Rest In Peace, Ron Palillo

Good evening,

Wow. I wouldn't exactly call this evening "good" - especially after the news that I've heard. Today, the entertainment world lost a brilliant actor - 1975's hit sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter" star Ron Palillo as Arnold Horshack. He was 63 years old.

This is truly hurtful to me because I've watched and been a huge fan of "Welcome Back, Kotter" all of my life. It was a show that I'd always adore. It's also hurtful because he is the second Sweathog from the show who has died this year. First it was Robert Hegyes, who played Juan Epstein.

This is a serious blow. I'm far from happy right now. I love my young age and at the same time, I hate it. Only because I endure the deaths of some of my favorite celebrities - who, most of them weren't from this generation of music or entertainment and other times, they pass away long before I my time. At certain points in my life, I wish that I only could've been around to see the incredible things in the world that have happened.

I often wish that I could've been around to experience specific things, too. A few examples - if I had my way I would've wanted to be around from the 1920's and on - the best of Jazz: Big Band through the '30s & '40s. Nat "King" Cole & Sam Cooke throughout the 1950's & 1960's, the Motown Sound, Civil Rights Era, the Philly Sound, Black Panther Party of the 1970's, Soul Train, Blaxploitation, the broadcast of "Roots", the '80s and so on.

There's so much that I wish I could go back and see - as well as experience and had been a part of. The 1970's and "Welcome Back, Kotter" were always two of those many hundred things. I wish I could've had the T-shirts and lunch boxes with the Sweathogs on them. Such an awesome time - I can tell that from just looking - if only I'd gone through it all.

Now, only two Sweathogs remain. Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs (Freddie "Boom Boom" Washington) & John Travolta (Vinnie Barbarino). I hope to goodness that we don't lose them very soon. I wish to send out my condolences to Ron's family and all of his friends as well as the students that he'd poured knowledge into. He was truly a great actor as well as a comedian and I'll always love and miss him very much.

Whenever the time comes for me to have children, I'll be sure to raise them just as my parents raised me - to have love and appreciation for the eras before their times & the great music and entertainment that came out of them.

Rest Peacefully, Ron. You will be missed.


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