Ellen Tower, Hudson's Closes, & James Earl Jones | Jan 17

On this day in 1899, Ellen May Tower, a veteran of the Spanish American War, became the first woman in Michigan to receive a military funeral. In 1983, Detroit’s J. L. Hudson Department store closed its doors for the last time. And in 1931, James Earl Jones, the iconic voice of Darth Vader and Mufasa, was born.