In Our Community
Jackie Kelk, a high pitched, quavering-voiced Homer, was the 16 year old buddy of Henry on the radio series, The Aldrich Family. Until age 18, Jackie played a teenager on radio without a break, including two seasons on television.
His first show, The Chase and Sanborn Hour, cast him as a bratty kid stooge opposite Eddie Cantor in 1933. Kelk similarly plagued Bert Lahr, Burns and Allen and Jack Benny in prime time while doing serials during the day. On The Gumps, he played Chester; Agnes Moorehead was Min, his mom. He never forgot the day his voice suddenly changed during a broadcast. “I went out of the studio and cried. It was kind of pathetic.” He played the lead in Terry and the Pirates. Bud Collyer, who was Pat, also worked with Kelk as Jimmy Olsen, cub reporter on The Adventures of Superman for seven years. In the mid 40’s he was a frequent guest on The Chesterfield Supper Club and appeared on the Theater Guild on the Air presentation of Ah, Wilderness with Walter Huston and Richard Widmark. A professional children’s school graduate, Kelk bowed on Broadway at nine years old in Bridal Wise with Madge Kennedy. He had many other stage appearances to add to his acting credit. At age 12, he appeared on screen as Loretta Young’s son in Born to Be Bad, he also had a part on Broadway’s production of The Pajama Game, which was produced by the Grand Theater in Dubuque in 2018. Jackie was born August 6, 1923 in Brooklyn, NY., and died in 2002. The Aldrich Family is heard frequently on AM 1370 KDTH’s Big Broadcast, which can be heard every Sunday night from 6 to midnight. 
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Peace in a Pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic is having a major effect on every one of us in a variety of ways, from impacting our normal schedules and activities to affecting what we can purchase because of shortages of essential items. We can’t keep from thinking about the pandemic...a lot! It’s easy to worry at a time like this; it’s difficult to experience any measure of peace at a time like this.
Much is being said about the symptoms that indicate a person might have the coronavirus. There’s a symptom, however, that many of us exhibit concerning the coronavirus even though we most likely don’t have the virus. That symptom is fear. Fear can be good. A healthy fear of the virus prompts us to take appropriate precautions and actions that can help protect us and also contribute to the containment of the virus. This symptom of fear, however, can also be bad. Fear can distract us from focusing on our normal daily activities that continue to need our attention. Fear can be debilitating, the anxiety reaching a level of panic at this pandemic. Fear can weaken our faith in God, distancing us from Him. I’d like to remind us of an available vaccine that can be helpful, not for the pandemic itself, but for the pandemic-inspired fear that can infect our mind, heart, and soul. Just as a vaccine often uses a very small dose of the actual disease to fight the infection, I’d like to suggest how a proper small dosage of fear can be used as an antidote to fight the big fears that infect us. Picture a small child, a toddler, facing a bunch of steps that he wants to go down. He’s old enough to fear falling head over heels if he attempts to go down the steps. He uses his fear to prompt him to reach out for the hand of the adult who is alongside him. Reaching up, he grasps the big hand of the adult that’s reaching down. He has the same fear of the steps, that has not gone away, but now he confidently takes the steps because he is holding on to someone bigger than himself in whom he has faith. What he doesn’t even realize is that the adult’s grip on him is far greater than his grip on the adult! The symptom of fear that we exhibit in confronting the coronavirus can be used to prompt us to reach out our hand in faith to grasp the hand of God that is reaching down to us! And to realize that our weak grip of faith is enough, for His grip on us is far stronger! No matter what we face, no matter what will happen, He will be with us, and in the ultimate sense, it will be okay! We can have peace in this pandemic! “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me...” King David in Psalm 23:4a 
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A friend, Diane Osborne, recently told me about an epiphany she experienced while traveling on an Iowa highway during a family outing. Diane asked the other occupants in the car if they had noticed the beautiful tree they had just passed? No one had an inkling of what she was trying to share with them. And while Diane and her family had traveled frequently on vacation trips, she had not really noticed how beautiful a single tree could be.
Actually, in a moment of sudden intuitive understanding, like just a flash of insight, she experienced a vision of beauty that no one else had seen. She had been dazzled and captivated by the beauty of a tree. You might say she had been enraptured and enchanted by the sight of the beautiful tree rooted along the roadside of a busy highway. No doubt, Diane had probably studied about trees in school. Perhaps one day the topic had been about the California State Tree, the Redwood, or the Giant Sequoia, named for the Cherokee leader, Chief Sequoyah, and lives for 2400-4000 years, making it one of the longest living species on earth. Maybe these trees had caught her interest. Also, after the end of the lesson, perhaps the students were required to write something about the trees they had just studied about. Diane had most likely been impressed by the size and history of the Giant (“big tree”) Sequoia, and the California Redwoods. But did she really see these trees as beautiful or was she just awed? At one time Diane may have been traveling thru the state of Arizona and caught sight of the State Tree, the Palo Verde, which means, “green tree.” This tree is small with green limbs composed of many leaflets that have thorns at the base of the leaves. The small tree or shrub is often planted in gardens and used as a hedge. It needs very little care. A favorite tree of mine is the Sugar Maple which is the State tree of New York, and Vermont, one of the six New England States. Actually, Vermont has a lot of beautiful trees that are perfect shade trees and offer a multitude of autumn colors of yellow, green, orange, red, tan, and brown during the Fall. I have never been that far east but have seen a number of pictures from there to stimulate my interest in trees. Of course, here in Iowa, our State Tree is the mighty oak. It is strong and hardy. I’ve read that the oak genus contains about 450 species. There are 60 species in the United States and Canada, and an additional 150 in Mexico. Also, there are many other species located throughout the world. Besides the beautiful fall colors of the Oak trees, they are the home to small animals and birds of all nature. They also offer food for natures wildlife. And since the oak is a hardwood tree it is often used as lumber for building any number of structures. Since we live in Davenport, we get to travel the Mississippi River aboard the cruise boats during autumn time. It’s a trip to remember. Thanks to Diane’s epiphany, I have had the opportunity to search out the aforementioned information on trees. Eureka! |
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