Paul Harvey And Me

Paul Harvey has died. I cannot remember a time when I didn't listen to him on the radio. He was 90 years old and evidently barely outlived his wife, who died last year, so it isn't a shock, but it is sort of nostalgic.

Whenever I had the chance I would listen to "the rest of the story." But the one story I remember best was one he did while I was still teaching. He talked about little Hans Skillrud who liked to ride John Deere tractors and mow the lawn with his father on the weekends. When asked if he wanted to be a neurosurgeon when he grew up, Hansie said "No, that's for girls!"

Hansie was in my three year old pre-school class. Both his parents were prominent doctors, but his mother was a neurosurgeon! I had all three of their children over the years and I remember thinking one day, that I might be teaching the tiny hands of a future neurosurgeon how to hold their first scissors.