A poetic tribute to Angela Lansbury, a giant of stage and screen
Murder she wrote, but Disney she sang. Mrs. Potts fit her role to a tee. (Just ask Chip!)
Yes, Angela had the voice of an angel. She was hardly short on talent. This Mame truly could coax the blues right out of the horn. She could dance and act and sing.
This beauty was truly a beast when if came to hard work. Mrs. Potts poured herself into all she attempted. Playing Elizabeth Taylor’s sister or Elvis Presley’s mother, she was all in.
A rather tall woman, she stood head and shoulders above her peers. No wonder we looked up to her the way we did and the way we will continue to.
Peace to her memory!
*My wife and I had the privilege of hearing Angela Lansbury talk about her life and her career at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek, California three decades ago. That was about the time we visited Mendocino (on the California coast) for the first time. While there we drank in the quaint setting where “Murder She Wrote” was filmed for a dozen years.
King Charles walks with those who carry his mother’s casket at her funeral
With half the world we watched, O God, as one so dearly loved was carried on the shoulders of our grief.
In silence and in song, we heard You speak, Lord. Through the words of Your Book, we were reminded of the pages of our lives still being written.
Ironically, we recognize that a world divided by race, religion, injustices and war was united in this sacred moment by a common task: to remember Her Grace, with somber gratitude, as we contemplate Yours.
We acknowledge our alienation from one another and from You. We confess our need of a Savior. We embrace the gifts of His presence and forgiveness.
For Elizabeth, we voice our praise. With knowledge of Your sovereign reign, we quiet our pride. With a desire for Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven, we pray. Amen!
Remembering Great Britain’s longest reigning monarch
Your Majesty, you claimed your crown the year that I was born. You grieved your father’s death atop the throne. And now it is my time to grieve for one so loved as you. Your reign has been the longest Britain’s known.
You showed courageous dignity. You modeled poise and grace. You lived your faith with reverence, quietly. Your Highness, when life bent you down and you were feeling low, you found the strength to stand tall capably.
Elizabeth, you’ve left your mark on more than England’s soil. Your legacy around the globe will shine. And as the world bids you goodbye with tributes well-deserved, we sing “God Save the Queen” one final time.
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.
Greg’s book, “Finding God in It’s a Wonderful Life“ is listed on the BOOKS menu at $2.99-$14.99 Lulu Books.
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.
My Rhymes and Reasons 