- Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer and songwriter. He was one of the most popular acoustic artists of the 1970s and one of the bestselling artists in that decade. AllMusic has called Denver “among the most beloved entertainers of his era”.
- Merak (stars.astro.illinois.edu)
MERAK (Beta Ursae Majoris). High in the sky in northern spring evenings, just climbing above the northern horizon in southern hemisphere autumn, the Big Dipper – the “plough” in England – is among the most recognized and recognizable of figures, one of the first learned in a quest to know the constellations.
- Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. was born on December 31, 1943, in Roswell, New Mexico, to Erma Louise (née Swope; 1922–2010) and Captain Henry John “Dutch” Deutschendorf Sr. (1920–1982), a United States Army Air Forces pilot stationed at Roswell Army Air Field.
- Denver died on the afternoon of October 12, 1997, when his light homebuilt aircraft, a Rutan Long-EZ with registration number N555JD, crashed into Monterey Bay near Pacific Grove, California, while making a series of touch-and-go landings at the nearby Monterey Peninsula Airport. He was the plane’s only occupant. The official cause of death was multiple blunt force trauma resulting from the crash.