I have always been a fan of the old black-and-white movies from the 30’s 40’s and 50’s. My favorite actress was Bonita Granville because she was the Nancy Drew of the 1930’s Warner Bros. pictures.

Bonita Granville was probably my first crush because she was so stunning in the outfits that they put her in, in those 1930’s Nancy Drew pictures. I always wished that I could meet her and tell her what a great influence she had an old my life with those wonderful pictures and the character of Nancy Drew who she made her very own. No other actresses come close to portraying Nancy Drew in the manner in which she did. She gave the young female sleuth a brain but yet a comical clumsiness of a young teenage girl. Unfortunately Bonita Granville died in 1988 and I never got to meet her but I did meet the young man that played her sidekick in the Warner Bros. movies.

They called him Ted Nickerson but in the books that the movies were based on he was called Ned Nickerson. The only reason given for this change in names was that Ted sounded friendlier than Ned. The Nancy Drew series from Warner Bros. consisted of only four movies starting with the first one which was the only movie based directly off of one of the original Nancy Drew books, “Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase”. The other three movies were original screenplays based on the character of Nancy Drew. The second in the series was “Nancy Drew Troubleshooter”, then came “Nancy Drew Detective” and “Nancy Drew Reporter”.

My favorite in the series was the very first, it seemed to have a bit of the old-fashioned dark house mystery about it, which I guess is why it was so popular with younger viewers and readers of the Nancy Drew series. Nancy Drew was played by Bonita Granville, Ted Nickerson was played by Frankie Thomas, Carson Drew, Nancy's father was played by John Litel, the Drew housekeeper Effie Schneider was played by Renie Riano, Capt. Tweedy was played by Frank Orth and many other actors and actresses that did such a wonderful job bringing the character of Nancy Drew to life.

Unfortunately at the time that I met Frankie Thomas it was only just a few short years before he passed away.

He did his best to remember a few small stories of what transpired back in the days he was shooting on the set of the Nancy Drew movies. He was an extremely gracious man. I have at least four or five autographs from him. I can't tell you how grateful I am to have met someone from the Nancy Drew series of movies. He also played Tom Corbett Space Cadet in the 1950’s TV sci-fi drama series. I think that most people were there to talk to him about Tom Corbett since he was at the show for the Solar Guard, which is a group of actors and actresses that played astronauts and so were explorers in the early days of TV.

The first show that I went to there were just a few of the Solar Guard there, maybe 4 or 5 people. By the time I had gone to the last show there was only one member of the Solar Guard left. Frankie seemed somewhat happy that someone was asking him a question about something other than the solar guard and I could see he was struggling to try and remember something of the Nancy Drew series. That first year that I saw him he had only one or two photographs from the Nancy Drew series, the next year he had five or six photographs from the Nancy Drew series and I had him autograph a picture with me and him together. Even though it was just a brief encounter I am so very thankful that I had the chance to meet him and speak with him. Frankie Thomas passed away in 2006.

I also met the young lady that was Bonita Granville's maid of honor at her wedding. The young lady that I met had played Mickey Rooney's girlfriend in the series of Andy Hardy movies and also had a major role in “Gone with the Wind”. Ann Rutherford was a wonderful young lady. She told me that she was Bonita Granville's maid of honor at her wedding and that she and Bonita had remained friends from their early days at Warner Bros. until Bonita's death in 1988 and, unfortunately, we also lost Ann Rutherford in 2012.

I also met another actor from the Nancy Drew series, Dickie Jones, who had also played in many Westerns from the early 1930’s all the way up into 1965. He remembered a little more about shooting with Bonita Granville in those early Nancy Drew movies and we talked about them and he was extremely grateful for the opportunity to speak about a movie that he enjoyed doing. Dickie Jones died in 2014.

