MENDOTA- Carol L. Swope, 72, of Mendota passed away Aug. 27, 2017 in Alden Debes Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Rockford....
Two days before the crash that killed him at 26, Redding had recorded the vocals for aching ballad (Sittinâ On) The Dock of the Bay. Four miles outside Madison, Wisconsin, December 10, 1967, hampered by low cloud cover and cold weather, the eight-seater private plane carrying 26-year-old soul star Otis Redding hit trouble.
In 1783 Otis stood in the doorway of his friends home observing a thunderstorm. A flash of lightening came down from the sky and passed through the body of James Otis Jr., he was killed instantly, but no marks were left on his body.