Wagoner's publicist Darlene Bieber announced on October 19, 2007 that the singer had been hospitalized and was in very serious condition. WSMV-TV reported that Wagoner was admitted earlier that week for observation from an illness. Bieber gave no further information but said that the country star was asking for prayers from his family and fans.
On October 21, 2007, his publicist confirmed that Wagoner had been diagnosed with lung cancer.
On October 26, 2007, Porter was released into hospice care. He died two days later in
Up until his illness and death, he appeared regularly on the Grand Ole Opry and toured actively.
Paul: I started out with the 6th cavalry regiment at
Paul: I volunteered. You will notice that the serial number of a soldier designates whether or not he is drafted or whether he volunteers. The volunteers started with a one. The draftees started with a three.
Paul: I was seventeen years old, 1940. I’d just graduated from high school.
Paul: The draft was unpopular, but it was realized by the…I think the entire nation that it was necessary. We had a war to win.
Paul: I was trained at approximately five radar schools scattered over the
Paul: Radar repair.
Paul: Well, we started out in Hume Fogge Tech in
Paul: Well, the British were driven out of
Paul: Well, I was a “Buck” private most of the time. By the time of 1944, I had attained the rank of staff sergeant.
Paul: In that war, yes. I was certain that we should. We, I think, had little or no choice, and that was the feeling of the general public and of the servicemen that I knew.
Paul: I think that our President Bush has pulled one huge boo-boo like our President Johnson did with the Vietnam War.
Paul: I’m well satisfied with our treatment after the war. They financed the soldiers for their education. And, of course that was a great help to me personally, but it was also help to the nation because it put us on a road to large advances in engineering and science.
Paul: None of my family, close family, were involved in the World War II. My grandfather and nine great uncles…my grandmother’s brothers and my grandfather’s brothers. There was a total of ten in the Union Army in the Civil War. My grandfather, Joel Lindsey Reagan, was a sergeant of Company D, the first
Paul: Played bluegrass music, except that bluegrass hadn’t been invented at that time. In basic training, I met a guitar picker named “Whitey” Stanford, Lewis E. Stanford, a guitar picker. I played the mandolin. So, the two of us picked and sang together everywhere that we went all through the war. When the war was over, he came home with me, essentially, and we played bluegrass music with the students at Tennessee Tech until we finished our education in physics and then we came to work at
Paul: It varied from good to poor. In the
Paul: Well, we brought money and extra supplies in. They looked forward to that we were not particularly welcome there, but it was mostly that we looked down upon the natives in the other…in
This is CoCo in the back yard , trying to make friends with the turtle.....
On our trip to Montana one place we didn't go was Cooke City - a small place outside the northern entrance to Yellowstone. However, I do check their webcams often to follow the snow there (It snowed a bit last night). Here is a photo from the Cooke City Exxon station - note buffalo on the highway to the left. (click on photo to make it bigger)