The Nancy Drew series from Warner Bros. will probably never be noted as a great series, but it was important and it was a good set of movies that a young boy watched for the first time on the WREC Channel 3 in Memphis, Tennessee’s Early Movies that came on around three o'clock every weekday afternoon. That's where I gained the love of these old black-and-white movies that didn't have any special effects, let alone any computer special effects. They relied heavily on story and acting ability of the actor’s interpretations of the characters. There were so many of these B-movie actors and actresses that never won any awards, that never got any accolades and I think that's one of the reasons that you could find them at these autograph shows signing autographs and reliving their glory days in Hollywood.

I have only mentioned the Nancy Drew series, but there were so many more such as Sherlock Holmes, Charlie Chan and so many more that I truly loved to sit as a child and watch. I was captivated with William Powell and Myrna Loy as they portrayed Nick and Nora Charles in the “Thin Man” series. I laughed at the antics of Tony Curtis in Cary Grant in Operation Petticoat. I loved and still do love good movies.

 I even love one of the so-called worst movies ever made, “The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow”. The movie is, by all means, not a great movie as far as the script is concerned, but what transpires within this movie is a sad piece of movie history and it is why I love this movie so very much.

The storyline is that a group of kids that have a hot rod car club need a clubhouse and one of the girls father's clients is a close friend of the family and she is willing to donate her house at Glen Canyon Hollow better known to the kids as Dragstrip Hollow, but they have to understand that the place is haunted.

The haunting is done by a special effects artist that was discarded by Hollywood when no one was going to see the horror movies that he was making creatures for anymore. The special effects artist was haunting the house in one of his costume creations that you might recognize as the She Creature with the bosoms removed so that it looked more like a male creature. One of my great thrills when I saw this movie for the very first time was that the creature removes the mask to reveal who the special effects artist was and it was Paul Blaisdell who himself was discarded by Hollywood when American International Pictures went to the beach party movies. American International Pictures for the last time did the schlock old dark house style teenage exploitation movie and started making the beach party movies with Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon and the gang. Even though I love those beach party movies, you kind of feel sad at the end of this picture, I was watching the end of the magical era in movie history.

I, with the help of my wife, tried to collect autographs from everyone that ever made me feel happy, scared or made me think while watching one of their movies. I have some TV actor’s autographs as well. One of my prized possessions is a collection of autographs from the Mickey Mouse club serial Annette, starring Annette Funicello. Walt Disney, in his wisdom, picked a group of kids to do the Mickey Mouse club and work on the serials that would also accompany the Mickey Mouse Club. The serials were a great part of what made the Mickey Mouse Club successful, especially with the Adventures of Spin and Marty, the Adventures of the Hardy Boys and the Annette serial. It was amazing what they could do on TV in those days. You may like your reality TV shows but I have to tell you I would take Spin and Marty over every single one of them. You may think that the Kardashian women are beautiful, but give me Annette Funicello any day over the lot of them.

You know I have almost 300 channels now and I can flip through channels for hours on end and never find a single thing to watch that I enjoy. In the early days of television we had three, maybe four channels at any given time to choose from and I can remember all of my family fighting to see what we were going to watch that night because all three networks had extremely good programs on at the same time. There was a lot to be said for the old black and white TV, but I don't really miss not having color television. I remember going over to a friend of mine. His name was Ray and he invited us over to see Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color and I took him up on it.

I was blown away with the fact that television was broadcasting in living color, it was fantastic. There was no turning back now, television was going to improve in spite of those that said it would burn your eyes out to sit and watch color television all day.

It's not that I long for black and white TV and I don't agree with those that say it's wrong to colorize black and white movies or TV shows, because so often when you colorize these programs they look so much better. Someone once said that Frankenstein would not be as scary in color. I think they are nuts. If you have ever seen Boris Karloff in the Frankenstein makeup in color you would agree with me. It was horrifying. A lot of people say that it takes the mystery out of the film or movies and I disagree. It's not that the color is missing,

it’s that they were filmed darker with less light. I have always been a proponent of the widescreen TV’s so that we would no longer have to pan and scan to see our favorite widescreen movies because it does hurt the storyline to re-edit what the viewer actually sees of the complete picture, but what I say to those that are against colorization is that there's a lot lost in the actors emotion without color because you cannot see as much of the facial structure and emotion in black and white. I also think that there's a lot lost in the beauty of a young face on the screen when the definition is so bad that you can't see the freckles or the dimples and someone like Shirley Temple's beautiful face. High definition brings out every single flaw in an actor’s face and I know a lot of the actresses are thinking that they will not be as beautiful to us if we can see their flaws. I believe it's the imperfections in our faces and in our being that makes us beautiful. When I see a red headed young lady that has packed the makeup on to hide the freckles.

