John Powell Mackey was born in Houston, Texas back in 1953 to William and Margaret.  He studied philosophy and religion at the University of Texas at Austin and Trinity University in the 1970’s.  While continuing his education he worked at a vegetarian co-op.  He spent almost 6 years at the universities without achieving a degree.In 1978, he co-founded his first health food store, SaferWay in Austin, Texas with his girlfriend Renee Lawson.  He serves on multiple nonprofit boards of directors.  In 2006, he announced he was reducing his salary to $1.00 per year, donating his stock portfolio to charity and setting up a $100,000.00 emergency fund for staff facing personal problems.  He resigned his position of Chairman of the Board.What you may not know about John is that in 1980 they merge... 09/04/2021

Milt Machlin was born in New York City, New York back in 1924.  After just one year of college he enlisted in the United States Army serving in the Asia Pacific Theatre.  After the war, he attended Brown University, continuing his education he earned a second from the Sorbonne in Paris.After graduation, he worked as a journalist for the Agence France Press, then as an editor for the adventure magazine Argosy.  In 1969, he traveled to the jungles of Papua New Guinea.  His mission was to learn the fate of Michael Rockefeller, son of the New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller.  He never found Michael but he was sure that Michael had been killed by a local tribe. The true fate of Michael has never been discovered.  Milt died in 2004, he was 79.What you may not know about Milt is that he coine... 08/31/2021

Henry Solomon Lehr was born in Mahoning County, Ohio back in 1838 to George and Salome.  He first attended school at the age of twelve while still working full-time as a farm hand.  His primary interest was in education.  In 1854 he earned his teaching certification and began teaching part-time while still continuing to do his farm work.His studies were interrupted by the American Civil War, when discharged in 1865 he felt compelled to continue to learn.  He moved to Ada, Ohio becoming the schoolmaster there.  In 1871, the Northwestern Ohio Normal School was launched.  He finally earned his PhD from Mount Union College graduating 10 years behind the class with which he had entered.  What you may not know about Henry is that the Northwester Ohio Normal School changed its name to Ohio Nor... 05/16/2021

John Hundale Lawrence was born in Canton, South Dakota to Carl and Gunda back in 1904.  I wrote about his brother Ernest the other day.  He graduated from the Canton High School, before enrolling at the University of South Dakota.  He continued his education getting his M.D. degree from the Harvard Medical School.He had a long-term association with the University of California, Berkeley working at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.  He discovered treatments for leukemia and polycythemia by injecting mice with radioactive phosphorus derived from the cyclotron invented by his brother.  His main field was working with cancer patients. He was awared the Enrico Fermi Award in 1983.  He received honorary degrees from the University of South Dakota, University of Bordeaux and the Catho... 05/03/2021

Arthur Kornberg was born in New York City, New York back in 1918 to joseph and Lean.  He attended the Abraham Lincoln High School, continuing his education at City College.  he received his Bachelor of Science in 1937, followed by a M.D. at the University of Rochester in 1941.  He did his internship at the Strong Memorial Hospital between 1941-42.  After his internship he joined the United States Coast Guard serving as a ship’s doctor.  He was invited to the National Institutes of Health; his assignment was the feed specialized diets to rats to discover new vitamins.  In 1953, he was a Professor and Head of the Department of Microbiology, at Washington University in St. Louis.  The Arthur Kornberg Medical research Building at the University of Rochester Medical Center was named in his h... 03/10/2021

Tadeusz Wladyslaw Konopka was born in Litchfield County, Connecticut back in 1923 to Charles and Sophia.  He dropped out of high school to enlist in the United States Army in World War II, he was a member of A Company, 296th Combat Engineer Battalion.  He earned five battle stars while serving in the European Theatre.Postwar he studied acting in Hartford, Connecticut.  He became proficient with puppets and ventriloquism.  He spent most of 1950’s and 1960’s doing commercial voice-overs and playing minor television and movie roles.  He received six Emmy Award nominations for his performance by an actor in a supporting role in comedy.  He appeared in a few episodes of The Love Boat.  His final big-screen role was in the 1980 comedy Caddyshack.  He died in 1986 from colon cancer, he was 62.... 03/05/2021

John Kay was born in Walmersley, Bury, Lancashire, England back in 1704.  His father died before he was born.  He received his education until he was 14, at 21 he was bequeathed 40 pounds from his father’s estate.  He apprenticed with a hand-loom reed maker.  Within a month he returned home claiming he had mastered the business.Shortly after going home he designed a metal substitute for the natural reed that proved popular enough for him to sell throughout England.  In 1733, he received a patent for his most revolutionary device: more on that in a moment.  That same year he formed a partnership to begin manufacturing his invention.  He moved to Paris in 1747, negotiating with the French Government he was paid 3,000 livres plus a pension of 2,500 livre annually.  He died in Paris in 1779... 01/14/2021

