In Our Community

Meet Corliss Archer was one of many teenage programs that were heard during the golden days of radio.

Corliss was played by a very versitile actress, Janet Waldo, during her time on the radio. She was born 1919 in Yakima, WA. While attending the University of Washington and working in its little theatre, Bing Crosby presented her an award at a campus homecoming. A Paramount scout accompanying him signed her for The Star Marker, a Crosby musical, but only small parts followed.

Radio better utilized Waldo’s charming voice in The Gallant Heart over NBC Pacific chain and One Man’s Family as Irene, wife of Cliff. In 1943, she assumed the lead as Corliss Archer, teenage scatterbrain.

A serious diligent actress, she had roles on Dr. Christian, Silver Theater, and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. She played Emmie Lou, the excitable teenager that Ozzie always encountered. Some of Corliss’s ideas for and with her boyfriend, Dexter Franklin, played by Sam Edwards, usually got both or one of them in trouble with Corliss’s father Harry Archer.

​If you listen to 1370 KDTH’s Big Broadcast on Sunday nights from 6 to midnight you might hear Dexter calling “Corlisssssss!”

Veterans Legacy Memorial

The National Cemetery Administration is launching an online memorial site to honor the 3.7 million veterans who are interred in Department of Veterans Affairs national cemeteries. Each veteran will have his or her own page on The Veterans Legacy Memorial site.

For now, each veteran’s information will have certain basic details, such as where they are buried and in which branch they served. As time goes on, we (family and fellow veterans) will be able to add photos and text to our veteran’s memorial page.

Not all locations of veteran burials will be included, however. Arlington National Cemetery, for example, has its own website (www.arlingtoncemetery.mil). It suggests you download the new app, ANC Explorer, and do your search on your phone. If you’re at your computer, put “find a grave” in the search box. You’ll end up at a Find a Gravesite page for Arlington. Put in the veteran’s name and other information; you don’t need to fill in all the blanks. You’ll be shown a Google map with the grave’s location. Click on the star to see a photo of the headstone.

The ANC Explorer app on your phone would come in handy addition if you’re visiting Arlington. It will highlight points of interest, send you on self-guided tours and show front and back photos of headstones. Find it on the App Store or Google Play.

If you have questions about the Veterans Legacy Memorial, go online to www.vlm.cem.va.gov/faq/ and scroll down the questions. Check for links to other databases covering veterans interred in private cemeteries and others.

Don’t worry if you can’t find your veteran — the project is just getting started. At this point I was able to find only my grandfather. 

​My opinion? They announced this project too early. A better grave locator is the old one: gravelocator.cem.va.gov/index.html


© 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.

Sacrifice and Success

My wife watches movies with me that she would not choose to watch (movies that include considerable gun fire and leaping from building to building). I watch movies with her that I would not choose to watch (this includes almost all musicals). A good marriage is made up of multiple “mini” sacrifices by both husband and wife. Any successful relationship requires that both will have to sacrifice their own wishes in favor of the other person’s wishes.

Life’s not only made up of many mini sacrifices but big sacrifices too, and such stories of sacrifice are inspiring. We honor fallen war heroes for making the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. We admire the person who sacrifices a kidney so that a stranger can live.

As much as we admire stories of sacrifice, and as quickly as we’re willing to declare the value of sacrifice, we sure don’t like to sacrifice! It’s costly and is not “fun” to carry out. We don’t want to give in to compromise, give when we know we’re going to give more than we’ll get, or give when there’s no expectation of receiving something in return at all.

And yet it’s an irrevocable principle of life that sacrifice is what makes life worth living. We only achieve something of value by sacrificing time and effort. Author Tim Keller writes, “We know that anybody who has ever done anything that really made a difference in our lives made a sacrifice, stepped in and gave something or paid something or bore something so we would not have to.” (The Prodigal Prophet p.154) 

The message of Christianity, the central theme of the Gospel, is that Jesus sacrificed Himself for us. Christians believe that it’s because of His sacrifice for us that we can have a meaningful and eternal relationship with God. His ultimate sacrifice sets the standard by which we’re to live our lives, sacrificing for those within our sphere of influence so that we can have more meaningful relationships with each other. The operative word for a fulfilled life is the word sacrifice. Sacrifice makes the world go ‘round!

​“My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” Psalm 51:17

Reasons Not to Gift Your House to Your Kids
by Thad Murphy
​of Pearson Bollman Law

Thad Murphy of Pearson Bollman Law

Afraid of losing your home when applying for Medicaid for nursing home care? Transferring the home to your children is usually not the best way to protect it.

Although you do not have to sell your home to qualify for Medicaid coverage of nursing home care, the state could file a claim against the house after you die. The state must attempt to recoup through a process called “estate recovery.” If you want to protect your home, you may be tempted to give it to your children. Here are three reasons not to:

1. Medicaid ineligibility. Transferring your house to your children (or someone else) may make you ineligible for Medicaid. If there are transfers for less than market value within five years of the application, the state imposes a penalty period during which you will not be eligible for benefits. You may transfer your home to some individuals without a transfer penalty. However, you should consult an Elder Law attorney before making such a transfer. 

2. Loss of control. By transferring to your children, you will no longer own the house. They can do what they want with it. Also, if they get sued or divorced, the house may be vulnerable to their creditors.

3. Adverse tax consequences. Inherited property receives a “step up” in basis when you die, gifted property does not. If your child sells the house after you die, they would have to pay capital gains taxes on the difference between the tax basis and the selling price. You can avoid some or all of the tax if the child lives in the house for at least two years, but before making a decision on what to do with your home, be sure to discuss your options with an Elder Law attorney. 

​Thad Murphy is an attorney at Pearson Bollman Law, located at 1635 Associates Drive, Suite 103, Dubuque. If you would like to register for one of his free workshops on “Asset Protection for Seniors,” please visit pearsonbollmanlaw.com.

The other day while I was balancing my bank statement, the old fashion way; with a pencil and a calculator, I freaked out! This is so mundane! It is neither interesting nor exciting. Oh, yes! It is necessary, but I seldom come out with the same balance as the bank. And I’ve been doing this activity since I was seventeen. Ironically, I even took an accounting class in high school. I have finally decided that I will never conquer the mundane challenge of keeping track of my incoming or outgoing monetary funds.

Actually, I did enjoy the class of Bookkeeping (now called Accounting) in high school. And during my work career I often worked with numbers such as posting in an account payable ledger, or doing bank deposits for a busy business. Ironically, when working with digital figures on my job it was fun. But when it came to my own personal bank statement, I went into a dummy mode. I really respect people who can deal with numbers and not go bonkers!

I almost lost a job once because I could not decode fast enough while using a calculator during an office inventory. They didn’t fire me but changed my job description to clerk-typist. Now days, so much is done on the computer, that I must say I envy the present workforce for all their modem office equipment.

Ironically, as with progression comes the truth that there is nothing mundane about modem technology. It is indeed a fact that technology is interesting and exciting. But, there is a drawback to this knowledge. The technician will never be able to keep up with technology.

Once a system is learned, there arrives another advanced system that needs to be mastered.

And, my son, Tom is right when he says that some day there will be no paper trail.

This thought terrifies me. I’m sure there are others with this same fear. At some of my “coffee” socials, this topic has surfaced and became a frequent discussion, shared by both pro and con opinions. I’m in between acceptance and denial. I like doing things my own way but realize that progress doesn’t turn back. You go with the flow, or perish.

​Therefore, I’ll probably never know what I have in the bank. I may be in debtors prison for not balancing whatever I am to balance on some technical machine. Where has “simple” gone? Bye.

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