I want to stop her and tell her that it’s the freckles that make her attractive and beautiful.

I don't really care if you colorize something or not. I don't really care if you pan and scan something or not. What I care about is that we are still making good movies. Someone once said that the job of the movie is to enlighten, to stir the emotions and to create change. I personally think whoever said that is full of themself, because movies are meant to do two things. They are meant to entertain us and make money.

 I was appalled last year when the Butler was snubbed for Oscar nominations. In my opinion it was one of the best movies of 2013. Forest Whitaker had one of the best roles of his life and he did it right. This is not the only movie that I have had an argument with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences about the fact that they seem to care more about artistic value than they do about what people really like.

It's about time that the box office also had a say in the Oscars. No one can win a gold record unless they sell enough recordings of a particular song or album. So why is it that someone wins an Oscar for a movie that no one's ever seen? Yes, I know that it's about actors honoring actors, but aren't we all actors at heart. Actors are selling themselves as someone else on the screen and when the salesman tries to sell you a vacuum cleaner, he is also selling himself and both the actor and the salesman are trying to do their best to earn your money. So why is it that when they learn of that money, it doesn't affect what happens at the Oscars?

Sadly, I have to announce that another one of my heroines from my youth has left us.I have to tell you my heart is breaking tonight. One of the sweetest and happiest voices in music from the early to mid 60's music scene has passed away. Lesley Sue Goldstein was born on May 2, 1946 in Brooklyn, New York. She died today, February 16, 2015 at only 68 years of age.

She was not only a pop-rock music vocalist but she also did TV appearances like the two "Batman" shows she did in 1967 as well as movie appearances.

Her sound was a little more pop than rock. I can remember as a young man hearing "It's my party" for the very first time and falling in love with that happy, sensual female voice coming over the radio. I also remember seeing her on the bus in the movie "Ski Party" singing one of her songs and embedding her sound deep in my heart. Very few people break into the music industry, let alone have gold records. She was a talent that will be remembered for more than just her records. She also had such hits as "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" which was my personal favorite. I don't think I've ever told anyone but I've always kind of thought of that as my theme song.

She was not only a talented young lady but a very beautiful woman as well. She died of lung cancer at the New York University Medical Center in Manhattan. She will always be remembered for the sunshine, lollipops and rainbows she gave us with her lovely voice. God bless you Lesley Gore and may it always be sunshine and lollipops and rainbows for you.

To go boldly where no man has gone before

They called us the baby boomer generation and I have heard some even call us the atomic generation. I have personally always considered myself the space exploration generation. When the first test rockets were being built by Prof. Werner Von Braun I would scramble for any news that I could get my hands on about what was going on with the US space program. When Pres. John F. Kennedy announced that we would go to the moon and back in this decade (the 1960s) I was ecstatic.

I kept up with the Mercury space program almost religiously. I checked out every book that the Charjean Elementary School library had on space travel and space exploration. I could not get enough of the news about our space program on television. This being the time before videotape, I even used a reel to reel tape sound recorder to record every word and every news special that was on every launch or anything that had to do with our space program. I remember John Glenn's flight like it was yesterday. He had a big round mirror on his chest like a blind spot mirror on a car or truck. I never could figure out what that mirror was for at that time, but it was so that he could see all around the Mercury capsule in the confines and restraints that kept him safe in his death-defying flight.

I also kept up with the Gemini and the Apollo space programs with just as much vigor. When we lost the Apollo astronauts to a fire in their space capsule I was horrified; how could that happen? I will never forget that day ever. The Shuttle program almost became a common occurrence to all of us, but I still listened for every bit of news that came from NASA about these flights, even though it didn't seem to be as pressing a news event anymore.