Florence Merriam Johnson was born in Montclair, New Jersey back in 1876 to Charles and Henrietta.  She graduated from Smith College in 1897, she completed training at the New York Hospital Training School for Nurses in 1908.  After graduation, she ran the dispensary at Cornett University.  She also taught at Teachers College, Columbia University.She directed the social service department at Harlem Hospital.  She became director of the Department of Nursing, Atlantic Division, American Red Cross in 1917, during WWI.  She was responsible for equipment and over 10,000 Army, Navy and Red Cross nursing personnel between embarkation and debarkation.  During WWII she ran the nurse recruiting program.  She died in 1954, she was 77.What you may not know about Florence is that she was one of the ... 12/26/2020

Cyrus Stevens Avery was born in Stevensville, Pennsylvania back in 1871 to Alexander and Ruie.  In 1890, the family moved to Noel Missouri (not far from me).  He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri.  After graduation he moved to Oklahoma City to work as an insurance agent.In 1904, he moved to Vinita, Oklahoma where he was involved in real estate loans, he also invested in the oil industry.  In 1913, he was elected chairman of the Tulsa County Commission serving until 1916.  In 1925, he was appointed to the Joint Board of Interstate Highways.  He died in 1962 in Los Angeles, California, he was 91.What you may not know about Cyrus is that he founded Avery Oil & Gas Company.  Not bad, not bad at all, but what he is most noted for is he is consi... 11/25/2020

Daniel James Jr. was born in Pensacola, Florida back in 1920 to Daniel and Lillie.  His father worked for the Pensacola city gas company, his mother was a high school teacher.  He graduated in 1942, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical education.  He joined the Aviation Cadet Program of the US. Army Air Forces in 1943.He stayed as a training instructor for pilots in the Army Air Corps.  He completed P-40 Warhawk training and the B-25 Mitchell training.  He was with the 617th Bomb Squadron of the 477th Bomb Group.  In 1949, he was assigned flight leader with the 12th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, stationed in the Philippines. During the Korean War, he flew 101 combat missions in the P-51 Mustang and the F-80 aircraft.By 1966, he had made his way to deputy commander of operations... 11/21/2020

Thomas Henry Huxley was born in Ealing, London, Middlesex, England back in 1825 to George and Rachel.  He left school at the age of 10.  He was determined to get an education.  He read all the books he could.  In his teen years he had learned German, Latin and Greek where he read Aristotle in the original language.At 16 he entered Sydenham College, the school specialized in anatomy.  A year later he excelled at the school, when he was admitted to study at Charing Cross Hospital.  In 1845, he published his first scientific paper.  At 20 he won a gold medal for anatomy and physiology.  That same year being in debt he joined the Royal Navy, where he was made Assistant Surgeon.  He resigned from the navy in 1854, when he became a Professor of Natural History at the Royal School of Mines.  H... 10/18/2020

Kara Spears Hultgreen was born in Greenwich, Connecticut back in 1965.  In 1981, she graduated from the Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio, Texas.  After graduation, she attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she majored in Aerospace Engineering.  Next, she attended the Aviation Officer Candidate School at Naval Air Station Pensacola.She graduated as a Distinguished Naval Graduate.  After graduation, she was assigned to the Training Air Wing 4 at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas.  Following designation as a naval aviator, she flew several different planes, she was among one of the first female pilots to undergo F-14 Tomcat training.  Her nickname was “She-Hulk”, as she could bench press 200-pounds.  Sadly, she died while attempting to land on the USS Abraham Linc... 10/04/2020

Julia Ward was born in New York City, New York back in 1819 to Samuel and Julia. Educated by private tutor and schools for young ladies until she was sixteen.  While in Boston she met Samuel a physician wo founded the Perkins School for the Blind.  That union produced six children, the last one born when she was forty.She attended lectures, studied foreign languages and wrote plays and dramas.  In 1872, she became the editor of the Woman’s Journal working there for twenty years.  In 1881, she was elected president of the Association for the Advancement of Women.  She died of pneumonia in 1910, she was 91.What you may not know about Julia Ward Howe is that she was also a writer of songs.  Maybe you can recognize two of them. She wrote the lyrics to John Brown’s Body, but the one that sti... 09/19/2020

