereafter he retired from public life.

The San Luigi Orders salute Dr George Fischbeck, who at the age of 92 is one of our oldest living members. Dr Fischbeck was admitted to our Orders by Prince-Abbot Edmond II on 28 January 1977, at a champagne reception in honor of Distinguished Humanitarians at the residence of Lady Patte Barham in Los Angeles.

A graduate of the University of New Mexico, Dr Fischbeck began his professional life as a school teacher, but is best known today as a long serving and much-loved weatherman, firstly on KOB-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and then from 1972 until his retirement in 1990 on KABC-TV in Southern California. His television career has also included hosting childrens’ science programs. Dr Fischbeck has been much honored over the years, and the City of Los Angeles recently declared April 10 to be Dr George Day. In 2013, he published his autobiography. He is still active today as a charity fundraiser, and has raised millions of dollars to help the disadvantaged over the years.

>>A tribute to Dr Fischbeck by his family

The Mass of St Louis and the Holy Thorn has been celebrated today by Mgr. Raphael Steck, KOCT, for the Mission Gallicane d’Alsace, a chartered community of the Abbey-Principality. The Mass was celebrated in a strong and prayerful spirit and many graces were received.

The Succession Cross of the Order of the Crown of Thorns. Passed down through the generations via each of the Prince-Abbots to the present incumbent, this pectoral cross is reserved to the Grand Master of the Order of the Crown of Thorns.