The unfortunate loss of life of seven Challenger astronauts was a blow to our nation and it broke my heart. Unfortunately, it was not the last of the shuttle tragedies. All of these astronauts’ lives were precious to this nation, their loss will never be forgotten, but one among them will be forever in embroidered into the fabric of our nation. It may have been because she was a teacher and it may have been because we felt the loss that her students felt.

It may have also been that the president of the United States and the news media made such a large event about a teacher going to space. It does not really matter; Christa McAuliffe will now and forever be the one that we think about when anyone talks about the loss of our astronauts or space explorers.

My heroes were always the astronauts that explored space, from the Mercury astronauts all the way to the astronauts of today on the International Space Station.

I will keep you and all future astronauts in my prayers that you are safe on your missions of today and those missions of our descendants that will take in the future as we go boldly where no man or woman has gone before.

Music is always something that brings back memories of times past. It's not only the love of music's sounds and rhythms that touch our minds to bring forth memories, it’s the association of those sounds and rhythms with the people, places and events that we associate with a particular piece of music that brings back a memory from the past. So you see it's especially poignant to a member of a band that was learning how to play music on an instrument that can bring back a whole host of memories. Being a part of such a magical moment in time is one of the greatest gifts a person could have received. I was proud to be a member of our band, it may not have been as good as some people thought we should have been, but it was pure heaven to me.

How many times do you hear a couple say that's our song they're playing on the radio? The moment you hear the rhythm of the melody and the sound of a great song it tends to burn a memory into our soul so that we may keep that special time in our lives. I was born too late to have taken a date to a big band concert and danced our cares away, but I know the feeling that a special song can give you of that special someone in your life. Some of those songs are shared by many who need to remember that special moment when you shared a kiss for the first time with that very special person. You may not even remember the song until you hear it played again years later and the ghost of that pretty young lady or handsome young man floats into your memories.

People that make movies understand the power that music has on our emotions. That's why background music for any particular scene is carefully chosen to enhance one's memory or emotion for a particular scene. Someone once said that motion pictures are a window into our past. If that is so music is the sound of the love of our life because it brings back so much more than anyone can realize. I once saw at a senior’s home we used to visit with our church, a group of seniors brought to tears when a small band started to play music from an era past. They were not tears of sadness, they were tears of joy at the memories that came flooding back from the sounds that that band was playing.

I wish that I could tell those that mentored me in the appreciation and the understanding of music and also how to play music how grateful I really am for their support and encouragement. It must've been horrific for a music teacher to hear a beginning student slaughter a piece of music so badly. I wonder if that teacher remembers how bad that student was when they give their first recital and sounded so much better than the teacher ever thought they could have sounded from that first day. It's not just being grateful; it's carrying something inside you that means so very much that they were able to inspire you to have.

Every generation’s music is special to them even if their parents can't understand it or don't like it as mine did toward my music. It seems that there is a certain time frame in a person's life that music empowers, provokes and encourages us to strive and pushes us forward as we grow into adults. The sounds of yesteryear are more than music, they are the memories of our lives.

I have said so many times in my writing that I am part of the Ed Sullivan generation. The reason that I say that is he was the king of the variety shows and those shows gave us so much variety of music, he would have artists on from every genre of music, from a classical pianist to the most psychedelic rock band you could ever think of and even soul music in an era when it wasn't totally accepted for a TV show to have black musicians performing live.

Yes, there were other variety shows and they also had a range of music genres on them as well but the Ed Sullivan show pushed the boundaries of musical entertainment. He not only had artists from classical music, he had the absolute best artists of classical music. He would show the most up-to-date and hip rock artist at the time on his shows and they were not beyond controversy, such as Elvis’s gyrating dance while singing or the screaming hordes of girls for the Beatles or the Rolling Stones singing “Let's spend the night together”, and what the censors must've thought when they were told that Jim Morrison and the Birds were going to perform on live TV show.

