Died

Jet, August 14, 2006

Died: Fred Montgomery, 89, the first Black mayor of Henning, TN, who was the childhood friend of Roots author Alex Haley and served as curator of Henning's Alex Haley Museum, after declining health due to kidney failure, at his home in Henning.... Johnny Jenkins, 67, a left-handed guitarist who provided early backup for Otis Redding and influenced Jimi Hendrix with his acrobatic style, in Macon, GA....

Roberta Weston, 118, a woman thought to be the world's oldest person who celebrated her birthday last year during a gala with family and friends (JET, Oct. 31, 2005), in her sleep at her Chicago home.... Maury Reid, 81, one of the Tuskegee Airmen-the nation's first Black military pilots-who appeared in a 2004 documentary about the group, Silver Wings and Civil-Rights, after a long illness at Bay Pines Medical Center in St. Petersburg, FL.... Richard William Adams, 84, the successful plaintiff in the 1962 federal lawsuit Adams vs. State of Virginia, which gained entry of his oldest daughter, Hazel, as the first Black student at the University of Virginia local campus who also was the founder of the Star of Bethlehem Church and owner of Adams Construction Company, Inc., at his home in Cascade, VA.