Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 28

1 Today Lansing State Journal Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1991 2D kin rom hospital is rare Booting of close People, By IN AND AROUND LANSING Remembering a fallen hero ly printed a letter about a husband staying in his wife's hospital room. That couple had been married 53 years. My mother is 87. My father is 88.

They have been married 65 years. He had brain surgery six years ago and has slowed up a bit since. He uses a walker or a wheelchair but his mind is still sharp and his ability to speak was not affected. Helen and Al are a truly devoted couple. They still hold hands and declare their love for one another.

Dad says the reason he made such a remarkable recovery was because he knew Mom would be lonely without him. Sally Phillips Altman, Roseville, Calif. Dear Sally: Here's to Helen and Al, wonderful role models for a society that desperately needs them. Thank you for writing. Visitors traveling to Hawaii will now be able to see the first non-military-sponsored memorial to a black serviceman.

A bronze cast plate of World War II hero Dorie Miller is located at the entrance to Miller Park, a Naval housing installation at Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Navy dedicated the facility in 1989 to honor Miller, a black mess attendant, who brought down four Japanese planes during the Dec. 7, 1941, attack. The memorial was commissioned by Alpha Kappa Alpha as the first in its Black Faces in Public Places series.

It was unveiled earlier this month by Mary Shy Scott of Atlanta, AKA international president. 'Among those attending the presentation were Eva Evans of Lansing and Gloria Smith of East Lansing. Youth leader receives special award ANN LANDERS parents to stay overnight without charge. They have adjoining glass-partitioned rooms with couches, and parents are free to stay as long as they like. Children's Hospital in Boston has roll-out beds in all the rooms and bed space available if the child is in the intensive care unit.

They provide a "Parent Pack," which contains a blanket, two sheets, a pillowcase, two towels and a face cloth for parents who wish to spend the night. No charge. The Mayo Clinic has fold-out chairs available on request. They one quality The spotlight has shined on a local youth leader. Tom Finley, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Lansing, received the distinguished Heart and Soul Award at the club's recent midwest regional administrative conference in Chicago.

Tom is a man who adheres to a hands-on, lead-- by-example philosophy. That characteristic, accompanied by initiative, imagination and cre-ativeness, have contributed to his success. Tom began his professional career with the Milwaukee Boys Club in 1967. He has been with the Lansing club for 11 years. also have a sleeping room in their pediatric unit specifically for parents.

There is no charge for this. For a nominal fee, more commodious sleeping accommodations can be made available for elderly spouses of patients who prefer to be near their mate. Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles allows parents or spouses to stay overnight in the fold-out chairs designed for sleeping. No charge. For parents of children in the pediatric intensive care unit, nearby hospital rooms are made available at no cost.

In Chicago, Northwestern Memorial, Children's Memorial, St. Joseph, Columbus-Cabrini and Grant hospitals all permit overnight stays for family members without charge. We also checked St. Lawrence Hospital in Lansing, Mich. Since the pediatric unit there has only six beds, parents who ask to stay overnight are given cots.

There is no charge. Dear Ann Landers: You recent that has to "I have learned a lot through my handicap. A girl has to be resilient when her friends decide to hide her crutches. I have learned to laugh at myself to save my sanity. Once my book bag was so heavy I fell over backward and couldn't get back up.

I laughed until my sides split I felt so ridiculous. From that day forward my teacher, who helped me up, called me Turtle. "It isn't my mom's fault. I love the lady with all my heart and realize mothers of handicapped children aren't saints. They're just ordinary human beings.

You have to tell a handicapped child that he is loved every chance you get. A child can never hear it enough. "I can't give up on Momma. I want her to understand that if I weren't handicapped, it could have been worse. I could have turned out to be a Valley Girl, for Trick-or-treating at the Meridian Mall stores displaying an orange pumpkin in their store window for children ages 10 and under 6-8 p.m.

Thursday. Call 349-4800. Hispanic Association of State Employees: General membership meeting 6 p.m. Wednesday at Harley Hotel. Downtown Churches: Salad luncheon and mini bazaar 11 a.m.-12:45 p.m.

Wednesday at Christ Lutheran Church, 122 S. Pennsylvania; $3.50. ''S- 1 ERMA 'jd BOMBECK Ann Landers' advice column appears daily in Today. Where to write: Ann Landers Creator's Syndicate 5777 W. Century Suite 700 Los Angeles, Calif.

90045 he earned crying out loud. How do you give someone the courage to face what they are?" No one can share courage, give it away or leave it behind when they go. You have to earn it. On the other hand, you're never too old to get your own. Even a turtle doesn't get anywhere unless it sticks its neck out.

If there's a mother reading this who sees herself between the lines, she might shrug and say her handicapped daughter is well-adjusted. Call it by its name. Its name is courage. Erma Bom beck's column appears each Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday in Today. Where to write: Erma Bombeck Universal Press Syndicate 4900 Main Kansas City, Mo, $4112-9985 MSU Libraries: Seminar on "Obtaining Grants for Non-profit Organizations" a brief introduction to resources available on fund-raising and proposal writing, including an hourlong videotape on proposal writing 6-8 p.m.

