Obituaries of note

FAYE COPELAND, 82, a convicted killer who was once the nation's oldest woman on death row, died Sunday at a nursing home where she had been released on medical parole, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections. She was convicted and sentenced to death along with her husband for the murders of five transients as part of a late-1980s livestock swindle.

EARL HINDMAN, 61, the actor known to millions as the odd neighbor barely seen as he peeks over the backyard fence in the long-running television situation comedy Home Improvement, died Monday at Stamford Hospital in Connecticut. Hindman played Wilson from next door, imparting bits of wisdom about life to Tim Taylor, the embattled main character who knows how to improve other people's houses but not his own home. Viewers heard Wilson's advice but were left to wonder if they would ever get to see more of him.

RINA ANDRETTI, 90, mother of retired auto racing great Mario Andretti, died Monday. After immigrating from Italy in the 1950s, Andretti settled with her family in Nazareth, Pa., where she raised twin sons and a daughter. Mario's brother, Aldo Andretti, was seriously injured in a 1959 crash and retired from racing 10 years later.

DICK ST. JOHN, 63, half of the Dick & Dee Dee duo, whose 1961 hit, The Mountain's High, made No. 2 on the Billboard pop singles chart, died Saturday.

RICHARD B. BOWSER, 82, inventor of the curving elevator system that carries visitors to the top of the St. Louis Gateway Arch, died Friday at Gayton Terrace, a retirement community where he had lived for about a year, according to a Gayton spokeswoman. In 1960, a friend told Mr. Bowser that the architect for the Gateway Arch needed an elevator system for the 630-foot, stainless-steel monument. Mr. Bowser was given two weeks to come up with a design, and came up with a system of trams that pivot to follow the arch's curve.

FRANCIS THOMPSON, 95, a filmmaker whose multiscreen documentaries paved the way for larger-than-life IMAX movies, died on Friday at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. During his 50-year filmmaking career, Mr. Thompson won an Academy Award in 1965 for best short documentary.

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