Her personal life touches mine as well…as she sacrificed her singing career to care for a disabled daughter. Watching my mother love and care for my disabled brother gives me a picture of what kind of person she may have been like. According to her Manager in an article I read on northjersey.com, the 31 years spent raising her brain-damaged daughter, Valerie, who apparently pre-deceased her, was her greatest accomplishment. Her daughter was born with hydrocephalus and needed constant care, which Phoebe provided for her rather than putting her into an institution. That says a lot about a person, doesn’t it? There are some things so much greater than fame.

Phoebe died at the age of 60 (wow, that’s how old I’ll be at my next birthday…we do tend to notice things like this as baby boomers, don’t we?) from complications of a hemorrhage to the brain she suffered late in 2010 – it was one of those health situations where one thing just seemed to lead to another from the information I’ve been reading.

One thing about losing a musician, actor, or other celebrity, is the fact that you can still listen to them or watch them after they are gone. So it is with Phoebe Snow, as seen in the following video. This later recording of “Poetry Man” by her in 2009 shows her wonderful personality and that almost 35 years later, she was still a very talented musician and will be missed:

Here is a time-line, so to speak, of the movement here in New Jersey:

1776 – It was Abagail Adams that wrote to her husband, John Adams, asking that woman not be forgotten in the new laws of our new Nation. In the constitution, all “inhabitants” of the land, without distinction of sex or race were given the right to vote…but in New Jersey (and perhaps elsewhere) the voters were to be property owners. If a woman was married, her husband was the property owner, so if my history is correct, only woman who were single and widows were permitted to vote.

Another source states that woman who possessed $250 were permitted to vote.

1787 – Women in all states except New Jersey lost their right to vote when the US Constitutional Convention gave States the right to set their own qualifications.

1807 – New Jersey joined the other States by revoking the right of women to vote – as well as aliens, and persons of color (Negros). Only white males were permitted to vote, the claim being that it would simplify things and help to eliminate fraud.

It was in 1920 that women throughout the United States won the right to vote through an amendment to the Constitution…ratified in 1920. You can find complete Women’s Suffrage time-lines at the following links:

100 Years Toward Suffrage

Votes for Women State by State

Womens Suffrage Events Timeline

Women’s Rights Timeline

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.)

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.

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.

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.