Rhonda's Blog (4)

Country legend Ronnie Milsap came to our local state fairgrounds for a concert recently.  He told the story of his first encounter with Brother Ray Charles. I have paraphrased the story as Mr. Milsap told it that night.   When Ronnie graduated from the school for the blind in North Carolina he'd had 12 years of classical musician training and had decided to be a musician-especially since he'd played the piano since the age of 8. His…

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 As members of Taylor's fan club-the infamous "Soul Patrol" we all like to think of ourselves as one of the elite group of fans that support Taylor no matter what happens in his career and follow him wherever his career takes him.  Yet our

BEST efforts fall way short of the woman that was, is and always will be Taylor's Biggest fan-his grandmother-affectionately known as "Grandma Joni" who recently passed away.

 

In his autobiography "Heart Full of Soul" Taylor…

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Through a dear friend, I had discovered something called "Honor Flight" in which local volunteers from the local American Legion and various other military related groups sponsored free flights to Washington, DC for WWII vets to see their memorial and spend the day in our nation's capital.  Often these men were in wheel chairs and had to have volunteers wheeling them around and medical staff on standby to handle any problems.  On these flights, these vets were sent off and greeted…

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It was a chance encounter. I was grabbing a burger at Hardees, and the older gentleman (named James) at the table beside me, (like myself dining alone), began our conversation by asking the location of the nearest stores. He explained that he had come to town to visit the local Veterans' Hospital for some treatments, realized that the town had changed and needed to kill time before his appointment.



Intrigued (and knowing about this availability here) I pursued the veterans' topic… Continue