Yes, Virginia There is a…

August 26, 2022August 23, 2022 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

**Hollywood actress Virginia Patton Moss had a wonderful life**

Yes, Virginia, there is…

A solitary somber bell ringing in Bedford Falls.

A host of fans who grieve your passing.

A wonderful life waiting beyond this one.

A reunion with loved ones who’ve gone before.

An audience with the One whose sinless life, undeserved death and unexpected resurrection
make it all possible!

Good grief! You’ve had a great life!

Peace to your memory!
Comfort to our hearts!

Virginia Ann Marie Patton Moss (June 25, 1925 – August 18, 2022) was an American businesswoman and actress. After appearing in several films in the early 1940s, she was cast in her most well-known role as Ruth Dakin Bailey in Frank Capra‘s It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). In 1949, Patton retired from acting, with her final film credit being The Lucky Stiff (1949).

While a student at USC, Patton began to audition for acting parts. She collaborated in plays with screenwriter William C. DeMille while in college.^[6] She had several insignificant film appearances before being cast in Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) as Ruth Dakin Bailey, the wife of George Bailey’s younger brother Harry. Although Capra did not know Patton personally, she read the role for him and he signed her to a contract. Patton later said that she was the only girl the famous director ever signed in his entire career. Patton still gave interviews about It’s a Wonderful Life and was the last surviving credited member of the adult actors in the film (a number of child actors are still alive).

Patton made only four films after It’s a Wonderful Life, including her first lead in the B-Western Black Eagle (1948).^[7] She appeared in the drama The Burning Cross (1946), a film about a World War II veteran who becomes embroiled with the Ku Klux Klan upon returning to his hometown.

Patton was married to Cruse W. Moss from 1949 until his death in 2018. She gave up acting in the late 1940s to concentrate on raising a family with her husband in Ann Arbor, Michigan.^[7] She later attended the University of Michigan.

Virginia’s husband Cruse began his career with Kaiser-Jeep Corporation ultimately serving as President of the Automotive Division. Jeep developed the first SUV – The Wagoneer under his leadership. When American Motors acquired Kaiser Jeep in 1970, Mr. Moss formed AM General Corporation and served as its first President. AM General became the world’s largest manufacturer of tactical wheeled vehicles with factories worldwide. He subsequently joined White Motor Corporation, a Fortune 500 company and a leading worldwide manufacturer of heavy-duty commercial trucks, farm equipment and materials handling equipment as President and Chief Executive Officer and later became Chairman of the Board. Mr. Moss left White Motor Corporation in 1985, after the sale of White to Volvo, to devote full-time to the growth and development of General Automotive Corporation, which he founded. He retired from General Automotive Corporation in 1996.

Remembering the King!

August 16, 2022 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

**Elvis Aaron Presley died on August 16, 1977**

Forty-five years ago today,
the King left the building
for the last time.

But sadly, Elvis was not convinced
of his true worth
when he departed the castle
we call earth.

As a boy the Monarch of Rock and Roll
had given the Lord his soul,
but the insecurities of his early life
had robbed him of peace of mind.
There was no peace in the
“Valley of the Dolls.”

Blind to the seductive greed of success,
Elvis Aaron Presley stumbled
into the ghetto of addiction,
infidelity and pride
where he died a pauper (though a king).

On August 16, 1977
the home he called Graceland
became “Heartbreak Hotel.”

In spite of his tragic life
doing it “his way,”
my hope is that
the One who saw Elvis
crying in the chapel as a kid
loved him tender
all the while taking his hand in His
leading him to the Eternal Land
of grace, life and peace.

I learned of his death while leading a group of senior adults on a tour of the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska that sad summer day in 1977.

The radio in the visitor’s center broke the sad news. And though I was not wearing blue suede shoes, I was all shook up! And all these years later, based on the music we hear on Spotify and iTunes, Elvis is always on our mind!

I bought my first Elvis album (His Hand in Mine) when I was twelve years old in 1964.

The Three Amigos

August 12, 2022July 29, 2022 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

**David McKenna, Greg Asimakoupoulos and Don Argue communing at St. Arbucks**

Much like the Holy Trinity,
we’re one in friendship, though we’re three.
We listen to each other’s hearts
and pray for those we love.

St. Arbucks is our chosen place.
It’s where we sip a cup of grace.
Such rich communion slakes our thirst
and nourishes our faith.

Our trust allows transparency.
We own our fears and victories.
Without the need to preen or boast,
we share our memories.

The Three Amigos! Such are we.
A brotherhood. A company.
A triune cadre with one aim:
to spur each other on.

* Dr. David McKenna is the past president of Seattle Pacific University and Asbury Theological Seminary. Dr. Don Argue is the past president of the National Association of Evangelicals and Northwest University. Both men have become mentors to me as we meet regularly to debrief lessons learned on our spiritual journeys.