Mary, the folks around the old Mudcat like to make a lot of jokes at Catspaw's expense because, well, he's a good-hearted fellow, and just as willing to laugh at himself as he is to laugh at all the rest of us. Not much mention is made of the personal history...the numerous accomplishments of this man who has come to mean so much to all of us. The early years he devoted to the treatment of Impetigo victims in Sumatra. The period he spent in the Himalayas as an itenerant Buddhist monk. His brief career as a Tuna Boatman in Nova Scotia. The many women who, for however fleeting a moment, sparkled like shining stars in his life, only to vanish with the dawn.The selfless volunteer work he did at the Neil Young Center, permitting himself to be tested and evaluated in an attempt to gain an understanding of several psychoses directly related to a fascination with certain marsupials.

No, he would not be so bold as to "blow his own horn" regarding his colorful past and his ongoing achievements. But he is a truly humble and gentle man... a man of whom Ronald Reagan once said " This is an American."