I love Marilyn Howland. She is one of my favorite people. Every Sunday morning she sits on the pew in front of me at First Baptist Church, San Antonio. (It would actually be more appropriate to say that I sit on the row behind her so I can nudge her when she starts dozing during the pastor’s sermon.
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This past Sunday the worship service was close to starting but Marilyn was no where in sight. I got down on my hands and knees and looked under her pew thinking that she might have slipped in un-noticed, fallen asleep and her limp body had slithered to the floor. It was a wasted effort because she wasn’t there either.
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Out of deep concern, I asked someone on her row if they knew where she was. It was then that I learned that she had, a few days earlier while attending a funeral service at the church, slipped and fallen to the floor — landing flat on her face. From what I hear she is quite banged up but is expected to recover from this terrible accident. For this I am thankful.
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What caused Marilyn to fall? No one knows for sure but there are several theories bantering around the church.
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It is a well-known fact amongst the Baptist brethern that Marilyn is no spring chicken since she is a few years older than I am. Some Theologians believe that accidents such as this happen because the Lord uses “Senior Citizens” as examples as to how gravity works.
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Some people who don’t know Marilyn as well as I do think that alcohol might have been involved. I totally reject this theory although it could be theoretically possible that she might take a nip or two for medicinal purposes only.
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The most plausible explanation for the accident is as follows: During her younger days it is common knowledge that Marilyn could “Boogie-Woogie” with the best of them. I have learned from fairly reliable sources that Marilyn was on her way to the ladies room when she, by chance, met the pastor in the hallway. He greeted her and told her that he had recently returned from a trip to Charleston, South Carolina. Marilyn had evidently forgotten to wear her hearing aid that day and in her mind she thought the pastor was asking her to Charleston.
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I don’t for even one moment think that Marilyn accidently tripped and fell to the ground. There is sufficient evidence to indicate that she was zapped by a lightening bolt for dancing in a Baptist church.
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I just finished this cartoon for a new company in Sinton, Texas who offers drug testing services for businesses in the community. It just happens that one of their employees is my grandson, Ricky Heyser, so you can guess how much I got paid for all the hard work I did. How about Zero, Nada, Nothing ? But it was worth it since Ricky is my favorite grandson.
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It was my good fortune to have been born and raised in Bisbee, Arizona. This fairly small copper mining town, located in the Mule Mountains of southeastern Arizona on the Mexican border, was the ideal place to be raised during the 40′s and 50′s. Even today, 60 years later, there is a bond which unites all people who grew up in that town.
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One of the interesting stories about Bisbee has to do with one of their schools, Lowell Elementary. This school was dedicated on August 3, 1931 and was heralded as one of the finest grade school buildings in Arizona at that time.  It was very modern in architecture and convenience with ornate art work adorning the outside of the building.
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One of the more outstanding features at Lowell making it so unique and special, was the massive, double doors, constructed of 800 pounds of pure copper.   The doors were symbolic of the Bisbee mines and the ore that was the towns chief native product.  Because of safety issues the doors were removed in 2008 and remained in storage until 2010 when then principal, Lisa Holland decided that the doors needed to be re-hung.  She contacted the head of the Bisbee Alumni Association, Carol Loy (a formerly Internationally known model during her career days) about having the doors refurbished. Carol immediately went into action and began fundraising with “Copper Pennies For The Copper Doors” as the rallying cry.  Donations came in from all over the country and now the copper doors are once again in their proper place.  Restoration costs were $9300.  The main restoration work was done by two local artisans, George Green, coppersmith and Chris Flagler, master carpenter.
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Carol had asked if I would draw a cartoon for the August 3,2011 program dedicating the rehanging of the doors —which I was more than happy to do. Wonderful strong memories of passing through, and admiring these doors has caused a high level of anticipation in the refinishing and re-hanging. They are an important part of not only the school, but Bisbee history as well. The school has been the site of plays, assemblies, town meetings, concerts, graduations and various other Bisbee events through its eight decades.
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Lowell Elementary Copper Doors