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Sunday, June 19, 2011

Can you imagine ... ?

.., I was asked to serve as interpreter for a bus tour of the scattered sites that make up Rosie the Riveter WWII/Home Front Historical National Park.  It was to accommodate a request from the director of California State Department of Parks and Recreation in Sacramento.  The special guest was award-winning Morrie Turner, nationally-syndicated cartoonist (featured in over 100 newspapers), the creator of Wee Pals.  He had been following stories about me and wanted to know more about my work and that of the National Park Service.  Occasionally, he does a Soul Corner in which some person of interest is featured -- and it seems that I've come to his attention.   

We spent 3 hours wending our way through the city while I told the stories of the WWII era and what was happening on the home front at that time.  During the course of the tour I discovered that he'd grown up in Berkeley, that he knew my husband, Mel Reid, and that we'd crossed paths many times over the decades.  He was wonderfully warm and engaging, and as our visit came to a close he presented me with his original draft of the pen and ink original sketch on Betty Reid Soskin that will be featured in full color in about 8 weeks in the Sunday comic sections!

Can you imagine being presented with an honorary doctorate and appearing as a cartoon character in the same summer -- or even the same lifetime?

Next thing you know I'll be dancing on coffee tables and playing my kazoo (which I'm practicing just in case my position comes to a close in a few weeks as my current contract ends)!

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