Notable Birthdays on October 31
William Paca (1740-1799) - Signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Boston Custer (1848-1876) - Brother of George Custer who also died at the Battle of Little Big Horn.
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Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman (1852-1930) - Author of Revolt of Mother.
Charles Leroux (1856-1889) - Air balloonist and skydiver.
Juliette Gordon Low (1860-1927) - Founder of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America.
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Julia Peterkin (1880-1961) - Author if Scarlet Sister Mary.
Ethel Waters (1896-1977) - Singer Dinah and Stormy Weather.
Eduard Franz (1902-1983) - The original actor of Zorro.
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Julia Lee (1902-1958) - Blues singer of Opportunity Knocks But Once - Snatch and Grab It.
Bumpy Johnson (1905-1968) - Infamous crime boss.
Dale Evans (1912-2001) - Singer and third wife to Roy Rogers.
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Ollie Johnston (1912-2008) - Disney animator and voice over actor.
Ian Stevenson (1918-2007) - Psychiatrist and founder of the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.
Magnus Wenninger (1919-2017) - Mathematician and author of Polyhedron models.
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Barbara Bel Geddes (1922-2005) - Actress known for her role as Ellie Ewing on Dallas.
Shirley Dinsdale (1926-1999) - Female ventriloquist of Judy Splinters.
Michael Collins (1930-2021) - NASA Astronaut.
Dan Rather (1931-Still Living) - Journalist and author.
Donald Pritzker (1932-1972) - Co-founder of the Hyatt hotel franchise.
Michael Landon (1936-1991) - Actor known as Charles Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie.
Deidre Hall (1947-Still Living) - Soap opera actress whose character was Marlena Evans on Days of Our Lives.
Bob Siebenberg (1949-Still Living) - Drummer for Supertramp.
Jane Pauley (1950-Still Living) - Television host and news journalist.
Joe West (1952-Still Living) - Baseball umpire known as "Cowboy Joe."
Alonzo Babers (1961-Still Living) - Olympic runner.
Jonathan Borden (1962-Still Living) - Neurosurgeon who developed the Borden Classification of Dural Arteriovenous Fistulas.
Vanilla Ice (1967-Still Living) - Rapper and television personality.
Keith Jardine (1975-Still Living) - UFC fighter.
Piper Perabo (1976-Still Living) - Actress best known for her role in the film Coyote Ugly.
Adam Bouska (1983-Still Living) - Founder of the NOH8 Campaign.
Memorable Events on October 31
1837 - At least 300 people die after the river boats Monmouth & Trement collide.
1864 - Nevada becomes the 36th state.
1868 - Post office carries are given a standard uniform.
1895 - An earthquake near Charleston, MO, kills 2 people.
1903 - A railroad train collision kills 14 players of the Purdue University football team.
1913 – The Lincoln Highway becomes the automobile highway in the U.S.
1918 - The Spanish outbreak in the U.S. kills 21,000 people in one week.
1938 - The NY Stock Exchange unveils a program to help recover from the Depression.
1941 - Mount Rushmore Monument is completed in South Dakota.
1943 - A AF4U Corsair accomplishes the first successful radar-guided interception by the military.
1950 - Earl Lloyd becomes the first Black to play a game in the NBA.
1961 - A Federal judge rules that laws against integrated playing fields in Alabama are illegal.
1963 - A gas explosion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds kills 81 people and injures many others during a show.
1968 - President Johnson announces a halt to all bombing in Vietnam.
1988 - The first Monday Night NFL game is played.
2002 - A federal grand jury indicts former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow on wire fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice.
2017 - Eight people are killed after a truck drives into a crowd in Lower Manhattan.