Wednesday in the Patriarch Room, basement, main library, MSU; free but registration required. Call Diane Mayers at 353-9591. Lansing Ophthalmology P.C.: Dr. Todd Gothard will speak on "Senior Citizens and Their Vision" 1 p.m. Wednesday at Eagle Senior Citizens Township HalL Youth get invite from Riverwalk Theater Riverwalk Theater is opening its doors to young people Wednesday night for free.

They're inviting high school and late middle school youth to see a performance of "The Amen Corner," a powerful musical drama that takes place in a storefront church in Harlem during the 1940s. "Kids don't get exposed much to theater these days," said Doug Earl, a local designer who did the costumes for Riverwalk's first African-American production. "This show has opened a lot of people's eyes. We think the young people will enjoy it." The three-hour show will begin at 7 p.m. For reservations, call the Riverwalk Theater's box office, 483-1623.

Harvesting thoughts for a busy year Wharton Center Inner Circle will launch its new season with a fall luncheon Nov. 13 in the Grand Tier Lounge. Festivities will get under way at 11:30 a.m. with hot spiced cider, chicken salad in pita bread, relishes and sour cream coffee cake. The Elsingers of East Lansing High School will entertain.

Tickets are $11. For reservations or information about Inner Circle membership, call 353-4640. This will be a busy year for Inner Circle. The organization will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year. conformist." It's courage.

A handicapped student who attends a university in the South wrote me an unusual letter about courage. "I have cerebral palsy," she wrote, "and my mother has never accepted this, or as a result, me. She was given a child less than perfect, and she curses me for a lot of things that were problems to her long before I came along. Bethel Alliance Church: Family Fun Festival, an evening of games, food, videos and treats for the whole family 7-9 p.m. Wednesday at 2620 Lake Lansing Road; free.

Meridian Mall: Great Decorated Pumpkin contest with prizes awarded to largest, smallest, scariest, prettiest and celebrity-look-alike pumpkins. Monsters and hob-globins of all ages can bring their pre-decorated pumpkins to the mall's center court beginning 6 p.m. Wednesday with judging getting underway at 7 p.m. etc. Karen Douglas Finley Haley Marin Alex Haley will headline May dinner It's not too early to start saving special dates on yeur 1992 calendar.

Especially when someone like Alex Haley is coming to town. The Pulitzer prize-winning author will be the keynote speaker at the eighth annual Father Mac Scholarship Dinner May 5 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center. Chairing the benefit will be Jim and Annette Morin of St. Gerard Catholic Church. Proceeds will benefit the Lansing Catholic Central scholar ti Dear Ann Landers: The letter about the old gentleman who wanted to stay in his wife's hospital room was touching.

It certainly brought back memories. I wonder If they charged him for the cot he occupied. My only child was critically injured in a snowmobile accident last winter. She had surgery and I was with her 18 hours a day. "Suzy" was in a two-bed room, but the other bed was unoccupied.

One day when I was completely exhausted, I laid down on the other bed. Within minutes a male nurse came in and said, "Either you get off the bed immediately or you will be charged for it!" Is this the way all hospitals treat people? I've never forgotten this humiliating and upsetting experience. No name, just S.S., Somewhere in Mich. Dear Somewhere: I am pleased to tell you that your experience was most unusual. We did some checking around the country and this is what we learned: St.

Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis permits Courage is You can pack your kids with vitamins, teach them the alphabet and how to tell time. You can expose them to humor, the arts and travel. You can advise them on handling rejection and disappointment. You can get a "yes, Ma'am," "please" and "thank you" out of them on a good day. But you can't teach them courage.

And you can't take the credit for it, either. Parents tend not to recognize courage in their kids when they see it. When a baby fights for his life, we call it "spunk." When a toddler falls down and gets up again, we call it "stubbornness." When a teenejer says no to drink and drugs when all his contemporaries are saying yes, we call it "common sense." When a child hangs on to a principle against some stiff odds, we label it "non- TODAY'S CALENDAR The daily calendar is published as a free service to our readers. To have your event listed in the calendar, mail or bring it to Today's Calendar, Lansing State Journal (120 E. Lenawee, Lansing, 48919) one week before the date of the event.

Each day's item must be in writing on one of our printed forms (available in the lobby). All events must be held by non-profit organizations and should be open to the public SPECIAL INTEREST Jacobson's East Lansing: time with the mischievous character "Madeline" telling stories p.m today on the Children's Floor. HALLOWEEN EVENTS Alpha Gamma DeltaPi Kappa Phi: Haunted House with family hour p.m and the general public welcome 9 p.m.-midnight today at Alpha Gamma Delta house, 333 Charles East Lansing (behind Holiday Inn); admission $1 children, $2adults. Proceeds benefit Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and PUSH, People for Understanding the Severely Handicaped. Eaton Rapids Area Jaycees: Haunted House p.m.

today and Wednesday and p.m Thursday at 401 Canal St, Eaton Rapids; $1.50. Lansing Parks and Recreation: You have until Halloween morning to "Guess the Weight of the Great Pumpkin" at the Lansing City Market, 333 N. Cedar. At 1 p.m Thursday, Mayor McKane will weigh-in the giant pumpkin. Winner receives a prize of assorted products donated by market vendors.

