Thank you, Mr. Formby

I would like to use this space to remember what has been, and will no longer be, an important part of my day. From October 1955, when I was 1 year and 7 months old, until the day before his death on July 31, 2010, Clint Formby was a friendly voice over the airwaves. I only had the pleasure of listening to him for the last 20 years or so.

I am blessed to live in a town with it's own radio station, KPAN radio. When I am out tooling around running errands and such, this is the station to which I listen. They cover the local news and the local sports. They cover the local churches and the local schools. They feature the "Good neighbor of the day" and are everything that I think a small town station should be.

One of their radio features was the "Day-by-Day Philosopher". This program was initiated in October of 1955 by Clint Formby and continued 6 days every week until July 30,2010 for a total of 17,160 consecutive broadcasts. Mr. Formby even broadcast from his hospital room when he was ill. It was broadcast at 7:45 a.m. and thus became an important part of my morning, as well as that of my grandson.

When Moose was little, he stayed with us. I am not much for clocks and tend to run my time by what's on the TV and/or the radio. To this day, I get ready to leave the house after the Top Ten is over on my favorite (or at least less irritating) nighttime show.

Moose and I would leave the house in the morning after our local ABC news affiliate finished with their mid-hour update. This made it 7:24a.m. Moose ate better in the car so I would hand him some food, grab his backpack and off we would go. We would stop and get coffee and a paper and would drive to the school parking lot where we would break fast and visit a bit before school started. In the background, always, was the "Day-by-Day Philosopher". More often than not, something he said would catch either my ear or the Moose's. We discussed a variety of subjects that I probably would not have thought to bring up.

It was a great comfort to me to know, without a doubt, that my grandson would not be hearing anything that needed explaining. Mr. Formby's broadcast was always, at the outside, PG-13 but most often G rated. It was never mean-spirited or spiteful but inspiring, friendly, and gracious.

Some of my best morning memories involve my grandson, a cup of coffee, the paper, a semi-deserted parking lot and the congenial voice of a very philosophical man. Thank you, Mr. Formby.