Blog 2050 – 05.06.2021

Remembering Johnny Crawford & My Big Brother Robert Wayne White

The most fun blogs for me to write are always tributes. I take greater pleasure in seeing the best in others than I do in pointing out their lies, hypocrisies, or faults and we are all, everyone of us, guilty of behaviors that deserve both praise and at least cautionary warnings.

This morning I clicked on a recent pod cast paying tribute to actor and singer Johnny Crawford. Johnny passed at seventy-five years of age on April 29th, in his sleep with his loving wife by his side. He is perhaps best known for his six season role in the classic western TV series, The Rifleman, which starred Chuck Connors in the title role as Lucas McCain and Johnny as Mark McCain his devoted and adoring son.

The creator of the podcast tribute was, as myself and many of my generation, a fan of The Rifleman and Johnny Crawford and said of Johnny that he began work on the series at twelve years of age calling everyone on the cast and crew Sir or Ma’am and ended production at eighteen years of age the same way – a true gentleman till the end.

Today is my brother Robert Wayne’s birthday and he too is a true southern gentleman and a stellar performer and singer. Robert never made his living on TV or in the movies nor pursued a career with his singing voice, but he could have in my book. In middle school he played in the school play production of Mary Poppins to the amazement of his peers and teachers and remembering him sing Ten Thousand Angels in church and My Cup Runneth Over With Love at home still brings a smile to my face, a tear to my eyes, and a boost to my heart.

My still handsome and talented brother, though eighteen months younger, has always been my hero and my earliest recollections of him at three calling me Baby, because he could not yet get his tongue around the word David, made the name Baby my favorite to this day. Happy Birthday, Robert Wayne. My cup and heart still runneth over with love for you, the true big brother in our family.

Your friend, fellow traveler,

And brother (not just Robert’s and Johnny’s but yours too),

David White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5UGucaz8iwNejc3U29KZ1B3RVlTQWE2MElvRWIzS3F6alJ3/view?usp=drivesdk

My Cup Runneth Over With Love