Tribute To DeForest Kelley -- I Want a Cowboy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AlHT4vpy8c&feature=youtube_gdata

If You Missed Yesterday's Health Summit, Here's a Link to Highlights

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/meeting-highlights?video=1

Let's get 'er done!

Sad News -- Body of Andrew Koenig Found

I just heard on the news that the body of Andrew Keonig has been found in Stanley Park.

Pray for the Koenig family...

Mutual Admiration Society Now in Session!

*sigh* 

I received this lovely email -- which I will treasure FOREVER -- from Karen and Wally Dobbs. And even though  it's as flattering to me as anything I can imagine, I have to share it anyway... because it also reveals the quality of THEIR hearts and minds as much as it reveals anything else: (shared with permission, of course!)

Dear Kris,


Thank YOU soooooooooooooo much for persisting in your search to find us. I feel it was in God's timing that this happened at this time. I still can't understand how someone on Facebook could know that one of us worked in a dental lab (actually, I didn't make dentures but learned to wax up crowns and bridges as the foundation for the metal work). I went on Facebook only as a request from a teacher that I knew who moved to California. I don't keep up with people that way and have never explained that job with anyone on Facebook. I guess I just don't know the possibilities of how information is shared. I certainly don't mind anyone knowing that I worked in a dental lab. It just amazes me that you found us that way!


We THOROUGHLY enjoyed our time of sharing with you. You are such a genuine, loving, compassionate, thoughtful woman of God. You didn't say too much (as you indicated on your email). We kept asking you questions and you were sharing and explaining the answers to the questions we asked. Thank you for being so easy to be around and for making us feel so special, a part of your life. That was such an encouragement. 


I have read two of your books and will finish the 3rd one tonight. Sorry that I did not respond to your email until now. I wanted to read and tell you how much I have enjoyed your style of writing. I can't really explain it all in this email, but when we meet again we can share. You are such an enthusiatic, thoughtful, wise, funny, author. I was laughing out loud and close to tears in other places in your books. You touch the deepest parts of my heart with your honest, authentic viewpoints on life. Thank you for sharing your love for people, animals, and especially for God.


At this point, Wally would like to get together after March. We have several things going on that month. You are so gracious and we do want to get together. Thank you for understanding. Everyone you touch must be so encouraged and blessed, as we were on Saturday.

GOD BLESS YOU, KRIS. WE LOVE YOU.


PHIL. 1:3 I thank my God every time I remember you.

Hugs,

Karen and Wally


Yeah... it made me cry... OF COURSE!!! 

It's so great to have made that kind of impression, because I was more than a little concerned that I was making a complete fool of myself with my ebullience for reconnecting with them again -- but it wasn't anything I could hide, even with a two-ton hat and cape!

To paraphrase Sally Fields (who probably wishes I wouldn't!), "They like me! They really like me!" (and.. OMG... my books, too!!!)

WOO HOO and GADZOOKS!

Walter Koenig's Son Andrew is Missing in Vancouver Canada

STAR TREK FANS: PLEASE DISSEMINATE THIS INFORMATION FAR AND WIDE AND PRAY FOR ANDREW, WALTER, AND JUDY ...


 http://www.walterkoenigsite.com/


Andrew Koenig, the son of Star Trek actor Walter Koenig, is missing. The last time Andrew Koenig was seen was on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Andrew Koenig never boarded his flight back to the US, and he hasn't been heard from since then.


He was last seen at a bakery in the Stanley Park area of Vancouver.

Andrew Koenig, 41, was working as a camera operator on the show "Never Not Funny" as well as doing improv in Los Angeles. Best known as "Boner" from "Growing Pains", Andrew also had a role in "Deep Space Nine", and is a talented actor director, editor and photographer as well as a passionate activist. In 2008, he was arrested at the Rose Bowl while protesting China's part in the genocide in the country of Burma.



This is a serious matter that has Koenig's friends and family gravely concerned. If you have seen him, emailed him or had any contact after the 14th or spent time with him during his stay in Vancouver please call Detective Raymond Payette of the Vancouver PD at 604-717-2534.


Please share this and send prayers and positive thoughts. If you wish to leave Walter a note, visit his site at: www.walterkoenigsite.com

In Tribute to Eddie Albert Jr, by Margot Worthington

Edward Albert (son of Eddie Albert the actor and activist) died in 2006 after expending all his energy by his father's side during his final days. He would have been 59 years old today. I've always considered him sort of a virtual brother because he was only 8 days younger than me, his mom's name was Margo and he did so many of the things in his life that I would have liked to do. I wish I could have known him in person. I wrote him a long letter after reading some articles about how he cared for his Dad.....I hope he got it before he passed away.



http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001902/bio


(info about Edward)


Here's something he wrote (Tia is his daughter, by the way):


Last year on his birthday, Tia posted something that he wrote called "Walk in Beauty":

May you walk in beauty, the Indians say. Beauty has power, beauty is 'medicine,' having the ability to transform, to balance and to heal on a very real level.

Once, climbing the hill behind my house with several Native American medicine men, I found myself struggling with fatigue. One of the men started pointing out how beautiful those lupin were, how intensely blue the sky was, how graceful the hawk...and by the time we reached the peak, I'd forgotten my knees and felt rejuvenated. Healed by beauty. The medicine man smiled; it hadn't been accidental.


