Who Packed Your Parachute?
In the Ladies Class of Southside Church of Christ I had just told the story made famous by Vietnam War POW Charlie Plumb called “WHO PACKED YOUR PARACHUTE?”
Captain Plumb’s bomber was shot down by the North Vietnamese after the 24 year old fighter pilot had already flown 74 bombing missions over the enemy. Plumb spent...
A Thank You for Miss Tilly
Within a week of his inauguration as President upon the death of FDR, Harry Truman selected a childhood friend as his Press Secretary.
Charlie Ross was one of 11 boys in the 1901 graduating class of Independence High School in Missouri alongside of Truman. He was a Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper reporter and class valedictorian.
On April...
Little Miss What-for
She was one of the most famous people in the world in the Roaring 20s. Her athletic fame neared that of Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, or Red Grange. Yet you likely don’t know her name, I didn’t. Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle was a shy, stocky, broad-shouldered teenage girl when she rocketed to international fame.
When the KKK Comes to Your Church
The “Invisible Empire” of the KKK was very visible in Fort Worth one hundred
years ago. In the 1920s our town was home to one of the largest klaverns (lodges)
in the nation. Klavern 101 boasted an estimated 6000 men. There was also an
active Woman’s Auxiliary and “Junior KKK” for teenage boys. The Ku Klux Klan had
been...