Riding home from a family dinner at Hacienda in NW Indiana, I was not really listening to the radio, it was background noise. My father in law was driving, my better half and I were in the back seat, both lost in our phones, oldies playing in the background. I heard the announcer speaking for a moment, and then something made me sit bolt-upright and start listening closer.
"Did he just say "Shotgun Tom" Kelly??"
"I don't know. I think so, why?"
"Oh, when I was a kid in San Diego, my dad was friends with a local dj out there with the same name"
"Probably just coincidence"
Let me share with you all, my view on coincidence. I am an avid reader, some might say even obsessive. But there are 5 books I read at least once every year. In no particular order, they are:
The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli
The Art of War - Sun Tzu
The Perfect Kill: 21 Laws For Assassins - Robert Baer
The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive - Patrick Lencioni
The Godfather - Mario Puzo
It's that 5th one that I quote, when it comes to coincidence...sorta.
"Accidents don't happen to people who take accidents as a personal insult" - Don Vito Corleone. Well, the Lion version goes "Coincidence never happens to men who take such things personal". That said, I decided to google the man my father considered a friend (I make that distinction, because Tom may very well not remember my dad, and my dad made friends everywhere he turned. Wonder where I get it from...I digress). Turns out, it was the SAME Tom Kelly!
Tom may not remember my dad, but then again, he may. My dad was a man who, for all of his flaws, was widely loved by everyone he met. He made quite an impression on complete strangers! But if Tom doesn't remember my dad in life, I can't imagine he could ever forget his death, even if he didn't realize who had died. You see, my dad drove gasoline tankers, the BIG ones. His truck pulled two gasoline trailers, and the day he died became front page news. On the morning of April 1st, 1989, there was an unknown carbon monoxide leak in the cab of his truck, and at 4am, at the Las Pulgas Rd exit of the I-5, my father's truck overturned and exploded, causing the biggest traffic jam in San Diego County history (at that time), backing up traffic as far south as the Tijuana boarder and as far north as San Juan Capistrano. The I-5 was backed up for better than 6hrs. It was the talk of San Diego radio and news for that day and several to follow.
http://articles.latimes.com/1989-04-02/local/me-1695_1_traffic-jam
At any rate, it's interesting how something as simple as the name of a radio DJ/announcer from your childhood can bring in so many memories.
How small of a world this is, indeed. Welcome to SiriusXm and The 60s on 6, Mr. Kelly.
How small of a world this is, indeed. Welcome to SiriusXm and The 60s on 6, Mr. Kelly.
You may not have remembered my dad, but he certainly thought the world of you.
Wade "Lion" Lindwedel
President
True School Entertainment, LLC
