Good Morning All & Happy Wednesday!
A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my friend, human resources professional extraordinaire & “Pride Of The Palouse,” Sandy, who celebrates her 72nd birthday today! Here’s to you Sandy and have fun on your special day of celebration! And Happy Birthday wishes go to children’s songwriter & singer extraordinaire, Raffi, who is 72 today; to restaurant entrepreneur Wolfgang Puck, who turns 71 today (Judy & I had the pleasure of eating at his restaurant on the piazza at The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas some years back—a most memorable occasion and terrific food!); to one of my favorite actors, Kevin Bacon, of “Six Degrees of Separation” & “Taking Chance” & “Apollo 13” movie fame, who is 62 today; to country singer Toby Keith, who turns 59 today; and to actor and son of famed movie actor Will Smith, Jaden Smith, who turns 22 today (Judy & I saw him on the red carpet at the movie premier of “Divergent,” the movie that our daughter Amy starred in some years ago)! Here’s to all of you too!
I just received a fantastic publication called “Living Birds” from the Cornell School of Orninthology (the study of all things bird). You can check it out at www.livingbirds.org. They do terrific work on bird research all across the world. This particular issue featured a fascinating article the Great Adjutant Stork (sp?) in India. I’d never seen one before! Great color photos of this bird were included!
Speaking of great publications, one of the best is Spokane’s own Journal of Business. If you ever want to know anything about the business world in the greater Spokane area, this is the publication to read! Great journalism if I say so my self. Kudos to publisher Paul Read and Editor Linn Parish for a first-class newspaper! They and their staff are a credit to the journalism profession, for sure.
In the most recent edition of the Journal of Business, there is an interesting article about the hugely successful heart transplant program at Providence Medical Center in Spokane, started by Dr. Timothy Icenogle. Since the program started some 30 years ago, there have been 339 transplants performed here. Judy & I know three of them quite well…our friends Betty, Jeff and Keith. Jeff & Keith are going strong, thanks to their transplants. Our friend Betty lived a good life for some seven years after she received her heart transplant some years ago. It’s truly remarkable what has been accomplished in this field of medicine. I can remember as a kid watching the news reports of the first heart transplant performed by Dr. Christian Barnard and also ground-breaking work by Dr. Michael Debakey in Houston. What a marvel!
I came across another one of my collectible cards from the 1950s that features T.V. star Dale Robertson of “Tales Of Wells Fargo” fame. Dale is another one of the good looking actors to come out of Oklahoma (like actors James Garner & Dennis Weaver, for example). Dale was born in 1923 in Harrah, Oklahoma and died in La Jolla, California in 2013 at the age of 89. Dale also starred as Ben Calhoun, the owner of an incomplete railroad line in “Iron Horse.” He often was presented in these productions as a deceptively thoughtful but modest Western hero. From 1968 to 1970, he was the fourth and final host of the anthology series “Death Valley Days.” In his early days in Oklahoma, he fought as a professional boxer while enrolled in the Oklahoma Military Academy in Claremore, Oklahoma, home of Will Rogers (one of my all-time favorite Americans, by the way!). Dale’s first love was horses and he owned 235 horses at one time, with five mares foaling grand champions. During World War II, he was commissioned through Officer Candidate School, and served in the United States Army 322nd Combat Engineer Battalion of the 97th Infantry Division in Europe. He was twice wounded and was awarded the Bronze and Silver Start medals. TIME Magazine in 1959 described Dale as “probably the best horseman on television.” He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is also in the Hall of Great Western Performers and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. Here’s to Dale Robertson and all of the great actors to come out of Oklahoma, my mom’s home state!
Here is the word definition for the day:
Philomath (Fi-lo-math): A ancient Greek word meaning “A lover of learning; a student or scholar, especially of mathematics, natural philosophy, etc.” There’s a town in Oregon by the name of Philomath (it has a nice sound to it, don’t you think?) and I’ve always wondered what the word meant…now I know!
Here are some thoughts for the day:
“I just let the work speak for itself. An actor is not afraid to take risks; to put on different hats: to be a good guy, a bad guy, a victim, an abuser. There are all kinds of people in the world, and playing them is what acting is all about.”
“A good director creates an environment which gives the actor the encouragement to fly.”
—Kevin Bacon, American actor
Here’s to a great Wednesday and lots of love & good wishes always!
Press on,
Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, Mark, etc.)