Years ago my husband and I spent time in a Sunday School class taught by a man named Earle Davis, who always loved to talk about his years working with Les Paul, another famous New Jersey Celebrity.
It was at his home in Mahwah, NJ, about 1/2 hour from where we live now, that Les did some of his pioneering work on the solid-body electric guitar…which means he had a significant role in the rock ‘n roll industry, can you imagine rock ‘n roll without an electric guitar or two or three? I believe Les Paul guitars were later made by Gibson. It was always fun to hear Earle’s stories, and until I did my homework on Les Paul, I didn’t fully appreciate the significance.
Our friend, Earle, traveled with Les and his wife, Mary Ford, as their sound technician. If you click this link, you’ll be taken to a “Stars and Stripes” photo of the day that has a picture of our old friend, Earle, with Les Paul, his wife Mary and his son…I’d like to bring the picture over here, but want to respect copyright guidelines…it’s a great shot.
I believe Les is close to 90 and still making beautiful music, correct me if I’m wrong?
(I found the guitar pictured on eBay, on sale here in New Jersey. I don’t know the seller and have nothing to gain sharing the link to the post, but here it is just in case you’re looking for a vintage Les Paul guitar.)
Women’s History Month is slipping away, and I don’t want it to finish without giving some attention to another New Jersey woman who made history. Anne Morrow was born in 1906 in Englewood, NJ. Her parents achievements would fill a blog post nicely, but keeping focus on Anne, she was to meet Charles Lindbergh, already an accomplished pilot, when her father invited him to visit in Mexico (her father had been the US Ambassador to Mexico, and eventually a Senator in NJ).
Charles loved Anne’s quiet and thoughtful personality, and would marry her at her parents home in Englewood, NJ, which is actually less than an hours drive from where I live now. Charles’ love and encouragement built Anne’s confidence in herself. Charles taught her to fly, through him, she discovered abilities within herself she never knew she had. It is a rare person who has not heard of Anne and Charles Lindbergh. Ann would go on to be the first woman to receive a glider’s pilot license, and her husband the first to fly from NY to Paris (before they met). They went on to fly together, Anne as Charles’ co-pilot, recording flight routes and playing a great role in the history of flight as they traveled all over the world.
Their first child, Charles Lindbergh III was kidnapped from their then Hopewell, NJ home, and murdered, leading to the famous Lindbergh Trial that lead to so much media coverage that the couple had to leave the country for Europe. There are writings about how the Lindbergh’s were drawn in a bit by the thinking of Nazi Germany at the time, something that Anne would regret in later times.
For Anne, writing was an even greater passion than flying, and her husband, Charles, wrote as well, after the war in order to regain respect of the people who turned against him because of his thinking during the war.
Anne died in 2001 at the age of 94, 27 years after her husband’s death in 1974.
As I was typing the post yesterday about Clara Barton, and how she started the first public school in the US right here in New Jersey, then went on to start and oversee The Red Cross, it didn’t occur to me that this month is considered American Red Cross month. We do have much to thank the Red Cross for, if you haven’t visited their website to see all that they have accomplished, you may want to do so today.
If you listen to the news, you know that it seems like disasters are happening more, and whenever they happen, the Red Cross is there.
As we honor Women’s History Month, I thought a post or two honoring New Jersey women who have made it into the history books for their influence in American history would be appropriate.
All of you, boomers and non-boomers alike will remember reading about Clara Barton. I have to admit I wasn’t much for history class, no matter what grade I was in, the teachers made it so boring to listen too, but it fascinates me today, I guess I’m making up for lost time.
Clara Barton is best known as the founder of the American Red Cross, but she began her working career in education. In 1852 she opened the first public school in Bordentown, NJ (pictured), a school that grew from humble beginnings to 600+ students. Sadly, she left the school when they would not allow her the position of head of the school because she was a woman. It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it, when you consider that she opened the school. But history shows us that she had a greater destiny.
Her real fame was realized as a nurse during the Civil War. It was then that she founded the Red Cross. She oversaw the leadership of the Red Cross for over 20 years.
Looking back at her life, I can see that it is a good example of how, when God ends something that we think is important to us in our life, perhaps it’s because He has something greater in store for us.
Years ago my husband and I spent time in a Sunday School class taught by a man named Earle Davis, who always loved to talk about his years working with Les Paul, another famous New Jersey Celebrity.
Women’s History Month is slipping away, and I don’t want it to finish without giving some attention to another New Jersey woman who made history. Anne Morrow was born in 1906 in Englewood, NJ. Her parents achievements would fill a blog post nicely, but keeping focus on Anne, she was to meet Charles Lindbergh, already an accomplished pilot, when her father invited him to visit in Mexico (her father had been the US Ambassador to Mexico, and eventually a Senator in NJ).
