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Obituaries of note

By Times Staff Writer
Published July 24, 2005

CHARLES CHIBITTY, 83, the last survivor of the Comanche code talkers who used their native language to transmit messages for the Allies in Europe during World War II, died Wednesday in Tulsa, Okla. "It's strange, but growing up as a child I was forbidden to speak my native language at school," he said in 2002. "Later my country asked me to. My language helped win the war, and that makes me very proud. Very proud."

ARVO OJALA, 85, a legendary Hollywood quick-draw expert, died July 1 in Gresham, Ore., his family said. He appeared as the bad guy who loses the gun duel with James Arness' Marshal Matt Dillon in the opening of the long-running TV series Gunsmoke. During the heyday of TV Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, he was the go-to guy to learn the art of the fast-draw.

DR. CLARENCE DENNIS, 96, who performed the first open-heart surgery that included the use of a heart-lung machine in 1951, died July 11 in St. Paul, Minn. Within hours of that first operation using the machine, the patient died. A second patient on whom the machine was used died after a staff member made a mistake. Despite those setbacks, Dr. Dennis is known as a pioneering developer of the heart-lung bypass machine and other mechanical heart devices that have extended the lives of millions.

JOHN H. OSTROM, 77, a Yale University paleontologist who theorized that birds descended from dinosaurs, died July 16 in Litchfield, Conn. He was known for his discovery of Deinonychus, a two-legged dinosaur, in Montana and for his theory that it may have been a warm-blooded dinosaur. The theory, which was published in 1969, contradicts an earlier theory that dinosaur species were cold-blooded.

JAMES N. APARO, 72, an illustrator for DC Comics for more than 30 years who drew Batman, the Green Arrow and other action heroes, died Tuesday in Southington, Conn.

JOHN J. FORD JR., 81, a noted coin dealer and collector, died July 7 in Scottsdale, Ariz. His collections, including the earliest American coins and prized Confederate pennies, have dazzled recent auctiongoers.

JOE HARNELL, 80, who won a Grammy Award for his 1962 dance arrangement Fly Me to the Moon Bossa Nova, died July 14 in Sherman Oaks, Calif.

CARLA WOOD, 50, a mezzo-soprano who performed with the Metropolitan Opera and later was the founder and editor of Classical Singer magazine, died July 13 in West Jordan, Utah. She had a brain tumor.

[Last modified July 24, 2005, 00:50:06]