A Word Edgewise |
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A Word Edgewise |
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Last Updated 01/20/06
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Email: mjclen@our-town.com
A MONTH FOR RECALLING HEROES
In a way, it’s counting blessings, recalling heroes from the past. Certainly, they are heroes, and certainly it is good to stop and recount occasionally. All the men and women who have served our country in the armed services in wars of the past, those who served now and are ready for action when need comes, deserve our special notices.
Not all heroes wore uniforms. All those supporting workers who produced goods and materials, the farmers who fed the world, the nurses and doctors, did their part and more. Most of us who lived during the time of World War II were willing and able to serve wherever needed, but it wasn’t easy to find the right niche. I thought I had found mine as a nurse, and was preparing to go to Ft. Worth for training when the cry for help came from the trustees of Lone Oak school looking for a teacher. Guess there was nothing very patriotic about answering that call, except it was a need.
A hero that called Stephenville home, but wasn’t eligible for the armed services was Frank “Happy” McKeown. Some old-timers may remember “Happy” who died in 1957. He was born in Passaic, N.J. where he lost both arms up to the elbows in a machine in a rubber factory. As fate would have it, he married Jessie Tudor of Erath County, Texas in 1922 and they lived in Stephenville the rest of their lives. Their daughter, Elizabeth, (now Mrs. Marshall Zickefoose) was born in 1925.
Not surprisingly, desperation and depression followed the young Frank at the loss of his arms, but his determination to achieve independence wouldn’t let him stay down for long. The young man didn’t know what he was going to do for a while, then a friend brought a small boy around to see him, a lad born with stumps instead of arms. Happy taught him to do some everyday things that people take for granted. It was a life changing experience for both the little boy and Happy. Helping handicapped people became a lifetime occupation for Happy.
Born in 1887, Happy found ample opportunity for helping after both WW I and WW II. He visited army hospitals all over the United States to help victims of war who had lost arms or legs or otherwise wounded to make the most of the abilities they had.
At the request of doctors he would stride into a ward, facing a cold, suspicious, frustrated audience of ex-GIs and go into his wordless routine. He would shoot pool, bowl, eat with a knife and fork, throw, catch and bat a baseball, shave himself with a straight razor. By then he would feel his audience warming up a little. Then he would undress himself down to a pair of tights, and then dress himself. By then the audience would be with him. He would write a letter, fold it and put in envelope.
When Frank took a comb out of his pocket and pretended to comb his bald head, his audience was smiling. He said, “I have learned to write with a pen, shave myself, eat with knife and fork, drive an automobile, play baseball, dress myself. I do everything but wash my hands.”
Happy sold subscriptions to the National Bottlers Gazzette, as well as to other magazines. He entertained at major league baseball games, many other gatherings, and was billed as “The World’s Greatest Morale Builder.” Sometimes when he traveled across country by train, and newspapers told of his expected stop-overs in small towns along the way, people would call for him at the hotels and take him to homes or hospitals to visit with patients.
J. Louis Evans said in a eulogy at Frank’s funeral in 1957, “Neither the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, or campaign ribbons adorn the chest of Frank McKeown, yet no man-made medal of decoration would be a more worthy award for this man. . .his soul is adorned with the love of GIs the world over.”
Happy McKeown could teach all of us, handicapped or not, valuable lessons. His motto was, “God is good, today is good, but tomorrow will be better.”