With the pain and anger surrounding us today, we mustn't forget that we live surrounded by beauty. Not only in the extraordinary natural wonder of our seas, mountains, deserts and forests, but in the hearts and spirits of those around us. It's hard not to be swept away by the landslide of doubt and danger overwhelming us. Blinded by the darkness of fear, it's far too easy to forget that nature has provided the prefect remedy for us to harvest so close at hand.

The same natural beauty lives inside each of us. We can act in beauty.
*may you walk in beauty*


-Edward"


(from his notes)

Mini-Golf with Casey...

Last Sunday Casey and I were at loose ends, so we went to play mini-golf near the Tacoma Mall.  We got in two 18-hole rounds between rain showers, eating burgers and fries in between the mini-deluges. It was a lot of fun.

We did a little horsing around, too.  You can tell by these photos that we weren't "just" playing mini-golf -- we were playing "who can be sillier?" I won. (Casey is becoming far too much a lady to compete to the outmost with her nutty aunt!

Double-click on the photos to see them in larger sizes...

WOO HOO! What a Blast!!!! Two Hours of Non-Stop Gab!

Photos: Wally and Karen Dobbs, Wally and Me

What a thrill to reconnect with the Dobbs Dynamic Duo.  Although I wasn't certain I'd recognize either of them -- or them me -- the moment I spotted Karen (she came in the door at Denny's first) there was no doubt. And we didn't shut up for the next two hours, except to take a breath and (eventually) eat our lunches. 

Confession time: I did most of the talking this time. There was just so much I needed to tell them!  40 years' worth! They grinned from ear to ear the entire time -- maybe not because they were as thrilled as I was, maybe 'cause I was just so thrilled... All I know is... what a blast. The time went way too fast and we've promised to get together again soon.

I gave them copies of three of my four books; they're going to have to buy the De book because I didn't have a pristine copy to give them.  (boo hoo) But they will.  I told Wally he'll have to watch for his name in two of the four book, 'cause he's there!

So many memories washed over us. Wally remembers my mom and dad... he didn't recall all I did about my school days in his class, but hey... now he does! 

I got the lowdown on the past 40 years of their lives. They lived in Hawaii for two years after they left Cle Elum in 1969 and then came back to the Seattle area.  Karen taught special education in Hawaii and also made dentures for a time; she has been a Christian grade school teacher most of the time, I gathered.  Wally stopped teaching altogether after Cle Elum (a real loss to the profession -- we probably traumatized him into an early escape!) and has held manufacturing and security positions; he's retired now.

Our server was a scream. We told her we hadn't seen each other in 40 years, so she steered clear as much as she could... but checked back until we could settle down long enough to look at the menu and decide on meals!  (That was probably 30 or 40 minutes after we sat down.) Lucky for us and for Denny's, the place wasn't packed so we didn't hold anyone else up with our two hour re-connect fest!

I'm not used to Wally having fur on his face. That took some getting used to!  But his eyes and his smile are still unmistakable. He's in there somewhere, underneath that beard!

It was just great!

Road to Economic Recovery -- The Chart

http://co102w.col102.mail.live.com/default.aspx?rru=inbox&wa=wsignin1.0

We have a way to go but at least we're heading in the rigth direction in just one year. WOO HOO!!!

Gonna Visit with Karen and Walter Dobbs This Coming Saturday!

Karen Dobbs called. We're going to get together at noon on Saturday at Denny's near the airport in Seattle. I'm taking my camera to capture the event and will put pictures here upon my return.

I haven't seen the Dobbs Dynamic Duo in forty years. That doesn't even sound possible -- forty years. Where has the time gone? Good Lord, I'm going to look old to them. Maybe they'll look old to me -- but they're only a few years older than I am, I think. Cle Elum was Mr. Dobbs' first teaching job after college, so he might have been 25 when I was 17 or 18, maybe younger.  I know he used to hang out on the slag piles with the guys on motorcycles, which was scandalous to the other teachers in Cle Elum. Most of them thought hanging out with students was wacko. Mr. Dobbs even got the "bad" (rebellious) kids back in school because he interacted with them beyond the usual boundaries.  He was terrific.  (Still is, I'm sure!)


Mr. Dobbs is as soft-spoken as De was.  Still. I'm going to come across like Auntie Mame or Annie Oakley by comparison!  Oh, well!  Like Popeye says, "I yam what I yam..." an ebullient numbskull! 

It's going to be GREAT!  I can't wait...

God Bless Joe Biden for Telling it Like It Is Re Dick Cheney...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp=35393180?

Biden nailed it.  Thanks, Joe!

WOO HOO! At Long Last -- I've Found Walter and Karen Dobbs!

WOO HOO!

I am so excited, I'm about to bust!

Cindy McDonald (formerly from Cle Elum) thought she might know where Karen and Walter Dobbs were these days, and she was RIGHT!  I just called them a few minutes ago and gave them a brief, 3-minute overview of the last 40 years, and we're going to get together sometime soon.

He's the teacher who INSISTED that I send my story about meeting DeForest Kelley to De himself -- and even though I balked, I did it so I wouldn't risk getting "written up" for disobeying my teacher!  IT WAS WALTER H DOBBS WHO GOT MY WHOLE DeFOREST KELLEY STORY ROLLING -- and he didn't know anything at all about the follow-up and how it led to my being De's personal assistant and caregiver at the end of his life.  He wanted to know the name of my book!  Gadzooks, I told him he was IN IT and that I have been looking for him for YEARS!

Gadzooks, I am almost hyperventilating, I'm so jazzed about this! I can't wait to tell you "the rest of the story" when we get together again...

God is good all the time!