The St. Jude Soundbites podcast shares stories that take place around St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital — as told by those who live them. Listen now (3 minutes per episode). Don’t miss these episodes: Jose Zambrano “Fireman Joe” has run dozens of marathons in support of St. Jude clad with 45 pounds of his firefighting equipment. Find out why. Dean Troutman At age 90, Dean Troutman set out […]

Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live! Bob Marley Robert Nesta “Bob” Marley was a Jamaican reggae singer-songwriter, musician, and guitarist who achieved international fame and acclaim. Starting […]

James Thomas Blackmon left this earth on January 11, 2022 to go to his heavenly home. Tom leaves behind his beloved wife of thirty three years, Susan Williams Blackmon. He also leaves behind his brother Bill Blackmon (Mary Edna) of Middlesboro, KY and brother in laws Johnny Williams (Josephine), Bart Williams (Celia) and Tommy Williams (Mary Ann). Tom had nieces’ […]

Original Post Charles McGee, a decorated military pilot with the pioneering all-black Tuskegee Airman who flew combat missions in three wars, died Sunday. He was 102. McGee died peacefully in his sleep, his family said in a statement obtained by Reuters. “He had his right hand over his heart and was smiling serenely,” his youngest daughter Yvonne McGee said in […]

Olivia Culpo was made to “cover up” before boarding a flight to Cabo San Lucas with her family Thursday, according to her sister Aurora. In footage shared by Aurora on her Instagram stories, the concerned sibling revealed that Olivia was called to the front of their gate only to be told to put on a blouse, or risk being prohibited from flying, […]

Original Post Drew Alexander, a music publishing executive in Nashville and son of former governor and senator Lamar Alexander, died Friday at age 52. Here is the obituary from the Alexander family: Nashville—Andrew Franklin Alexander, age 52, passed away December 31, 2021 after a short illness. Drew was born in Washington, D.C., on September 21, 1969. He moved with his […]

We’ve helped push childhood cancer survival rates from 20% to 80%. We won’t stop until no child dies from cancer. By sharing our breakthroughs and exchanging ideas openly, we’re inspiring more collaboration between doctors and researchers worldwide, and, as a result, providing more lifesaving treatments for children everywhere. And families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food — so they can focus […]

Good morning, it’s Dec. 31, 2021. Today is New Year’s Eve, the last day of a trying year in the civic life of this country. It’s also a Friday, the day of the week when I reprise quotations intended to be uplifting or educational. Today’s words of solace come from John Madden, a football lifer who passed away this week […]

By Ted Thornhill As Adolf Hitler pulled the world ever closer to conflict in 1939, Mohandas Gandhi wrote him a personal letter, urging him to pull back from the brink ‘for the sake of humanity’. The German dictator never received the letter because it was intercepted by the British government – but it’s been published in a book called Letters […]

A notable name in Jackson history on multiple fronts has died. Charles “Pepper” Bray passed away on Monday at the age of 87, according to his obituary on the website for George A. Smith & Sons Funeral Home. Bray was a 41-year veteran educator at Lambuth University, coaching multiple sports and serving as athletic director. The court in the gym […]

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, one of the most powerful figures in Washington during the Obama administration, died Tuesday after a four-year battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 82 years old. The Democrat, Nevada’s longest-serving member of Congress, died “peacefully” surrounded by friends, said his wife, Landra Reid. “Harry was a devout family man and deeply loyal friend,” she said […]

Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens. J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien  was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. He served as the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and Fellow […]

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional […]

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something. Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman is an English author of short […]

New York Post ATLANTA — Robbie Roper, the Roswell High School quarterback who was considering his college options following a successful senior season, has died following complications from a routine surgery. He was 18. Roper’s family announced his death on Twitter on Wednesday, prompting an immediate outpouring of expressions of sympathy, including from his hometown Atlanta Falcons. “Football is family,” the Falcons said […]

by James Carter, ©2021  (Dec. 21, 2021) — I still recall very well all the Christmases that my Dad was away fighting for our freedom in France, Belgium, Germany, Korea and Vietnam.  I also recall very well the Christmases that I missed being with family when I was away fighting for our freedom in Vietnam and protecting our freedom in […]

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. Charles Dickens Charles Dickens was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world’s most well-known fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented popularity, and by the twentieth […]

One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly. Andy Rooney Andy Rooney was an American radio and television writer. He was best known for his weekly broadcast “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney,” a part of the CBS News program 60 Minutes […]

I once wanted to become an atheist, but I gave up – they have no holidays. Henny Youngman was a British-born American comedian and violinist famous for his mastery of the “one-liner“. His best known one-liner was “Take my wife…please”. In a time when many comedians told elaborate anecdotes, Youngman’s routine consisted of telling simple one-liner jokes, occasionally with interludes […]

“Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for others. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values.” Thomas S. Monson He is an American religious leader and author, and the sixteenth and current President of The Church of […]