483-4300. Qvspon-sored by Lansing City Market COMING UP Turner-Dodge HouseLansing Parks and Recreation: Enchanted House for children ages 4-12 with storybook characters telling scary and funny tales and parlor games, p.m. Wednesday at Turner-Dodge House, 100 E. North St; $2youth, $ladults accompanying a child. Children must be accompanied by adult 483-4220.

'60s ties hot item on '90s necks The '60s will never die. This holiday season, we can even wear tunes of the decade around our necks. Manhattan Menswear is coming out with a collection of ties inspired by 12 of the Beatles' most popular songs. Among them: "Yellow Submarine," "Good Day Sunshine," "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" and "Let It Be." Each tie, made of silk crepe, is labeled on the back with the song title, date of release and the group's name. Expected to be one of the big sellers of the Christmas season, the collection is due in major department stores nationwide Nov.

10. Ties will retail for Jane Vandermade, fashion director at Joseph Home's Co. in Pittsburgh, said the ties caused a stir when previewed at a fashion show earlier this month. A second collection of 12 ties will be available in late January, including "Nowhere Man" and "Paperback Writer." MM! ship fund. Haley's first book was the popular "Malcom His second, "Roots," a 1976 bestseller chronicling his descent from slave ancestry, has sold more than six million copies.

Etc. The Lansing Liederkranz Club will have a fund-raising dinner-dance Nov. 9 at its club, 5828 S. Pennsylvania Ave. Dinner will be served from 6 to 8 p.m.

and dancing will start at 8 and go to midnight. Entertainment will be provided by "Celebration." Tickets are $15 and by advance sale only. Call 349-3656 or 676-4893. MICHIGAN Nobel Prize winner bashes military spending Abolishing Costa Rica's army made it possible for the Latin American country to develop schools, hospitals, utilities and a transporta-1 tion system, said its former president, Oscar Arias Sanchez. "If the industrialized countries reduced their annual military by 3 percent, they could devote $25 billion each year to new programs for human progress," Arias said Sunday during a lecture for the Cranbrook Peace Foundation in Dearborn.

Arias led Costa Rica from 1 986 to 1 990. He won the Nobel Prize for Central American peace plan in 1988. ELSEWHERE jDanny Kaye's wife, his co-writer, dies Sylvia Fine Kaye, who wrote some of the funniest and most material performed by her husband, Danny Kaye, died at age 78. She had emphysema, said her publicist, Bobby Zarem. She wrote the words and music of such movies as "Up In Arms," Man," "The Kid From Brooklyn," "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," "The Inspector General" and "The Court Jester." She won a Peabody Award as writer, producer and host of a three-ipart public television series, "Musical Comedy Tonight." She won a television Emmy in 1976 for a children's special.

She and Kaye were married in 1940. He died in 1987. Their daughter, Dena Kaye, survives. Comedian tells students to stay in school Comedian Cheech Marin told a group of Hispanic students that staying in school is the best way to keep their lives from going up in smoke. vrar-x "5 n'TTr.

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Starting at just gggg i 'J' 1 i mi i nr in ii lii mil, in inn i nr, v' Jf'! ry Mall 349 4888 lllVniV -rt $1,000,000 DIAMOND SHOW! "i'f firsT;) vAwiHtTI OCT. 30 Meridian Mall jf A-('y Lansing Mall 321-3444 I OUR DIAMONDS DAZZLE, OUR QUALITY SHINES. 'wwiifuiwii iiyi pm 1 II. tmiiM tj( 1 "The future of this city rests on your shoulders. Whatever you make of it is what it is going to be," he told 65 Los Angeles area high school students Sunday at a leadership conference.

The irreverent comedian, who attended Ale-many High School in Mission Hills and California State University, Northridge, before going into show business, told the students to picture their lives as a concert in a big venue. "When I was younger, I always tried to sneak into a concert," Marin said. "I was always looking over my shoulder, afraid that I'd be caught. That's what it's like with no education." Gov. Mario Cuomo goes up against Holyfield Picture this: Gov.

Mario Cuomo and heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield. They're among 97 notables who picked their favorite picture for the November-December issue of American Photo magazine. Photographer Fred Rickard showed a pensive-looking Cuomo, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up, sitting on a spartan wooden bench at Ellis Island. The Associated Press contributed to this column. Karen Douglas is a Lansing Slate Journal staff writer.

Her column appears daily in Today. You can call her at 377-1063. Where to write: Karen Douglas Lansing State Journal 120 E. Lenawee Lansing, 4891t i.