2016 Celebrity Memorials to Inspire the Celebration of Your Loved One’s Life.

Angus Scrimm was best know for his role as “Tall Man” in the horror series, Phantasm. He’s memorialized with this bust created by sculptor Jeff Yagher.

Photo credit:  http://phantasmarchives.blogspot.com

Fans from all over came to Bowie’s NY residence to leave flowers, notes and other memorials to a longtime favorite musician. This memorial street art celebrates his love of NY and his famous song, “Let’s Dance.” In his music, he made it ok to be whoever you are and not be afraid.

Photo credit: Ariana Bacle  http://www.ew.com/article/2016/01/12/david-bowie-new-york-fans-tribute

Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross Station in London has become a magical memorial to Professor Severus Snape from the Harry Potter movies. He studied at the Royal Shakespeare Company and used his distinctive voice in many of his roles.

Photo Credit: J Fernandez http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-01-15/harry-potter-fans-transform-platform-9-and-34-into-an-alan-rickman-memorial

The famous author of “To Kill a Mockingbird” is celebrated in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama with a free museum and “town” featuring the courthouse from the film.  On the grounds there is also a monument to Atticus Finch.

Photo credit: Sara Ratliff    http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/25292

Nancy Reagan had her entire funeral service planned in advance, which made it much easier for family during a very emotional time. If you’d like to see the details of her plan, click here. She is buried at the Reagan Library beside her husband, former President Ronald Reagan.

Photo credit: Getty Images  http://heavy.com/news/2016/03/nancy-reagan-funeral-interment-internment-burial-where-when-date-time/

Merle Haggard had more than 30 #1 hits including a single called “Okie from Muskogee” which put the town on the map. As a tribute to their famous son, the Governor unveiled the street sign “Merle Haggard Avenue,” to be placed outside of the Muskogee Civic Center and introduced designs for the Merle Haggard Plaza out front where a bronze statue of the musician will be featured.

Photo credit: Matt Barnard  http://www.tulsaworld.com/blogs/scene/offbeat/muskogee-honors-merle-haggard-with-music-and-art/article_4f84f966-a9f1-55d7-94d8-9e03d55ac3e0.html

This custom memorial urn was created for WWE wrestler Chyna by Une Belle Vie as a tribute to her “larger than life” personality. Chyna, also known as Joan Laurer, died April 20^th in Redondo Beach, California.

Photo Credit: Araby Patch http://tbrnews.com/news/redondo_beach/fans-and-family-remember-wrestling-star-chyna-at-redondo-beach/article_404e4496-3984-11e6-8ab0-4bc55827f0c1.html

Prince was a singer and songwriter known for his extravagant clothing and makeup and his broad vocal range. He covered a variety of styles, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and was one of the best-selling artists of all time.  Fans that gathered outside his memorial were given round, purple boxes, each containing a different mix of memorabilia.

http://thecelebrityauction.co/wp2/cwitter-article/prince-fans-at-memorial-service-at-paisley-park-given-purple-boxes-full-of-memorabilia-by-his-family/

Morley Safer has traveled far and wide as a correspondent in television news for 61 years, 46 of those at 60 Minutes. He loved being a reporter and he forever changed war reporting with his revealing piece on the U.S. Marines in Vietnam. He’s memorialized in this one-hour TV special honoring his long body of work which aired in May of 2016.

Photo Credit: Yousuf Karsh   http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-morley-safer-a-reporters-life/

Doctor of Music and the Wizard of Woo, Bernie Worrell, was a keyboardist and founding member of the legendary funk band Parliament-Funkadelic. He studied at Julliard as well as the New England Conservatory of Music. His music lives on through his website and Facebook Page.

Photo Credits: Brian Diescher, Sandlin Gaither, Jeremy Gordon http://bernieworrell.com/ https://www.facebook.com/Bernie-Worrell-217445804944683/

Bill Cunningham was a legendary American fashion photographer for the New York Times. He was known for walking around the streets of Manhattan taking candid photographs with his camera while wearing a blue windbreaker.  His friends met with City Council members to name a street corner after him… right next to a high-end Louis Vuitton store.

Photo credit: Getty Images Composite http://pagesix.com/2016/07/06/bill-cunninghams-friends-push-for-permanent-city-memorial/

Jack Davis was a founding cartoonist of Mad Magazine as well as an artist for Panic and Cracked magazines. His trademark characters are known for their distorted features such as large heads and feet. His legacy lives on in a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Society of Illustrators in New York.

Illustration by Jack Davis:   http://www.societyillustrators.org/HallofFame.aspx?id=5682&terms=jack+davis

Well-known and loved, this virtuoso Dixieland Jazz clarinetist entertained so many fans in his native New Orleans as well as on TV.  He opened his first nightclub at 800 Bourbon Street and his name is still tiled into the sidewalk outside as a permanent reminder of his swinging, Bourbon Street days.

In 1960, he opened the first of his nightclubs at 800 Bourbon St. The building is now home to the gay dance club Oz. But Fountain’s name is still tiled into the sidewalk outside, a permanent reminder of when he made Bourbon Street swing.

Photo credit: Sophia Germer  https://www.theadvocate.com/article_b9cc87a4-5c36-11e6-b8a6-23334a74ebb9.html

Best known for her role as Princess Leia, Carrie Fishers was an American actress, writer, producer, and humorist. Fans created a memorial homage at Lucasfilm headquarters in San Francisco’s Presidio beneath a statue of Yoda who looked down upon the messages left by admiring Star Wars fans. And most fittingly, fans planned and participated in memorial saber walks—mementos often help cope with the grief of a loved one as a physical reminder of the joy the brought to others in their life.

Photo Credit: 7News San Francisco