Tina suddenly brought to my attention that the scrolling headline at the bottom of the screen seemed to point out something about Fess Parker.  It was an announcement of his passing, at the age of 85 years old...

Thus I wanted to change what I was going to do tonight by first blogging about Fess Parker.

You see, we had the honor of meeting Fess Parker back in 2003 when we visited his bed and breakfast inn.  (As seen in the above photo.)

I had grown up watching the multiple shows on Walt Disney's programs about Davy Crockett, and yeah, I had a coonskin cap too.

So I was very pleased to meet and talk with him, especially after we had just had a fantastic dinner at his restaurant.

Fess was perfect for the 'hospitality' business in his later life. He took control of the conversation, made sure we were more than happy at his bed and breakfast, and was pleased about our choices of entrees and wine at his restaurant.  Of course I mentioned our visit at his winery earlier that very day.

That meeting with Fess Parker confirmed to me what a gentleman he was, and that my 'hero worship' of him when I was a child was justified.

It was good to see those qualities in this man who had portrayed such a striking hero on TV during my early childhood.

He will be missed...

My condolences to his family, and to his many friends and employees at his different operations. 

My thanks to my wife, Tina, for bringing this to my attention tonight. She's already posted a notice on her Facebook member wall, as she was very impressed with Fess Parker also...