Fess Parker

One of my childhood heroes has passed to the great other side.

Fess Parker died last week and I just read about it today.

There are not too many of us alive today who admired, emulated and wished his character was our friend.

Fess Parker was Davy Crockett, (A man of the wild frontier, as the song goes). He was the star of a 1954 series that lasted for several years. He went on the become Daniel Boone, another series that lasted six years.

Mr. Parker was a smart guy. He used his celebrity to market products rather than himself and he became a celebrated businessman in real estate, vineyards and a resort owner.

He had an undergraduate degree in history from the University of Texas and a master’s degree in drama for the University of Southern California. Television quickly moved him from obscurity to celebrity in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

I had a lot of TV heroes when my parents finally got television in the early 1950’s; Fess, Hoppy, Roy, Captain Video, Uncle Milty and Bishop Sheen.

As I grew older my television heroes changed. They went to Walter Cronkite, JFK, Gardner McKay, David Jansen, and Robert Frost.

My heroes changed again within a few years as I experienced life and living with my own family and greater mature responsibilities. In fact, my heroes changed more rapidly and more often as I got and get older.

My heroes today are anyone who puts service over self; Anyone who acknowledges the truth of spirit over dogma; Anyone who can laugh at the alleged seriousness of life and anyone who can dislike disagreeable and disastrous choices in others, but can still love unconditionally.