From Whence I Came

As we reach the later years of life, I am sure all of us have experienced the thought, If I could do it over again. You know the feeling … if only I had … This realization toward the end of our lives, when we get a clear look at what our life has been, or could have been, with different decisions. The crystal ball shows us only the road behind with 20/20 vision. As is certainly my case.

I will recite my life in the first person, narrated as it actually happened. In the ensuing words and story, I will lay out the road my life has taken. It had sadness, happiness, disappointments, exhilarations, success, and failure. Plainly speaking … the ups and downs most lives have, although mine have been more varied, with touches of success and notoriety, than most … It has taken me from an impoverished family of a single mother and five children in the depths of the Great Depression of the ’30s in Oklahoma. This single mother raised three to serve in the military during WWII, two to go to the University of Oklahoma, one to have some success as an actor in Hollywood in television and movies.