Category talk:1970 deaths

Mary Ann Ganser (The Shangri-Las)

There is a factual error in the 1971 Deaths page. Mary Ann Ganser died in 1970, not 1971. 1971 is, unfortunately, a frequently occuring date on sites about the Shangri Las and/or Mary Ann. Three sites I'm aware of have it correct: [1] Footnote 4, in Phil X Milsteins' "Shangri Las 77!" bio; [2] John Grecco's comprehensive bio "The Shangri-Las!" on the Redbird site (Page 4); and [3] The Shangri-Las fan site.

Marguerite (Margie) Ganser Dorste's obituary can be found at the following sites: [4] South Coast Today, New Standard August 4, 1996; [5] ObitCentral, Miscellaneous Bristol County, Massachusetts Obituaries; [6] and Google Groups alt.obituaries (formerly Deja News, IIRC), a reprint of an August 3, 1996 Newsday entry of Margie's obit.

Please note that the wording is identical at each location; they all state "Some of Mrs. Ganser Dorste's ashes will be buried with her sister Mary Ann, who died in 1970."

Now, not to put too fine a point on it, but obituaries are usually written by the family, or by someone working closely with the family. As far as I know, Margie had only one twin sister named Mary Ann and, while I suppose it's possible in theory for the family to get the year of her death wrong, I'd be inclined to lean in the direction of them getting it right. They say she died in 1970. Mary Ann Ganser's name should be moved from the 1971 list to the 1970 list. I was going to edit this myself, but all I get is gibberish on the edit screen, so I'm assuming it takes special privileges to edit these pages. (Or, since I'm new at this, I'm missing the knowledge needed to do it.)

This, as I've already said, is a piece of misinformation that appears on most sites where the Shangri-Las are mentioned. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to imagine they tend to feed off one another, e.g. one site says 1971, someone wanting to mention the group on a different site runs across the first and repeats it, and so on until it becomes impossible to stamp out. I tend to believe the family and the people in the business (Phil Milstein and John Grecco, for instance) rather than someone, no matter how sincere or well meaning, who is simply winging it. I found Margie's obit without a whole lot of effort; so could anyone interested in doing a little research to verify an event.

Whichfinger 16:16, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

added heading to above contribution. Ghmyrtle 10:31, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

According to User:Shiai, who added this text to The Shangri-Las page :- Mary Ann Ganser died on March 14, 1970 from an overdose of barbiturates. According to her mother, Mary Ann had been battling a heroin addiction for two years. Confusingly, many years later, Mary Weiss claimed that Mary Ann had died from encephalitis, brought on by a mosquito bite. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ghmyrtle (talk • contribs) 10:13, 17 October 2007 (UTC)