He gave us the appreciation of the musicians and the love of those who sing a song. He was the carnival barker that made you want to pay the dime to go behind the curtain and to hear the most exotic music in the world. He did so much for entertainment and music that he too should be in the rock 'n roll Hall of Fame, because without him bringing these artists into our living rooms I wonder how long our music would've lasted without him saying about Elvis “this is a really fine boy” and having the rock 'n roll artists on his show so that our music was more acceptable to our parents’ generation.

I love every form of music because its sparks in me all kinds of memories from my past and it builds new ones every day.

I don't want to say that I'm a fan of every genre of music but every type of music I hear sparks that wonderful feeling of the first time I picked up my saxophone and tried to play a song and how horrible I was and it also brings the feeling of the last time I held the saxophone in my hand and played something that sounded so great and it came from me.

So when I say thank you to all the music teachers that are no longer with us and to all those music teachers that had taught their students the love of music , to the teachers that are still struggling to get past that first day their students pick up a page of music, to the day that they are bursting with pride with the sounds of real music that are coming from the students they taught, and to those that have not yet started to teach their students about music and are still trying to find their place.

Being a music teacher is being someone's hero and giving them one of the greatest gifts that they will cherish for the rest of their lives. Thank you to the band director’s, thank you to the choir director’s, thank you to those that teach music appreciation. We really did appreciate y’all.

Keiths Memories In Time: As a young man I wanteddesperately to be a great b...

Keiths Memories In Time: As a young man I wanteddesperately to be a great b...: As a young man I wanted desperately to be a great baseball player. I could throw the ball faster than anyone else on the team but, alas, I ...

When I look back on my days at Tech and tried remember things that happened. One thing always comes to mind I had purchased a RadioShack eight track player and put it in my 63 Chevrolet Impala that I used as a bus to commute several of us to Tech from the Airways area of Memphis. I know that is telling my age and I'm alright with that. It was for some an extremely long time ago, but for me it was only yesterday. I hadn't had the stereo eight track tape player in my car for long. I remember that morning turning in the driveway and up the hill of the berm to the parking lot for students and parking under that big old tree so that the car wouldn't be quite so hot when we left to go home. Some punk moron broke out the vent glass on the right side of the car and broke in and stole my eight track tape deck. I replaced it, but this time I put it in the glove box where it would be completely out of sight. You live and learn more than just school things when you're growing up and going to school.

This school was our home it was more than just a building. Our teachers were more than just teachers some of them became our friends. Some people may say I spend too much time trying to remember the past, believe me when I say it's not the past that I'm trying to remember. It's all of the friends I left behind as I grew into becoming an adult. It's not the time that I care so much about it's the people that made me who I am today that I'm trying my best to remember. You can graduate the students out of schools, but you will never take the friendships that they made away.

Seeing the pictures from Tech take me back to a student that walked into its doors for the first time, so overconfident and without a clue I thought that I would be able to make the transition easily. I always was able to make friends easily and I made hundreds of new friends. As far as scholastics were concerned I lost my way. I had taken way too many classes and had too many problems trying to keep up. High school was much harder than I thought it would be. I was not prepared mentally to take own so much at one time. I tried to hide the fact that I had learning disabilities by being a tough punk that didn't need school. It wasn't that I didn't think I needed it because I knew I did and I really wanted it desperately. It was just that I was so ashamed that I could not keep up that I put on this persona. I know I gave my teachers more grief than they deserved and for that I apologize. Somehow through all of my troubles a few of those teachers never gave up because I did learn things I did gain knowledge and for that I am eternally grateful.

This school, this Memphis Technical High School may not have graduated any geniuses that have changed our thinking of the universe, but I will assure you that this school formed our knowledge of the world. It gave the world some of the best people to walk on its surface. Tech has graduated musicians, actors, doctors, law years, but its greatest achievement of all was to graduate some really extremely good people.

It must be a good feeling for a teacher to see a group of misfits enter their classroom on the first day of class and see three years later a great group of people graduating.

I owe a great deal of gratitude to Memphis Technical High School, its Teachers and its Staff for all they did to make their students what we are today.

