Category Archives: Snapshots & Fragments

Randome photos

Junior High Basketball Team

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I think Frank Proctor made me memorize the state capitols and all of the U. S. presidents (I no longer know either). One summer he started his “Merry Mobile” business. He drove up and down the streets of Kennett selling frozen treats. He was also the junior high basketball coach and one of my greatest achievments was “making” the team. I loved playing basketball in the back yard but was terrible at the real thing. I warmed benches through the 10th grade before hanging up my Chuck Taylors and rediscovered the joy of the game at the city park. The Web cannot be complete without this photo of the Kennett Junior High Basketball Team.

Kennett 8th Grade Basketball Team

Back Row: Terry Hunter, Mike Shipman, Robert Taylor, Phil Ayers, Buddy Shivley, Jerry Bird, Otis Mitchell, Randy Carter, Brett Baker. Front Row: Tommy LaTurno, Ben Pickard, Larry Hale, Bruce Baker, Steve Mays, John Robison, Tommy Saunches, Darrell Jackson, Tony Stewart.

Ripley by the wood pile

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Years ago I vowed never to do an unpleasant job if I had the money to pay someone else to do it. My reasoning is quite sound: I love the work I do and would, in fact, do it for no pay. If I give that money to someone to do those things I dislike doing, I can go get so more money by doing something I love. Is that so hard to understand? But there are a few manual chores I enjoy. Splitting firewood is one of those. All those sticks and no fetching. Ripley was not pleased.

Self Portrait

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A couple of years ago I confessed that I thought I looked my best in theatre restrooms. Now I’ve done the unthinkable. I photographed myself in that challenging setting. In the tradition of all great risk-takers, I had no cover story in the event someone walked in.

John and Evelyn in St. Louis

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Tomorrow is my father’s birthday. He would have been 78. He’s been gone a couple of years now and would find it amusing that I remembered his birthday since I usually forgot. If he were here I’d ask him where this photograph was taken. For some reason I think it must have been in St. Louis. If we have any STL readers, and you recognize this statue, drop me line and let me know where it is. John and Evelyn partied there right after the war. Happy birthday, Johnny!

Aileene Hanks

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A nice lady named Pat found her way to my KBOA830.com website (“I have no idea why my mother-in-law had this post card. You may keep it. I have decided I cannot keep everything.”). Google revealed that Aileene Hanks (Anna Aileene Hanks Williams) wrote and recorded a song called “In My Father’s House Are Many Mansions.” The song was recorded by The Blackwood Brothers in 1954 and later by Elvis in 1960 (You can hear Elvis’s version on “His Hand in Mine; Amazing Grace CD1). In a pre-Web world, Pat would never have found my KBOA site and I wouldn’t have been able to find out anything about Aileene Hanks or that Elvis had recorded her son. So, are we better off that we did? I believe so.

John Mays reporting

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I have a lot of photographs of my father when he was very young and quite a few from his later years, but not so many from the middle years. Among Mr. Rudy’s many treasures, was a cardboard poster promoting one of KBOA’s many news programs.

“John Mays on KBOA at 8:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday for Midwest Farms Regional News Report.” Note on the back said this was taken in 1967 so John would have been 41.

Family

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Tulsa (2003) - 13No blogging this past week while visiting my brother Blane (with ball) and his family. They live in Bandar Lampung, Indonesia, and are home for just six weeks. Two years since we last saw each other and likely to be two more before next visit. I went bowling for the first time in 45 years. Played putt-putt. What is more important than family?

Funny people: Jim Obradovich

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Jim Obradovich was high on my Unborn Blogs” list and he somehow discovered this (could he be reading this very post?). He hinted that he might be willing to take run at blogging and offered to send photos from his new part-time job.

“…beginning tomorrow evening at the Iowa State Fair Parade I will commence my duties as “Fairfield” the State Fair Mascot. Fairfield is a 6-foot blue ribbon of merriment. I will be undertaking my “Fairfield” duties for 2 to 3 hours a day, while the rest of the time I’ll be writing press releases on everything from sheep dog trials to the heaviest pigeon competition.”

 

Barb with Dr. Denton Cooley

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Long before she became a loathsome lawyer, Barb was a nurse. Specifically, a Surgical Intensive Care nurse. Following nursing school, she spent a year in Houston working in the long shadow of Dr. Cooley. He was famous way back then and she had the good sense to get a picture and Denton Cooley letter of reference. (PDF)

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“A world-renowned surgeon, Dr. Denton Cooley pioneered many techniques used in cardiovascular surgery. He performed the first successful human heart transplant in the United States in 1968. In 1969, he became the first heart surgeon to implant an artificial heart in man. Cooley and his associates have performed more than 100,000 open heart operations–more than any other group in the world.”

(Reuters) Dr. Cooley died on November 18, 2016, at the age of 96.