August 2008 From the Wilson Country Memorial Library: the autobiography of William Wells Brown, born in 1814 into slavery in Kentucky, his father a relative of the man who owned him. Brown’s owner worked him at various jobs, even hiring him out to a slaver to deliver other slaves to New Orleans. After several tries Brown finally escaped to freedom at age twenty; largely self-taught, he worked on the Underground Railroad for some time before spending five years in England lecturing against slavery. After philanthropists there purchased his freedom, he returned to the USA to become the first Black American to publish a play, a novel, a travel book, and several histories. Most amazing to me in the book were his surreal discussions with his owner, who though his own father’s relative saw nothing abnormal in keeping Brown in slavery.

Another book informed me of the (almost) State of Franklin, which maintained a sort of statehood in Western North Carolina between 1784 and 1788; of where the hole in the doughnut came from; and of how the bank in Vernal, Utah got built by having its 80,000 bricks delivered from Salt Lake City by mail. I learned as well how Abe Lincoln’s son Robert concluded he was a Presidential jinx, after first deciding not to go to Ford’s Theatre on the night of April 15, 1865 (he felt afterwards that he might have been able to prevent his father’s assassination), then because he watched President Garfield be shot dead on Fourth of July weekend 1881, and finally because he was near President McKinley when he was murdered in 1901. After McKinley’s death Robert Lincoln refused to attend any function where POTUS was present. Curiously, in 1863 or 1864, Robert was once saved from death by thespian Edwin Booth, brother of his father’s assassin John Wilkes Booth.

At Floresville’s Wells Fargo Bank one August afternoon my sister & I ran into Dr. Steven Scheppler, who was physician to our parents for more than two decades. I have always admired Dr. Scheppler for his dedication and sincerity, and have greatly appreciated the fact that (unlike many other allopathic doctors in this & other countries) he always respected me as a physician, despite the decidedly unconventional character of my medical degree. On this afternoon Dr. Scheppler spoke to us of how much he appreciated our parents, whom he called “stellar” people, a comment their children much appreciated. Dr. Scheppler’s son Steven is currently in Afghanistan, in the military; we pray for his safety.

Notable movie of the month: Brideshead Revisited , with Emma Thompson et al.

Notable wild animals of the month: The fireflies that greeted me repeatedly but singly in the garden on warm rainless nights.

Notable deaths of the month: Doug Shilson, on August 13, and Richard Todd, on August 22. Doug and his wife Virginia hosted me at their home for many years whenever I visited Albuquerque; it was ever a pleasure to see his smiling face welcoming me and bidding me adieu on my every stay. Richard, who was on my high school debate team, was a founder member of the EWMBAPABA (Early Wednesday Morning Bowling And Pinball And Breakfast Association); I knew his parents Morris & Molly, and his brother Robert & sister Ruth, back then as well. A noted child psychiatrist, I was thankful to have been able to speak with Richard a few days before his death, and with his parents a few days after. When I asked Morris how he was doing, he replied matter-of-factly, “Well, I watched my son die; I don’t think I’ll ever forget that scene.”

May none of us ever forget that we are mortal!

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