As a young man I wanted desperately to be a great baseball player. I could throw the ball faster than anyone else on the team but, alas, I had absolutely no control of the ball. From behind home plate I could throw the ball with some accuracy to second base and with a great deal of power. If you don't believe me just ask Sammy Woods who had to catch the ball at second base and shortstop when I would try to pick someone off. I remember Coach Bacon betting me (really) that I could not throw three straight strikes from home plate to second base. I proceeded to do just that, three straight strikes, in front of everyone on the team, including myself, amazed and Sammy Woods would take his glove off and rub his hand after each throw I made to second base. Coach Bacon did his best to help me recreate that speed and accuracy from the pitcher's mound. As good a coach as Coach Bacon really was and as much as I desired the ability to gain control and be a pitcher, I didn't have the talent. I went home and threw the baseball at a plywood target and all I accomplished was tearing up about 20 good baseballs.

I never could achieve the talent needed to become a great baseball player. I also could hit the ball further than anyone else on the team. I remember our summer league with all the Airways players on it. I hit at least six home runs further than I had seen anyone our age hit a baseball. Even my brother who was our coach during that summer league, because Coach Bacon could not have anything to do with us in the summer league according to school rules, was absolutely amazed at how far I could hit a baseball. But I could not do it with any consistency. I know a lot of you know who Steve Trusty is. I used to love for him to come to bat when we were playing against Sheffield where he went to school, because I would think of some of the most oddball things to say to him to break his concentration when I was catching. I actually was scared to death being the catcher on our team, but I loved that position more than any other I had ever played. To be honest with everyone, I was scared to death of being hit with the bat. I must tell you, it never happened that I was hit with the bat. A couple of times I was hit by the ball but that never hurt because of all the padding in the facemask. No one ever knew how much I really truthfully wanted to be a super baseball player. I must admit, however, I never had the talent to be good enough, to be any kind of a baseball player.  Even the love of the game that I had in those days could not make me into even a mediocre baseball player because I never figured out how to master the ability to be consistent with accuracy throwing a baseball at short distances nor did I master the accuracy of being a power hitter even though I could hit the ball further and stronger than anyone I knew of my age.

As I have said before, I was extremely jealous of all of the magnificent baseball players that I grew up with and went to school with at Airways especially Richard Mills, Ricky Mills and Mike Mills. I could go on and mention Keith Strong, Ricky Hogue, Sammy Woods and many, many others. I personally believe that any of these young men that I went to junior high school with had the ability if they had applied themselves as much as I tried to, to go to any major league team.

I also had the most fun of any sport playing basketball. I won't go into how terrible I really was at playing basketball because I was a disaster on the basketball court, but it was so much fun.

I always kind of thought that I was decent at playing football and I did enjoy playing, but it wasn't a sport that I was deeply in love with but that's not to say that I didn't love playing at Airways Junior High School. One of the greatest honors I ever had was being the captain of the defensive team my last year at Airways. I know that most people probably would have thought that it was no big deal, but it was my heaven on earth. I never tried to take advantage of being captain because I wanted to be a proper captain for my teammates. It was my goal in those days to make sure that we won our division championship outright with no dispute whatsoever and with the help of every single person that was associated with the Airways Junior High School football team. We did just that and we not only won it, we owned it that year. No team, and I absolutely mean no team, in the city of Memphis could have beaten us that year.

I want to take you back to an earlier game that we played where “Junebug”, and I'm sure you all know who I'm talking about, Elbert Crawford, had his leg broken in a play right before we made a touchdown. We were leading this particular team by a pretty fair margin. I don't remember the exact score but it was good enough that we didn't have to worry about it. I, in my ultimate wisdom, decided at kickoff because all our emotions were keyed up because we were worried about our teammate being transported to hospital in an ambulance, I was determined to take advantage of the adrenaline that was building inside all of us and take our minds off of what had just happened. I called a huddle and told everybody that I was calling an onside kick. I told Donnie Doswell it was coming to his side and everyone was to clear room for him to make a touchdown.  If I had not been two foot short of the legal distance for an onside kick we would've had that touchdown because Donnie absolutely got the ball and everyone else cleared a path for him. To my shock I was pulled from the game and chastised for taking advantage and running up the score on a weaker team. To say the least, I was confused and hurt.

