Thoughts For The Day From Papa ‘a

Good Morning All!

I was sad to hear that NPR & ABC television news analyst and American history writer Cokie Roberts has passed away from complications of breast cancer at the age of 75.  I will always remember her as a great advocate for women’s history and her book “Founding Mothers” about women connected with the American Revolution and the founding of our country provided a better understanding of the profound influence of women in the creation of our nation and our system of government.  Here’s to Cokie Roberts and her commitment to excellence in journalism and in historical research & writing!

Happy Birthday wishes go to my friend Chris, who has fought valiantly against cancer; and to childhood friend and classmate, Mark, who comes from a pioneering family in Olympia history, the Bigelows.  The Bigelow home on the east side of Olympia still stands and the great women’s rights advocate, Susan B. Anthony slept there on a visit she made to the Pacific Northwest promoting women’s right to vote.

Also, Happy Birthday to Chicago Cubs great and Spokane native, Ryne Sandberg, who turns 60 today; and to actor Frankie Avalon, who is 80 today!  Here’s to both of you!

We’re fast approaching the next “Walk To End Alzheimer’s” which takes place on October 5th in Spokane.  Our “Team Charlie263” will be participating in this year’s walk in honor of my Dad, Don Newbold who died of Alzheimer’s Disease in April, 2015; our good friend Jane Franks who died of early onset of Alzheimer’s and our neighbor Ann’s father, Lenn Dompier, who suffers from Alzheimer’s.  You can join the fight against this awful disease by going to www.alz.org and looking up the Spokane Walk and then looking up “Team Charlie263” to register for the walk and/or make a contribution.  Together, we’ll find a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias in our lifetime!

I came across the 1969 Topps Football Card for Mike Clark, whose claim to fame was as a kicker for the Dallas Cowboys in the late 1960s and as a participant in Super Bowl VI with the champion Cowboys.  Mike Clark was born in Marshall, Texas in 1940.  He played high school football for Longview High School in Longview, Texas and then went on to play college football at Texas A&M.  He had never tried kicking a field goal until being on the freshman team at Texas A&M.  He became the starter after one game, when the player in front of him was injured.  Clark was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent after the 1963 NFL Draft.  He was mainly a kickoff specialist until 1964, when he was sold to the Pittsburgh Steelers after the Steelers decided to trade kicker Lou Michaels to the Baltimore Colts.  Clark’s best season was in 1966, when he registered 97 points.  The next year, he was named to the Pro Bowl after scoring 71 points.  He led the Steelers in scoring in each of his four seasons with them.  On July 16, 1968 he announced his retirement.  However, the Dallas Cowboys convinced him to play in his home state and obtained the rights to him from the Steelers.  He was the first Texas A&M player to ever play for the Cowboys.  Clark was the top scoring kicker in the NFL in 1968 and he made 54 extra points in 54 attempts that year.  He played for the Cowboys until 1972 and then played for the Buffalo Bills, the New England Patriots and the Cowboys again until he finally retired for good in 1973.  After football he worked for Lockheed Martin.  He died in 2002 of a heart attack at Baylor University Medical Center at the age of 61, while under treatment for advanced melanoma.  Here’s to Mike Clark!

 

Here’s the silly question for the day:

Q:  What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?

A.  Frostbite.

 

Here are some thoughts for the day:

“If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.”

—Abraham Lincoln

 

“The lake is blue, the sky is gray, the leaves have turned to gold

The wild goose will be on her way, the weather’s much too cold

When the muskie and the old trout too have all gone down to rest

We will be returning to the things that we love best.

Do ya get that restless yearning when you think about your dad

and the scrimshaw that he had

Of an old schooner rovin’ ‘neath a sky that’s ironclad.

There’s a kind of a restless feeling and it catches you off guard

As we gaze off at the distance through the trees in my back yard

I can feel that restless yearning of those geese as off they roam

Then trade that for a warm bed and a place that I can call home.

Will ya get that restless yearning when you hear the wicked blast

Of a spectre from the past

Of a cold diesel rollin’ down a road that’s built to last

Still I get that restless feelin’ when I hear a whistle blast

See an image from the past

Of an old schooner flyin’ down a sky that’s overcast.

—Gordon Lightfoot, “Restless”

 

“Let all things their Creator bless, and worship Him in humbleness,

O, praise Him!  Alleluia!

Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,

and praise the Spirit, Three in One.

All the redeemed, washed by His blood

come and rejoice in His great love.

O, praise Him!  Alleluia!

Christ has defeated ev’ry sin, cast all your burdens now on Him.”

—St. Francis of Assisi & William Henry Draper, “All Creatures of Our God And King”

 

Here’s to a great Wednesday and lots of love always!

Press on,

Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, etc.)