(me and F.D. [and another war hero 'Curly' Mills] watching football last Thanksgiving)What a strange year 2009 was. I can honestly say I am happy to see it GONE! It was a hard year, for sure. A year of endings...but, by God's grace...also a year of new beginnings.
As it turned out, a lot of people I had admired for years, died in 2009.
Growing up, I was a kid who had pictures of athletes and rock stars on my walls. But I also had pictures of journalists and political figures. Yes, I used to have a poster of Walter Cronkite on my wall. And a picture of the Kennedy family. I also admired them a lot. Not because I agreed with them on everything...but because they put themselves out there, they got involved and fought for what they believed in.
Walter Cronkite, Ted Kennedy and Eunice Kennedy Shriver were three people I admired greatly.
I used to work with handicapped kids and I have a cousin who's life has been greatly improved thanks to the Special Olympics...so Eunice Shriver was always a hero of mine.
Don Hewitt also died in 2009. I also had a picture of Don Hewitt on my wall. He was the original TV news producer. He invented the half-hour evening news program as we know it, the TV news magazine show as we know it, he produced the first TV preisdential debate. Without the path he paved, I really wouldn't have had a career in TV news. Last night I watched the show he created...'60 Minutes'. It just isn't the same show without him.
He had a great quote, that 'Noah would always be a more interesting story to him, than flood control'. It was a great lesson for me as a young journalist. Don't get so caught up in issues. Just tell them a story.
The end of the year was pretty intense too. Thanksgiving and Christmas were marred by upsetting news about two people I also care a lot about. An amazingly gifted teacher named Matt Chandler, someone I admire greatly, was diagnosed with brain cancer after a seizure on Thanksgiving Day. Please keep him in your prayers. He just started chemo and radiation and is fighting hard. I pray he's around for a long, long time to come.
Then on Christmas day, Bill Hensler died. Bill is the grandfather of my best friend, an honorary grandpa-figure to me, a deocrated WWII veteran and a really sweet guy. I believe he was 87 when he passed away. He was living on his own, driving, and maintaining an active life right up to the end. Now that's how I want to go.
He loved to tell jokes, order things off of infomercials, watch Days of our Lives, spend hours out on his tractor, playing this game called Acey Ducey, watching silly videos on the internet, eating at Luby's, going to church and most of all being with his family. If his only legacy was being part of the greatest generation that saved the world from tyranny...and that his daughter and grandson are two of the greatest people I've had the privilege of meeting in my life...then Bill Hensler, aka F.D. did ok.
I'll miss you 'Acey Ducey King'.
So, while I'm happy to see 2009 gone...I won't soon forget the people who also left us, as we close out the first decade of the 21st century.
I think 2010 is gonna be one of the best ones yet!!!!!!!!!!
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