Read About The People You Would Like to Meet

By Bill Ellis
Special to ASSIST News Service

SCOTT DEPOT, WV (ANS) -- I did not have the opportunity to meet personally some of my chosen friends. I did meet them, however, in the books I read about them.

Others I met after reading about them. One of the joys of reading is that of travel, entering into the experiences of others, though vicariously so, and becoming friends with those who have enriched our lives.

Reading about people you would like to meet certainly increases your chances of actually meeting them. Meet whomever you can in person.

One of the most enjoyable persons I ever met was Elvis Jacob Stahr, Jr., who was born on March 9, 1916, in Hickman, Kentucky, to Mary McDaniel Stahr and the Honorable, Kentucky judge, Elvis Stahr. At the age of 16, he entered the University of Kentucky where he was graduated with the highest academic average in the history of the school.

We met at an early morning breakfast at the Mayflower Hotel, Washington D.C. At that time, I was living in Anderson, Indiana, and working as the Public Relations and Promotion Director for the Radio and Television Commission of the Church of God.

Stahr and I arrived early. The door to the special breakfast meeting room was still locked. We started up conversation something like, "Hello, I'm Bill Ellis". And "I'm El Stahr." Then, "Where are you from El?" "I'm from Kentucky." "Nice to meet a neighbor", I said and added, "Actually, I grew up in Abbotts Hollow (we called it 'Holler') in the little coal mining community of Wevaco, WV, at the head of Cabin Creek."

We then began to inquire of each other about the "moonshining business" in our respective birth states. I told him about the day Oscar Fraley's old cow got into somebody's mash barrel up the hollow and got as "drunk as a skunk" and came running down through the community bawling and creating quite a ruckus

.

A drunken cow is not nearly the menace as a drunken human. A drunk is a danger to any society.

As the doors opened, El and I go lost from each other. I was shocked when I saw him sitting near the center of the speaker's table. How did a "Kentucky moonshiner" get such an impressive seat?

You can imagine my amazement when he was introduced as "the former Dean of the School of Law at the University of Kentucky, the once distinguished president of West Virginia University, staff director of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Commission on Education, a combat Army Colonel in China during World War II and now the "Honorable, Elvis Jacob Stahr, Jr., the Secretary of the Army for the United States of America." He, incidentally, left that position to go to the state in which I was living, to become the President of Indiana University.

How could I have been so uninformed? Talking with one of the most powerful and educated men in America and we are laughing and wasting our time discussing the antics of moonshiners.

I wonder what the conversation might have been like had I earlier read about the people who would be on the program. Anyway, we laughed and were relaxed and El Stahr will be one of my all-time favorite conversationalists. He probably wondered, "How did this clodhopper of all clods" get into this meeting of outstanding broadcast and government leaders.

I still wonder about that, but the memories are good. I have read enough since to know that the Bible says, "To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: . . . A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance; (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4).

Learn to laugh at yourself and with those whom you meet along the way.

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Bill Ellis is a syndicated columnist, and convention and conference speaker on every continent. He is the writer of more than 2,000 newspaper and magazine columns, articles and contributions to books. He is also a widely known motivational speaker and pulpit guest who utilizes enjoyment of life and just plain fun and laughter while speaking to high school, university and professional sports teams as well as to business and professional groups of all kinds. His keen understanding of human problems makes him a favorite speaker for youth, parent, and senior adult meetings. He is accompanied by Kitty, his wife, favorite singer, editor and publisher. For information on becoming a subscriber to the Ellis Column for your newspaper or magazine, you may contact him at: BILL ELLIS, P.O.Box 345, Scott Depot, WV 25560 or by calling: 304-757-6089.