Pedro Francisco was believed to be born in Porto Judeu, Terceira Archipelago of the Azores, Portuguese Empire back in 1760 to Luiz and Antonia Maria.  Around the age of five he was kidnapped and wound up on the docks at City Point, Virginia where he was taken to the Prince George County Poorhouse.He was raised by Judge Anthony Winston.  At sixteen he was 6’08” and 260 pounds of raw muscle.  That same year he joined the 10th Virginia Regiment in 1776, under the direction of Daniel Morgan.  He saw action at the Battle of Germantown, Camden, Stony Point and the Cowpens just to name a few.What you may not know about Pedro is that when Judge Winston took him in he changed his name to Peter leaving his last name alone.  He was considered as the “Virginia Giant, and the Giant of the Revolution... 09/11/2020

Edgar Purnell Hooley was born in Swansea, Wales back in 1869.  I have no data other then he entered into a business partnership with Francis Lean as Architect and Surveyors at Neath.  He worked for a time as a surveyor with Stow-on-the-Wold Highway Board.  In 1884, he worked with the Maidstone Highway Board. In 1889, he was appointed County Surveyor to Nottinghamshire County Council.  While working on a survey he noticed something that gave him an epiphany which he acted upon.  That same year he applied for a patent, he was granted in 1903 (GB7796).  In 1904, he applied for the same patent in the United States, the patent was granted the same year.  As they say the rest is history.  He died at his home in Oxford, England in 1942.Now you may be asking yourself what did he get the patent ... 09/01/2020

Antonín Holý was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, back in 1936. His specialty was organic chemistry.  He attended the Charles University in Prague. From 1960, he trained at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. In 1967, he was the institute’s lead scientist. By 1987, he was the chief of the Department of Nucleic Acid Chemistry.  He died in 2012, from an unspecified cause, he was 75.What you may not know about Antonín is that he was involved in the creation of the most effective drug in the treatment of AIDS.  He authored more than 400 discoveries and held 60 patents. His research and discoveries has effected millions of people with HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B.Your day is worthwhile when you make someone smile, so give the free gift of a... 08/30/2020

Fredrick Theodore Heyliger was born in Concord, Massachusetts back in 1916.  During his youth, he worked as a farm hand.  He graduated from Lawrence Academy in Groton, Massachusetts in 1937.  He attended college for three years, but I don’t know which one.He joined the United States Army in 1940, assigned to E Company as a mortar platoon leader.  With the outbreak of WWII, he was a First Lieutenant taking command of Easy Company.  He saw action during Operation Pegasus in 1944, Operation Market Garden.  He oversaw the rescue of some of the British 1st. Airborne Division.  He was accidentally shot by one of his own men in 1944.  The injury was enough that he was discharged in 1947.After being discharged, he enrolled at the University of Massachusetts graduating in 1950 with a degree in o... 08/14/2020

Peter Heniein was born in Nuremberg, Germany back in 1485 to Peter and Barbara.  From what records, I could find is he apprenticed as a locksmith.  In 1504, he was involved in a brawl that left fellow locksmith Georg Glaser dead. Instead of fleeing he asked for asylum in the Franciscan Monastery in Nuremberg, which was granted.While in the monastery he acquired knowledge of astronomy, mathematics and one other thing (we’ll get to that in a moment).  He was also an inventor, by 1509, he was a master in the city of Nuremberg locksmith guild.  He died in 1542 in Nuremberg.What you may not know about Peter is that he invented the world’s first watch.  He is regarded as the first watchmaker in the history of timekeeping.  He also invented the first portable watch in history.  He called his w... 07/22/2020

James Joseph was born in Atlanta, Georgia back in 1858 to Irish immigrants Thomas and Margaret.  He began his first job as a clerk for a local dry goods merchant when he was fourteen.  By 1885, he had started an emporium in downtown Atlanta with his brother Charles.  In 1889, he partnered with Amos G. Rhodes to start a law firm.The firm dissolved in 1908, so he turned his attention to another field of endeavor, which of course is the rest of the story.  He has been called the first “important collector of works of art” in Atlanta especially for American Impressionist and Realist paintings.  During the 1920’s he was a major supporter of New York’s Grand Central Art Galleries.  He died in 1939, he was 80.What you may not know about James Joseph Haverty is that other endeavor was into furn... 07/10/2020

Edward Frank Harrison was born in Camberwell, England back in 1869.  At fourteen he was apprenticed to a pharmacist, after training he was awarded a scholarship.  As a student, he was awarded medals in chemistry, botany and materia medica.  In 1891, he qualified as a pharmaceutical chemist where he became a demonstrator for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.When WWI started he tried to enlist in the British Army, but was rejected because of his age, which was 47.  In 1915, the British Army was looking for chemists enlisting him with many others to find a defense for a certain new weapon being used.  Sadly, he died two years later, he was 49 from pneumonia, just one week before Armistice Day.What you may not know about Edward is that he is credited for the invention of the first serviceab... 06/24/2020