Good Afternoon and Happy Sunday!
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve posted on this blog site! I can’t figure out how to post pictures on this blog, so I send out “Thoughts For The Day From Papa ‘a” via e-mail quite often when I have photos to share. When I don’t have photos to share, I’ll be using this blog for my “Thoughts For The Day.” I hope you all enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them. It seems there is always things in life to write about. How about you?
This coming Tuesday is my son Jake’s birthday and it’s a birthday that should be a national holiday…no foolin’! He is one heckava son, husband, father, brother, uncle, special education teacher…the list goes on and on! Here’s to you Jake! You make this world of ours so much better. Have fun this Tuesday and remember to eat lots of cake!
Speaking of birthdays, here’s to friend and business entrepreneur extraordinaire, Mark Robinson and to friend and outstanding business owner and community leader, LaVerne Biel, who celebrate their birthdays today (July 31st). Happy Birthday to you and may today be extra special for you! Other outstanding people who have birthdays today include author J.K. Rowling of “Harry Potter” fame, who is 57 today; Robert C. Merton of Nobel Prize in Economics fame (in 1997 for his work on minimizing risk on derivatives and his study of lifecycle investing ), who turns 77 today; Sherry Lansing of “Rio Lobo” movie fame and Paramount Pictures CEO fame, who is 78 today; Wesley Snipes of “White Men Can’t Jump” & “U.S. Marshals” movie fame, who turns 60 today; and B.J. Novak of “The Office” comedy series fame (he was an actor, writer, producer and director in that series!), who is 43 today. Happy Birthday to all of you too!
We are heartbroken over the news of the death of Brent Johnson, son of friend and real estate investment associate Jeff Johnson, who died on July 14th in a tragic motorcycle accident at Priest Lake, Idaho. Brent was a great guy to know and a loving husband, father, son and brother. He was a gifted commercial real estate broker and worked hard for his clients. He comes from a terrific family. Prayers are lifted up for all of Brent’s extended family and may God comfort them as only He can do as he is now in the presence of his Creator forever.
Something like Brent’s unexpected death goes to show that this life of ours resembles “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride” at Disneyland…you never know what is around the next bend…all the more reason to look into a relationship with our Creator, don’t you think? Reading about the Creator in the Good Book makes me realize that He is anxious to hear from us…
We had something special happen at the outside worship service at our church this morning…during prayer time, I noticed that a lady walking along the sidewalk next to where we were worshipping stopped to listen and to pray…it was really something that I’ll always remember…the image of her standing with her head bowed during prayer and then moving on. Another example of God letting us know that He’s present and moving in our lives…
I’ve been busy reading books these past few weeks and have some recommendations for your reading enjoyment…
Check out “Lincoln’s Virtues” by William Lee Miller, a study of Abraham Lincoln’s moral development leading up to the time he became president and how he would bring people along by focusing on a discussion of the issue at hand and not about the people involved. His self-deprecation, disarming personality and captivating story-telling won hearts and influenced others like no other. One of the best books on Lincoln ever written, no doubt about it. An extremely well-written and thought provoking book. Go get it!
Two other books worthy of checking out are “Dorothy: Powers To The People” written by noted Spokane newspaper journalist Dorothy Powers who wrote for the paper in the 1950s, 60s, 70s & 80s. One of the stories featured in the book is about heart transplant recipient Larry Hunt of Colville. He received his new heart in the early 1980s and had to travel to Tuscon AZ for the transplant operation. Come to find out a young resident heart physician by the name of Tim Icenogle helped in the transplant and he ended up coming to Spokane and started the Heart Institute here that has a national reputation for excellent outcomes in advanced heart failure treatment and heart transplants. It’s amazing to me that our family has five close friends who have had heart transplants here and all have done well with it. Who would have thought? The other book to check out is “The History Buff’s Guide To The Presidents” by Thomas A. Flagel. It’s a fascinating study of the many facets of the U.S. Presidency and how the federal government has grown so much so quickly from one presidential administration to another (it makes one wonder why we need so many federal employees in Washington, D.C.!). This book is full of fascinating stories about the presidents in differing circumstances. Let me know what you think of these books if you get around to reading them!
