One of the Finest - Dinny Dinsmore

Well, we lost one of the finest from our Pan Am ranks yesterday (3/13/2010). Captain Marion (Dinny) Dinsmore made his final trip after a short bout with Bronchitis and Pneumonia that proved to be just too much for his 97 year old aching body. As it quite often happens Dinny lost his beloved wife a short time ago after several years of being her caretaker. She was suffering from the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease and Dinny was at her side everyday. It took its toll on him and after she passed he didn’t have much to live for.
He was born in 1912 and lived through it all as fine God fearing man; WWI, the roaring twenties, depression, WWII (Lt. Col. Retired) and a full career with Pan Am. He was a gracious, polite gentleman to a fault. It was my pleasure to fly with him and be his friend in his last years.

I will miss our daily chats on the phone right at 5:30 PM, during which time he assured me he had a firm grip on his martini.

I think Will Rogers had the right idea. If you had any notions whatever about being a journalist, all you really had to do was hang around Washington D.C. There is a constant flow of noteworthy action that is better than any fiction you could dream up. The network news sources have thousands of curious little reporters (former voters) who are relentlessly nosing around and looking under rocks for salacious little tidbits.
“About all I can say for the United States Senate is that it opens with a prayer and closes with an investigation.”  Will Rogers

I saw a teenage (I think) girl on a bicycle steering with her left hand and apparently texting with her right hand while riding in traffic. Actually I don’t know why I am surprised I saw a guy on a motorcycle doing the same thing awhile back. Those damn things can get you killed. I see more and more people pulling over to mess with their cell phones these days.

You know what is one of the most vicious games there is?  Chess! The idea is tooutsmart your opponent. And that is a big blow to your ego. When I was playing pretty regularly I would be a snit for some time when I got beat, because the other guy just outsmarted you.
If you get beaten by someone in any other game you can probably find an excuse of some kind – not in chess - they outsmarted you, and that is that!

John McCain is still trying to get Jack Johnson a presidential pardon; what the hell is holding it up? The man was railroaded. He wasn’t very friendly but he was sure as hell was railroaded by a prejudiced society.

More later …..   CRW

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