David Westheimer

 

Novelist David Westheimer passed away Tuesday, November 8th, 2005.  He was 88 years old.  Born in Houston, Texas, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rice University in 1937.  He began his successful writing career at the Houston Post in 1939 as an assistant editor in the amusement department, then became radio, magazine and television editor before leaving the paper in 1960.  He would return to the paper as a columnist in the 1980s.

His first novel, Summer on the Water, was published by MacMillan in 1948.  During the span of his career he wrote many books.  He is perhaps most well known for best sellers Von Ryan's Express and My Sweet Charlie.  My Sweet Charlie became a Broadway play and later, a TV movie that won Patty Duke an Emmy.  Twentieth Century Fox made a film ofVon Ryan's Express, starring Frank Sinatra.  David also wrote numerous teleplays and adapted the screenplay Days of Wine and Roses into a popular novel.

David served as Captain in the Air Force between 1941-45, spending three years as a POW in Italian and German prison camps and earning both the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal.   He remained in the Air Force Reserve, serving as a Lieutenant Colonel until he retired.

He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Dody (also a former Houstonian and graduate of Rice); his two sons, Fred and wife Susan; Eric and wife Karen; five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.  Dody has been the subject and heroine of many of David's essays.

At 88, David Westheimer continued to write, and not just for SeniorWomen.com. The Great Wounded Bird, his recollections of World War II, was the winner of the Texas Review 1999 poetry prize. David's last novel was Delay En Route.

Articles

Losing It
Where Are Your Children?
Caregetters, Part One
Caregetters Part Two
Magical Honeymoon
Birthing The Modern Way
Tizuvthe
Dody
Hetty Green
Oveta Culp Hobby
Eleanor Holm
Waiting to Make It
Then and Now
Carol Channing
Le Cordon Wild Bleu Yonder
A Hollywood Childhood
Generation Gap
I Feel Your Pain
The Doc and I
Your Three Minutes are Up
Face to Face
Caregiver's Guide to Casual Cookery
Starlight Time
The Truth About Apple Pie
Driving Mr. David or Dody the Wheelman
Eating High on the Calamari (Maeve Binchy)
Miss Peggy Lee
The Computer as Pet
Women in Blue
Sic Transit
Tops in Taps
High on the Hogg
Scratch
Up in Smoke
Cat and Spouse

Women in Blue, Round II
A Child's Life
Ladies of Note
Unrave
The Golden Age of Television
Sentimental Journey
Boris
Hands Across the Table
Our Dinner with James
Queen Pearly Mae
Gypsy
Dear Mom
Words to Live By
Forgotten Memorable Women
Name That Dame
Going Back to Things
Days of Yore
Days of Even Yorer
To a Tee
Killer Chick
Sign Language
First Impressions
Ike
More Martha
The Bomb — Demon or Angel?

Bittersweet
Eddie and Me
Memorable Movies
Fabulous Femmes

The Generals MacArthur
Doctor Time
Beirut
Post Mortem
There's Always the Colonel
My Magic Carpet

 

Book Excerpt: Sylvie by David Westheimer