Billionaires & Homecoming Queens… and Dorcas Reilly
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Paul Allen, Dottie Williams and Dorcas Reilly have “left us” since last we convened here. Each’s passing has a special significance…
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Paul Allen and his partner – Bill Gates – founded Microsoft in 1975. As of his passing at age 65 two weeks ago, Allen was worth in excess of $20,000,000,000 (with a “B”) making him among Earth’s 50 Wealthiest Individuals. He died of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma… a not uncommon form of cancer. 
An Allen contemporary – Steve Jobs (Apple) – died in 2011 from a form of pancreatic cancer. Jobs, of course, was also a multi-multi -Billionaire.
With both Jobs and Allen, being cured from cancer was certainly not a matter of “expense” but simply “no cure exists… legal or otherwise on the face of this earth.” All the genius oncologists in all the hospitals could not…
I find it sobering that of all our technological marvels which these men pioneered and profited from… The King Midas Reality prevailed. Also known as The Humpty Dumpty Absolute. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not…..
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A favorite line from a favorite song… Dragons live forever, but not so little boys… from Puff The Magic Dragon.
As we travel Life’s Road, we encounter certain people in certain roles. We interact with them however brief and we move on… remembering those people in those roles, although we realize they also “moved on”.
Dottie Williams was 1964 Homecoming Queen at Jesse W. Grainger High School. Many of us, myself included, knew Dottie for much of that 12 year Rite of Passage known as “in school together”.
Dottie truly was, to coin a trite phrase, a beautiful person both inside & out. The sincere compliment she is so sweet always fit Dottie. Yes, Dottie Williams was indeed a PDEW … “Pretty Down East Woman”.
In June 1965, we all scattered off to college and beyond. Dottie came back home after college… married a classmate… had two children… and then, alas, her life left the June Cleaver Track.
She taught French at the local Academy and was much loved by 40 years of students.
Being “much loved” by anyone for any reason for 40 YEARS goes a long way towards A Life Well Led.
Dottie passed away from breast cancer last week. I was at the funeral service with a cadre of friends and former classmates. There is a sobering joke that…
The attendance at one’s funeral will largely depend upon… the weather.
Monday was a beautiful autumn day in Kinston; but I’m sure St Mary’s Episcopal Church would have been filled regardless.
…We said GoodBy to our Homecoming Queen.
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If Paul Allen was a global business tycoon… and Dottie Williams was our Homecoming Queen then Dorcas Reilly fit somewhere in-between.
In the mid-50s, Dorcas Reilly was a cook in Campbell’s test kitchen. She mixed a can of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup with green beans and a few others ingredients and left an indelible mark on American Holiday meals.
Dorcas Reilly is credited with:
… inventing the green-bean casserole. YIKES!
She added a topping of French’s fried onions several years later. According to Ms Reilly… “adding the French’s crispy fried onions was the “touch of genius” in the dish.” Now you know… the rest of the story. Dorcas Reilly passed away at 93 on Wednesday.
Take Your Pick From This Trifecta:
Co-Founded Microsoft – Homecoming Queen – Invented green-bean casserole
Of far LESS importance…
UNCCH’s Chancellor Carol “Chihuahua” Folt has formally “Apologized for Slavery”. Ms Folt was doing so on behalf of “The University” and all who consider themselves under that umbrella.
Chihuahua’s apologizing for The Black Plague… the Extinction of Dinosaurs… and ABC’s cancellation of Last Man Standing remains in limbo.
I have spoken to a broad range of UNCCH related individuals… most less cynical than I tend to be on UNC-related matters.
No one I have queried has a clue “WHY in the Hell” this diminutive academaniac felt inclined to do what she did. Not a one…
All of those queried do agree that “Slavery” was indeed a most regrettable reality in our nation’s legacy.
Want to become A BIG DEAL to Chancellor Folt? Get together about a dozen or so similarly inclined lost souls, snowflakes, etc… draft a protest letter about whatever. It doesn’t matter how ridiculous. Stick it on Folt’s office door – VOILA! She will immediately STOP the University to pacify your contrived grievance. Try it. Trust me.
I have NOT asked notorious UNCCH AfAm spokesperson Debbie “Don’t Do Lunch” Stroman if she feels differently about UNCCH in the wake of Chihuahua’s comments. I suspect Debbie and her gang would prefer mucho millions $$$ in reparations or, at least, “free chicken biscuits for Life” at Time Out. And, of course, total freedom to do “whatever we AfAms damn well please whenever we damn well want to…”.
No harm in asking I suppose. With Chihuahua, ya never know…
As you might imagine… many suggestions are pouring in for future Official Folt Apologies on behalf of The University.
Samples include … “cancer in all forms” … “campus parking tickets”… “Jim Knight’s call reversal on TA’s knee” … “hiring Butch Davis, John Blake (Who?), Matt Doherty and Gene “Gasbag” Nichol” … and “those lifetime Lower Level seating rights that Skippa Bowles gave to his cronies when Dean’s Dome was being built in the mid 80s”.
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Somewhat Related… UNC System Prez Ma “That Bush Woman” Spellings is going ByBy after only three years… announced on Thursday. She’ll probably “be missed” by somebody although not by anyone I can think of off-hand. A remarkably UNremarkable 3-years… Next!
Early speculation on “Next” includes the usual sideshow menagerie of oddballs, whack-a-doodles and raging lunatics… headed by The Accuser – Christina Ford. For giggles and grins, lets throw in “Bully” Barber, Fats Thomas, Brooke Baldwin, Uncle Julius Nyang’oro, and “that nut that threw her blood and bodily fluids on Silent Sam”.
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I tend to follow College Football on a broader spectrum than many of you with narrower partisan perspectives, this past week I learned that:
A Michigan Football fan who did NOT attend the Ann Arbor-based institution is referred to as “a WalMart Wolverine”. I’m sure Michigan board monkeys are convinced they created that derogatory term…
Wisconsin Football fans are concerned that The Legendary Camp Randall Stadium Experience is in danger. Apparently UW students are NOT attending games in the mass quantity of past years. So, a committee is being formed to study the problem and propose a solution. I may be off by 5-6 but I believe this will be the 45th or 46th Power Five member institution to “study and propose” on this cultural epidemic.
No practical solutions have surfaced to date. … “extra charging stations” and “free funnel cakes for pretty coeds” are about as creative as they have been.
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Following the unfortunate consequences of Doeren vs Dabo 2018, I was going to remind Pack Faithful that The Orange Bowl (AKA “a real bowl”) was still a possibility… but, alas, it is not. This year’s Final Four rotation has the OB as a semi-final site. Going 11-1 and beatin’ the crap outta UNCCH and ECU, then going to a Whozit Bowl is pretty much it.
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On a related note… I snuck into Chapel Hill for lunch today. Four different people asked me “Is Fedora a goner?” … I proposed the unique trade of Fedora for Louisville’s beleaguered Bobby Petrino. Both struggling HCs have incredibly absurd “buy-outs”. If push comes to shove, “it’s all Monopoly Money” so who really cares.
A GoFundFedora’sBuy-Out on InsideCarolina has, I’m told, so far netted $12.68 from Sleeping Giant Is Us board monkeys.
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