At the tender age of six years old, I was a messed up kid. In the
course of a year, I had gone through almost every childhood illness
known to mankind. Measles, mumps, chicken pox, and a constricted colon,
as well as lesser ailments like colds, flu, chronic ear aches and
headaches. On top of all this, one day on the way home from school, I
was chased by a group of kids. When they caught me, I was badly beaten.
Included in the beating was a kick to the eye resulting in surgery and
the wearing of an eye patch for quite a while after. My mom was the type
of person who tried her best to make the best of a bad situation. She
made an eye patch and hand embroidered a skull and crossbones design on
it. When I went back to school, all the kids thought I was the coolest.Shortly after the eye surgery, I came down with a severe case of tonsillitis. My tonsils were extremely infected, and I was rushed to the hospital. The morning after my surgery, a nurse came to check on me and said the lady in the next room wanted to meet me. The nurse put me in a wheelchair and rolled me into the next room. I immediately recognized the lady in bed as Irene Ryan, the actress who played "Granny Clampett", on the television show "The Beverly Hillbillies".
At the time, "The Beverly Hillbillies" was one of the most popular shows on television. I was delighted as Ms. Ryan introduced herself and asked me how I was feeling. She asked about my eye patch and if I was a pirate, and I told her the whole story. We talked for hours about many things: acting, pets, toys cartoons, television and movies, and the cast members of "The Beverly Hillbillies". We ate ice cream together; lots of ice cream. We discovered we were both die-hard Los Angeles Dodgers fans.
I was a shy kid, but her gentle persona and attentiveness immediately put me at ease. We talked as if we were old friends. Later that day as she was being discharged from the hospital, she came by my room and gave me a small gift and an autographed photo. Her kindness and friendship left quite an impression on me. Although this happened over fifty years ago, it is one of my favorite childhood memories.
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