I had called the right play at the right time but I just did not execute it as well as it should have been. This was the only time I had ever seen my father speak to Coach Winters about any decision he had made in the three years I played for him. He wanted to know why I was taken out of the game when I did what my coaches had taught me to do and that was to take advantage of a situation that could go our way. Both Coach Winters and Coach Ramsey agreed with my father. I was put back in the game with no explanation. After the game however, Coach Winters took me aside and he in his way apologized to me and explained that this was the school that he had been an assistant coach at when he was training to be a coach and it would have looked bad for us to have taken too much advantage of a school that he had taught at and I understood why the coaches reacted the way they did.

In telling you this, I want to emphasize the fact that I loved, and yes I want to say that again because I have gone toe to toe and been at odds with all three of our coaches at various times for various reasons and I was wrong most of the time but not always, I truly loved and respected Coach Winters, Coach Ramsey and Coach Bacon. They were only human beings and looking back on it now they were extremely young to have had the success that they had as our coaches. I hope that all of our coaches and teachers loved this time in their lives as we did. Don't get me wrong, I have had and am still having a most incredibly wonderful life, much greater than I ever thought possible. I have traveled the world, I have loved one of the greatest women I have ever met, I have learned to love who I am and enjoy my shortcomings as well as the things that I truly excel in.

Reconnecting with my friends at Airways has been an amazing blessing in my life. I have a very large loving family that I am extremely proud to be a member of and I have three of the most wonderful grandkids anyone could ask for, even though they are kids just like any other kids and can be a holy terror at times, they are the greatest grandkids I could've asked for. Being a parent was one of the hardest things I ever tried to do, and in a lot of ways I was a complete failure but in others I was a success because my daughter has turned out to be a pretty decent human being if I do say so myself. So what can any man want or need when God has given him some of the greatest blessings anyone could want? Thank you Lord for everything because I am so undeserving of the greatest gift given, the life that I've lived.

Tablets

A lot of people use their tablets to conduct their daily lives.

God created the original tablets.

Isn't it time that we used His tablets to conduct our daily 

lives?

In the late 50’s it seemed that every area had some sort of amusement park. Memphis was no different, we had skating rinks and golf ranges and batting cages and also pinball machines or go carts.  Video games or the computer, at that time, seemed like science fiction because the computer age would not happen for roughly another 30 years. The success of Walt Disney’s Disneyland in 1955 spawned copy cat parks all around the world that would attempt to recreate Disneyland Park on shoe string budgets.

That can’t be said of Lakeland Amusement Park near Memphis. The evolution of Lakeland started with the construction of a dam and the building of one of the largest manmade lakes in Tennessee in 1959. It was located around the intersection of I-40 and Canada Road. The Park opened its’ doors on June 2, 1961 with two trains; one of them had an old fashion train robbery for the guests to experience.  The other train was somewhat of a smaller version and did not get robbed. Seems that one of the young men acting as a robber of the train was actually shot with one of the blanks from one of the guns used in the show. He had to have surgery to remove pieces of the wadding from his chest. The ride that most people remember best was Skyride that gave you a ride over the lake and back, but did you know that it was the famous Skyride from the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. You could also ride a river boat around the lake. Of course, there were all the standard rides of any park of the day. I remember that a very windy day caused the Skyride’s cables to jump its tracks and the fire department had to be called to rescue the passengers from their peril. Ever since that day, I have had a fear of riding in those gondolas. I was even terrified when riding in the one at Disneyland.

Overton Park was Memphis’s “Central Park”. Some of you might even remember that Overton Park was originally known locally as Lea's Woods, the reason for that is it was purchased from the Lea family from Nashville in late 1901. It was located in the city’s eastern borders of that time. The city actually hired a landscape architect to design Overton Park. Of course, as everything it took it's time and Overton Park was not established until 1906.