Speaking of interesting stories, there’s none that holds my interest more than the transcript of my dad’s interview in connection with the Washington State World War II Memorial that is locate on the state capitol campus in Olympia WA. Here’s an excerpt from it as he talks about his experience as a Marine Corps soldier and radio operator with an Advanced Naval Gunfire Team at the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945:
“…My call in sign generally was “Charlie263″, which is 263 as in 26th Regiment, Third Battalion, and Charlie was just a code name, Charlie263. And so then I’d get a ship (a destroyer or a cruiser) and it could be–I don’t remember all the code names we had now, but one I remember well, we had it on line for two or three days, four days maybe…”Foxfire.” So I’d call out “Foxfire, this is Charlie263, and they’d—they’d answer “Affirmative.” And then I’d say coordinates are—and I’d give the coordinates, given me by the lieutenant to whatever he thought was a target. This is telephone line running from him, or—or my friend, Vaughn Shaw, who was this lineman. Or they had—he also had with him most of the time was a sergeant who carried a Thompson submachine gun. And he was kind of—protect the lieutenant while he craned his neck to find targets. I mean. And those were the three, and then they’d give it to me and then I would, (gestures) you know, send the message out to the ship. Or—and then transport it—from there I would give them the telephone if there’s something they wanted to know. Most of the time then we’d move—was wrong, then we’d say “Foxfire, Charlie263, last—no, just say down 20, left 20. So it would pull it on the target. Soon as we thought we were on target, then I might call “rapid fire five salvos.” Boom, boom, boom, boom, you know, out they’d pump them you know. And then we’d assess damage and see if we still needed more, why we’d do it or maybe say mission, no I wouldn’t even—see, I wouldn’t eve call them back if everything’s okay. I didn’t want to be on the air because I’ve got this radio and this antenna and I’ve got to try to hide it because I didn’t want them to put, one, a sniper could see me, two, a range finder get on you. You stay around too long, and ships used to get nervous at night cause we’d fire star shells, see illuminate the front. The artillery did some of that, but they would gunfire a lot of it over our battalion. We had star shells every night. So they would call in if they didn’t hear from me for awhile. They’d say, “Charlie263,” this is “Foxfire”, or whatever the ship was. Living Good or Happy Days, or whatever it was. And I wouldn’t answer them, wouldn’t answer them. They’d get kind of panicky after awhile, you know. Finally I, you know, connect power and say, grind up and at night, and the generator we had, sounded like a thrasher machine. Karoom, karoom. So I didn’t want that thing cranking at night particularly any more than I had to. But I’d tell them, stay off the air, I’ll call you, don’t call me. Cause I’m calling the shots, you know, I mean—I don’t know, at least calling for the fire. And—but they’d get nervous, you know, cause they figured they lost contact. And I’m sure the captain of their ship says this is our mission, so you got to supply shore fire to these people. You be sure we don’t lose them. Well, what are they supposed to do? Only way they don’t—they haven’t lost me is talk to me once in a while. They put a little music on a couple of times. They said would you like to hear a little music. And so they piped through the music. But I would—I never asked them for it or anything, they just did it. So there was (were) a couple of nights there, maybe for half an hour, they’d play a little music for me.”
Don Newbold interview, Washington State World War II Memorial Oral History Project
I came across a fascinating article in the Spring, 2022 edition of “American Indian,” a magazine published by the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian about an accomplished Yankton Sioux writer, violinist and composer by the name of Zitkala-Sa (“Red Bird”). Evidently the Smithsonian received a dozen 1898 photographic portraits of her some 50 years ago. The images of the 22 year old Zitkala-Sa were created by Gertrude Kasebier, a prominent American portrait photographer in New York City. She was photographed wearing a European-style dress and traditional Yankton Sioux clothing to depict how she lived in both Western and Native cultures. Zitkala-Sa was one remarkable human being…she was born in 1876 to a German father and a Native American mother. Her natural musical talents drew her to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston for two years. She became a concert violinist and composer. In 1913, she collaborated on “The Sun Dance Opera,” one of the first operas about an American Indian topic. She worked tirelessly for American Indian citizenship rights, independence and sovereignty. Her husband and her co-founded the National Council of American Indians in 1926 to attain proper healthcare, legal status and land rights for Indigenous peoples and served as the organization’s president until her death in 1938. She was 61. She is buried at Arlington National Cemtery with her husband, a World War I veteran. In 202, the Lyon Park Citizen Association in Arlington, Virginia, renamed a park near where she lived Zitkala-Sa Park. A truly amazing woman, wouldn’t you agree? Check out the Spring, 2022 edition of “American Indian” magazine. You’ll be glad you did…there’s two beautiful pictures of Zitkala-Sa in the article…
Here some thoughts for the day:
“It was a cross between a change-up and a screwball. It was a screwup.”
—Bob Patterson, Chicago Cubs pitcher, describing a pitch he threw that was hit for a home run
“In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress.”
—John Adams
“If you don’t read the newspaper you are uniformed…if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.”
—Mark Twain
“Creation longs for His return, when Christ shall reign upon the earth;
The bitter wars that rage…are birth pains of a coming age.
When He renews the land and sky, all heaven will sing and earth reply
with one resplendent theme:
The glory of our God and King!”
Hallelujah!
Let all creation stand and sing: “Hallelujah!”
Fill the earth with songs of worship,
tell the wonders of creation’s King.”
—Keith & Kristyn Getty and Stuart Townsend, “Creation Sings The Father’s Song” (2008)
Here’s to a great Sunday and new week upcoming and lots of love & good wishes always!
Press on,
Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, Mark, etc.)