And one note in passing...literally. Good bye to Davy
Crockett's sidekick, Jeb Clampitt, Barnaby Jones,
the "almost" Tin Man in "The Wizard of Oz," and many
more characters....Buddy Ebsen. He passed away this
week at 95.

I had the great pleasure of meeting Buddy in California
in the late 60's when he was about the age we all are
now. What a soft-spoken, great guy! I was the local
newspaper editor there in so. California and was
reporting on a yacht competition/challenge Buddy
had made against the America's Cup winner at
the time. They really did it up right and we all had
a lot of "good clean fun."

There was a banquet as well as a party at Buddy's house.
I still recall him standing at the front door of his house
pinning corsages on all the ladies that came in as well
as handing out cigars to all the men. He was low-key,
unpretentious and even complimented me on my
articles about the competition (thank you Mrs. Copeland).

Good bye, Buddy...we all loved you. Thanks. Good show!!

TommyR