William Alan Vincent
Lakeside singer and songwriter William (Bill) Alan Vincent died after a lengthy illness on Saturday, November 22. As he wished, he was in his El Chante home with his beloved wife, Kitt, at his side.
Vincent was born on October 16, 1957, in Japan, the youngest of the six children of Gene Alan Vincent and Henrietta Ita Facteau Vincent. The Vincent siblings, children of a career Air Force family, grew to adulthood moving around the world.
Bill and Kitt Vincent married on April 16, 2003. They lived in Arizona and Nashville, Tennessee, where he played in clubs before moving to Lake Chapala.
Vincent was well known on the lakeside music scene, and achieved a lifelong dream by forming his own band, Pure B.S., with close friend John David “Stan” Standing. He was a member of Los Cantantes, Club Ukulele de Laguna, a regular at karaoke nights, the Ajijic Drum Circle, events to benefit the Tarahumara of the Copper Canyon and the Open Circle’s annual Christmas program.
“Praise to the King,” Vincent’s original Christmas carol, is being performed at Los Cantantes concerts this year in his memory. Readers can listen to Vincent perform the song in the 2013 concert at http://loscantantesdellago.com/category/youtube.
Less well known was Vincent’s other creative outlet: quilting. He was a member of the Ajijic Quilt Guild and had prepared a wall hanging depicting a skeleton playing guitar, which he called “Song of the Dead.”
Vincent is survived by his wife Kitt, son James Russell Vincent and daughter-in-law Danielle of Sacremento, California, and his four sisters and brother.
A celebration of Vincent’s life will be held Thursday, December 10, 5 p.m. at Johnny Mama’s Bar in San Antonio. Those attending can bring an appetizer or snack to share. The event will be filled with the music for which Vincent lived.
Leonore Goeglein
Longtime Lakeside resident Leonore (Laura) Goeglein died on December 1 at the age of 97.
Born Leonore Markhof on March 2, 1918 in Germany, she grew up in Berlin. Her love for languages (German, English and French) paid off when a German firm representing that nation’s industrial and textile companies in Iran offered her a job in Teheran as a bilingual secretary with a two-year contract. Unfortunately, the contract had to be terminated after a year and a half due to the outbreak of World War II.
Goeglein had to return to Germany and after a short stay there accepted a job in Paris, and later in Brussels.
After the war, Goeglein began working for the U.S. Military Government as an interpreter, translator and secretary. In 1958, she decided to emigrate to the United States. She became a U.S. citizen and was offered a job in research and development at the RAND Corporation, an internationally known think tank, where she worked until 1981.
Goeglein had enrolled in evening classes at UCLA in drawing, painting and design, and also took painting classes at Santa Monica City College. Her artistic talents were eventually noticed when Rand honored her with an exhibit of her paintings.
Goeglein visited Mexico during her vacations and liked to paint here. On a trip in 1977, she discovered Ajijic and fell deeply in love with the small fishing village. Right then and there she made the decision to retire early. She moved to Ajijic in 1981.
For more than three decades, Ajijic remained her paradise where she lived with her beloved cats, attending her rose garden, painting (watercolors) and selling her art.
At the age of 95, Goeglein decided to sell her car and move into a home for the elderly. She was well taken care of at La Valentina and the Penthouse, and spent the last few months at Casa Nostra, where she died in peace, thankful for the life she lived so profoundly and was ready to leave. Although she had no family, she was surrounded until the very last day by people who loved her dearly. She will be missed.