In the 1960’s and into the 70’s our Park was under siege. The federal highway commission had determined that they were going to cut through our Park with Interstate 40, but the residence of the Overton area banded together and took them to court. Unbelievably, they had stopped the federal government and the court ruled in their favor.

The park however is not just a golf course, garden and green area; it has the Overton Park Shell where we saw many a concert in the 60s and 70s.

There is also a world-class zoo located within Overton Park that I know all of us have enjoyed at one time or another and I'm sure some of you still enjoy the Memphis Zoo located in Overton Park today. The Overton Park Zoo is home to over 3500 animals from all around the world. Somewhere around 1907 the first animal building was finished. The zoo was not incorporated until 1910 as the Memphis Zoological Society was formed. From its humble beginnings of that one building in 1907, our zoo has gone through many upgrades and changes over the years. The now over 70 acre facility was upgraded to earn its world-class status in 1986. I still remember all the old buildings and the cages that the more dangerous animals were kept in inside buildings. But times changed and so have those buildings. I will never forget the last day I lived in Memphis before I moved to my new life and wife waiting for me in Canada. I took my little daughter to something that I had always loved as small child, the Memphis Zoo. It seemed like a great place to say goodbye to my daughter till I would be back to visit her. I barely remember it, because my mind was on 1000 different things. I had a long drive ahead of me and I was trying to give my daughter a good time, but I was worried, was I doing the right thing, is this where God is leading me. Soon after walking around, all of that seemed to just drift away as we watched the young animals with their parents and laughed at the baby monkeys hanging on to their mothers for dear life as they jumped from limb to limb in the trees. I have to say the zoo has always been a calming place for me and made me reflect on the things that are important in life. I think that's what it is really for; it's to remind us what life is all about. We have something to be extremely proud of, a world class zoo in a world-class Park.

Like most cities, Memphis has an art gallery and museum of art. It is known as the Brooks Memorial Museum of Art. To my memory, I am kind of embarrassed to admit, I have never been in the art gallery.

I think sometimes our city takes Overton Park for granted. This magnificent Park that we enjoyed, all of our young lives, from the days that our parents carried us to see the zoo to the concerts and the hippies and the war protests, Overton Park Zoo and Overton Park have played a major role in the city that we remember and love.

The city of Memphis wanted an Amusement park of their own, so they turned a few rides that were at The East End Park, the Mid South Fair Grounds into a small but outstanding park. It was known as Libertyland Amusement Park. At first the city embraced it and helped it flourish, but later administrations only saw it as an expense to the city. The upkeep and maintenance costs for such a Park were more than the city cared to continue to absorb. If you have ever looked at the amusement parks that are thriving, they have to keep up with the times. New rides must be added every year and all rides must be updated to keep the public's interest. I don't blame the city fathers for not wanting to continue the upkeep and updating of amusement park. They did not understand, nor did they want to understand the amusement park business. I must say though, I have never seen anything of that type or caliber that the city of Memphis has ever made a go of, everything that I remember the city taking over or tried to run, failed. That is just my opinion and I'm now even seeing private enterprise, such as Graceland, selling off Elvis’ jet the Lisa Marie.

I know that as the baby boomer generation dies out, Graceland will not be the shrine that it once was. But if you sell off all of its assets, all you will have left is a piece of ground and the house that nobody will even remember who lived there. Is Memphis just a curse for these type of attractions and is that why no one wanted to put the rock 'n roll Hall of Fame in Memphis. All of the great landmarks, such as Lakeland Amusement Park and Libertyland Amusement Park have vanished from the landscape of Memphis only to be seen in our memories. I hope that Graceland does not follow the legacy of such great attractions in Memphis.

Wake up Memphis! These and other attractions are worth preserving because they bring in tourists and tourist dollars. They cannot just be measured by the tickets or attendance, their hotel rooms, souvenirs and meals purchased at restaurants. I love the traditions in Memphis like the Cotton Carnival, but I'm afraid all of that is disappearing as well. The only thing that seems to survive and thrive in Memphis are the bars and, I have to say, I am not a fan of such places. They don't bring in the tourists that high caliber attractions do.