By Edwin Cooney
Okay, before I get into trouble with the properly precise
among you, I must stipulate the following:
Every day and month of the year has its individual
significance as people are born, marry, get a job, have children, make
decisions and ultimately die.
However, it seems that every month has its own flavor. Thus I invite you to take a quick trip
with me through October, one of my favorite months of the year, to savor its
flavor.
Beginning with this very date, six presidents celebrated
October birthdays:
Jimmy Carter (President 1977-1981) was born on Wednesday,
October 1st, 1924 in Plains, Georgia. He was the first president
born in a hospital.
Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-1881) took his first breath on
Friday night, October 4th, 1822 in Delaware, Ohio.
Chester Alan Arthur (1881-1885) became an American citizen
in Fairfield, Vermont on Monday, October 5th, 1829.
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961) opened his baby blues for
the first time in Denison, Texas on Tuesday, October 14th, 1890.
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. (1901 - 1909) gave his first lusty
cry at about 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 27th, 1858 at 28 East 20th
Street, New York City.
John Adams (1797-1801) began his principled and sometimes
austere existence in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts on Wednesday, October
30th, 1735. Can you
smell the birthday candles and perhaps even taste the cake?
Just two of our presidents thus far have passed away in
October. President Franklin Pierce
(1853-1857) died on Friday, October 8th, 1869 in Concord, New
Hampshire.
Handsome Frank, whose term was made tragic by the death of
his son and by “Bleeding Kansas from beginning to end," was the only
president to keep his entire cabinet throughout his term in office. Herbert
Clark Hoover (1929-1933) passed away on Tuesday, October 20th, 1964
at age 90 in New York City.
October baseball is especially exciting. It was on the mild Indian Summer
afternoon of Sunday, October 1st, 1961 when Roger Maris, a former
North Dakota high school football star, broke Babe Ruth’s 34 year-old record of
60 home runs in a single season. (Ironically, just two years later, Mark
McGwire one of the men who would break Roger Maris’s home run record in 1998,
was born in Pomona, California.
The date was Tuesday, October 1st, 1963.)
Friday, October 4th, 1957 should have merely been
an off day between the second and third games of the World Series between the
New York Yankees and the Milwaukee Braves. Instead, it was the day Nikita Khrushchev’s Soviet
government successfully launched Sputnik, the world’s first manmade satellite,
into space and many Americans experienced the taste of brain numbing and bone
chilling fear. Many of us
wondered: if those Communists could launch a satellite, how soon would they be
able to launch an orbital atomic bomb against which we’d be defenseless?
Then, of course there’s October 12th on which
most of us celebrate the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus to our part of
the world.
On Wednesday, October 9th, 1940, John Winston
Lennon made his first appearance in Liverpool, England. His calling was that of writing,
producing and singing songs. Along
with Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono, young Lennon
provided music that cheered and thrilled us, made us wonder, and even allowed
us to “imagine the seemingly impossible.” Those songs linger in our hearts even
today, over 30 years since his voice was so suddenly, outrageously and
tragically stilled!
Like Santa’s sack, October is loaded with almost countless
goodies, holidays, sensations and emotions. There are those crisp fall days and chilly fall nights when
we men get to dance and cuddle with sweater-clad ladies before a crackling fire
or in a cozy living room accompanied by soothing music. Then there are those early to midseason
college and professional football games and most certainly baseball playoff and
World Series games. The glory of
these contests is that they quicken the pulse in anticipation of complete (but
harmless) triumph over a sports foe -- as opposed to the desperate and
essential triumph of the soldiers’ battlefield.
If you are a Canadian citizen, it’s Thanksgiving Day on the
second Monday of the month (any time from October 8th to the 15th). October fests offer good beer and
plates heaped with delicious rib-sticking food and delightful deserts whether
you live in Berlin, Germany or Jonesville, USA. Finally, there’s spooky Halloween which, if not taken too
seriously, can delight the imagination with memories of childhood stories such
as Grimm’s Fairytales or the story of Hansel and Gretel. If you survive that, Halloween’s
doughnuts, cider and hot chocolate are just the ticket to bring October to a
happy and memorable close.
This quick pass through October is far from a complete
history or even overview of the month.
However, hopefully it’s a tempting spoonful. How does it taste?
It tastes just fine to me! How about you?
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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