• Paul Harvey — GoodBye

  Filed under Foo
  Mar 2

  Broadcasting legend Paul Harvey died today, at age 90, in a Phoenix hospital. — Time.com

  The first time I saw his picture was today when I read his obituary. I thought about putting his picture on this post, but somehow, no picture could do his voice justice.

  As a young child, I would either ride with my dad in the tractor while he was working, or, later on, we would work the fields together. And we always listened to Paul Harvey speak about this or that. His voice was unmistakable. It was soothing and fascinating at the same time.

  Paul Harvey. The name makes me think of sitting in the shade of the pickup while eating sandwiches or crunching on apples in the field with my Dad; the smell of diesel and dust in the air and the ubiquitous Kansas wind dancing through the prairie grass and the sound of pump jacks ‘pop pop popping’ in distant fields.

  I loved his ‘rest of the stories’. I remember that my Dad and I hanging on his every word. Even if you didn’t agree with everything he said, you couldn’t help it: his voice was that mesmerizing.

  I remember one story he told involving a 5′ 5″ 135 pound woman who lifted a car off of her child when it backed over him. She pulled every muscle in her body, but was otherwise healthy.

  The rest of the story?

  Four months later, she gave birth to a healthy baby.

  And there were so many more. It was the closest thing, I suppose, to the radio shows of old. And usually at the end of the ