Final Farewells 2024 and 2025 Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Canadian author Alice Munro was born in Wingham, Ontario in 1931, and passed away in Port Hope, Ontario on 13 May 2024 at the age of 92. Born as Alice Laidlaw, she married James Munro at the age of 20 and used his surname as her pen name, even after remarrying. Her main genre was the short story, at which she excelled, winning many awards, culminating in the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013.

Willie Howard Mays, Jr, was an American baseball player, born in Alabama in 1931. Nicknamed the "Say Hey Kid", his playing career lasted from 1951 until 1973, largely playing centre field with the Giants (on both coasts), partly with the New York Mets. He was National League Rookie of the Year in his first season, and went on to win the NL Most Valuable Player award twice and appear in 24 All Star games. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1979. He died in California on 18 June 2024 at the age of 93.

British actress Maggie Smith, born in Ilford, Essex in 1934 was simply a delight to watch, whether she was portraying Scottish schoolmistress Jean Brodie (in her prime), Professor McGonagall at Hogwarts or the wonderful Dowager Countess of Grantham in "Downton Abbey", or any one of dozens of other characters. Her awards included Oscars, BAFTAs and Emmys, and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). She will be impossible to replace after her passing at age 89, in London on 27 September 2024.

Texan Kris Kristofferson, who was born in 1936, wore many hats during his lifetime, including musician, actor, songwriter and even helicopter pilot in the US Army. His awards included Grammys, Country Music Awards and a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical for "A Star Is Born" (1976). He died aged 88 at his home in Hawaii on 28 September 2024.

James Earl Carter, Jr was better known to the world as Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States, statesman, peanut farmer, former US Naval officer, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and devoted husband and father. Born in Plains, Georgia in 1924 he passed away in Plains, on 29 December 2024 at the age of 100, the first US president to reach that milestone.

Pope Francis, as Jorge Mario Bergoglio is best known to most of us, was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1936, and ordained in the Catholic church in 1969. He was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. He was elected to the papacy upon the retirement of Benedict XVI in 2013, becoming the first Latin American pope and first Jesuit to hold the office. He died following a cerebral stroke on 21 April 2025, in his Vatican City residence, aged 88.

James Arthur Lovell, Jr, astronaut, co-wrote the book "Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13" with Jeffrey Kluger in 1994. Jim Lovell was well-qualified to do so, having been the commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission in 1970, and lucky to have survived. He had served in the US Navy since 1952 when he graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis, serving as a naval aviator, and being selected for astronaut training in 1962. Director Ron Howard used Lovell's book as the basis for the movie "Apollo 13" in which Tom Hanks portrayed Lovell, and Lovell himself had a small role. Jim Lovell was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1928 and died at the age of 97 on 7 August 2025.

London-born Jane Goodall was an anthropologist and primatologist, best known for her expertise regarding chimpanzees, the animals that she spent years studying in Tanzania. She was the recipient of numerous awards, not only for her research but for her activities involving environmental awareness. She was made a Dame of Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2004. She was visiting friends in California when she died in her sleep on 1 October 2025 at the age of 91.

Frank Owen Gehry (born Ephraim Owen Goldberg), was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1929 and died in Santa Monica, California, USA on 5 December 2025, aged 96. During his lifetime he gained fame as a respected architect of such imposing buildings as the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, in Spain; the Lou Ruvo Center in Las Vegas; and as co-architect with Vlado Milunic of the Dancing House in Prague.

Martin Parr, British documentary photographer and photojournalist was born in Epsom, Surrey, England in 1952 and began his career in documentary photography as a teenager, studying photography at Manchester Polytechnic in the early 1970s. His subjects have included the working class; mass tourism and rural community life. He had been diagnosed with a form of cancer in 2021, and died at his home in Bristol on 6 December 2025, at the relatively young age of 73.

The incorrect choices all died between 1920 and 1925.