Frederick J. Brown; painted jazz artists
Frederick J. Brown, an American artist who explored the relationship between music and painting, died May 5.
John Redler, 38, tugboat captain ready to help those in distress
Handout
Mr. Redler liked helping people so much that sometimes after finishing a job, he would bring the people he had towed out to get a pizza.
Hamel Brookins, bishop and activist, 86
Brookins, a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church for 30 years and a longtime civil rights activist, died in Los Angeles.
Paul Fussell, 88; literary scholar was award-winning author
Paul Fussell, an acclaimed literary scholar who won a National Book Award in 1976 for ‘‘The Great War and Modern Memory,’’ died Wednesday.
Richard Connors, 67, taught and inspired the blind
Having spent much of his adult life helping people adapt to blindness, Connors had some idea what to do when his own vision became impaired several years ago.
Khue Bui/Associated Press/File, 1998
Eddie Blazonczyk, 70, award-winning ‘Polka King’
The Grammy Award-winning polka great began playing in the 1950s and earned the nickname ‘‘Polka King’’ after starting his own band and label.
Regionals
Natick
Oral history project records veterans’ stories
Participants in the Natick Veterans Oral History Project add intimacy to chapters of military history that span from World War II to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.