When
I was much younger, there was a famous commercial that featured a
beautiful woman getting into a hot tun uttering the immortal phrase
“Calgon, Take Me Away.” Well, I don’t know if I need the bath,
the Calgon...or the beautiful blonde, but I need to escape this week.
It has been a very emotional past few days.
First
of all, like a lot of people here in Hickman County, I was saddened
to learn of the passing of Marshall Leathers on Monday. Since I moved
back to Hickman County a couple of years ago, I had gotten to know
him and his wife Louise at Church. He and I had several conversations
about old-time music, particularly folk artists like Pete Seeger and
Bradley Kincaid. He was fine at Church Sunday night, and gone
twenty-four hours later. You never know.
Wednesday,
I received word that one of my family members was ill in the
hospital. Not going into the details right now, but things don’t
look good. So, I went to the hospital to see them. It was an
emotional night, to say the least. Say a prayer for God’s will for
this person. They are very special to me, and represent a lot of who
I am and where I come from. So, if the week had ended at 7:15pm on
Wednesday night with me somewhere between Waverly and McEwen, that
would have been fine with me. But, the phone rang once more. It was
Donnie Craig, one of my best friends in the world – who happens to
be a Baptist preacher. The reason I qualified his profession is that
you don’t expect to hear from preachers at 7:15 on Bible Study
night. And, just like longtime DCHS coach Jerry Pearson told me about
hearing the phone ring at 1am, when you do, the news isn’t usually
good.
And,
it wasn’t. He had called to inform me of the passing of Warren
Medley. If you’re not from Middle Tennessee, you might not know the
name. But, from 1956 until just a few months ago, Warren could be
heard each week on the airwaves of WDKN in Dickson. I had the
privilege of working with Warren from 1991-2009, and kept in close
contact with him since then. He personified all that WDKN was to me,
but more important, he was a good friend and influence on how to live
your life. In his 91 years and 50 weeks, the impact that he had on
Dickson County and the surrounding area can’t be underestimated.
His radio career stretched from the days of AM only to broadcasting
on the Internet, and from Eisenhower to Obama. That’s a pretty
impressive feat, but more impressive was the man himself. Saturday
mornings in Dickson County won’t be the same.
So,
it has been an emotional week. Work has been as busy as it always is,
and I’m grateful. Though sometimes the work load is heavy, it gets
my mind off of things, and I needed that a lot – especially this
week. More coming up this weekend, including the definition of success - it might surprise you!
