-
AN OPERA STORY
The choir at Central Presbyterian Church in Summit has a number of outstanding voices. One of them belongs to Bill Dembaugh, a tenor, who is a retired school teacher. As a young man, Bill seemed headed in the right direction for a career as a tenor. He studied hard and wound up in New York.…
-
EZREE
The World War II Memories Project caused me to write “Lillie,” an essay about my mother. So now I thought I’d say something about my father. He and I share our names. His parents, an immigrant Irish couple named William Meredith Carr and Susan Dent Carr gave my father a Hebrew name (Ezra) and an…
-
LILLIE
This little recollection has to do with World War II. Both incidents have to do with my mother, Lillie. I write these thoughts down so that her grandchildren and great grandchildren may know a little more about her. Lillie was born in Pope County, Illinois. She doesn’t have a home town in Pope County because…
-
TWO UNSPEAKABLE FOOLS: JERRY FALWELL AND PAT ROBERTSON
Two days after the destruction of the World Trade Center, Jerry Falwell appeared on Pat Robertson’s Television show called “The 700 Club.” That was September 13, 2001. Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times reports that Falwell and Robertson claim “that an angry God had allowed the terrorists to succeed in their deadly mission because…
-
THE OLD REXBILT BRIEFCASE
Last week, I was startled to read in New Jersey’s leading journal, the “Star Ledger,” that the deposed head man of Lucent, Richie McGinn, got a going away present of 12 million dollars. His Chief Financial Officer, Debra Hopkins, who had only a year of service with Lucent, got pretty close to 4 million dollars.…
-
THE BRENTWOOD, MO. HISTORICAL SOCIETY’S CONTRIBUTIONS
In the Midwest we are plain speakers. For example, turn to Carl Schroth’s letter to support my application to join the Army in wartime. (The Right Way; The Wrong Way; The Army Way”) He listed his Mobil Gas station as being at the corner of Clayton Road and North and South Road. Clayton Road was…
-
IN MEMORIAM TO SPC
In Memoriam Shannon P. Catt A beloved lap cat who gave his family love and devotion without reservation for nearly 15 years. And said…“no chains shall sully thee, Thou soul of love and bravery, Thy songs were made for the pure and free, They shall never sound in slavery” Final verse of “The Minstrel Boy,”…
-
LETTER TO HUTCHINSON NEWS
Mr. Greg Halling, Editor Hutchinson News 300 West 2nd Avenue Hutchinson, KS 67501 Mr. Greg Halling: This letter has been delayed for more than 56 years. It could have been written in September of 1942. And it could also have been written in late January of 1943. It has troubled me for all these years…
-
THE PASTICHE
In recent months, a collection of essays has emerged from my participation in the Kessler Speech Therapy Program. As a general rule, these were travel experiences in various parts of the world. In effect, they were a little like a travelogue. And in nearly every one of those several episodes, the tone was positive and…
-
DIDGERREDOO
The title to this little essay is an aboriginal name from the Outback in Australia. There is no written language in the aboriginal culture, so every one is free to spell it as he sees fit. I spell it as DID-GER-RE-DOO, a musical instrument. So keep that name in mind while we spend a few…