I (Lew Duffey) can relate to Mr. Chesterton. I graduated from high school with a diploma that said I had passed a course in Vocational. I had taken two years of welding shop. That should not be surprising. I took all the tests entering in the ninth grade and the guidance counselors didn’t think I was academic stuff.
Upon graduating I joined the U.S. Army but that was short-lived because I suffered from fallen arches and was sent home again. My folks didn’t know what to do but the got help and after a little over two years rebuilding my arches I was once more looking for something to do for the rest of my life. My mother always said what she thought.
“Why don’t you go into radio?” she said. “You’ve got the mouth for it.”
That’s what I did. After the required training I got my first job at a little one-thousand watt station in Orange Virginia. I made several moves after that and finally got a job that I would keep for many years at WARK in Hagerstown, Md.
I was the DJ for quite a while doing the evening shift. It was aimed at the teenage audience and of course I played Elvis, The Beachboys, the Contours… you name it. I eventually moved off the air and took a full-time job as sales manager.
Who would have thought that a timid young man with a degree in welding would ever become a radio announcer?
This only goes to show you that living for today is the best way to live. Tomorrow? Who knows?
Here is a quote on the subject by Maria Edgeworth:
"If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves."
~Maria Edgeworth
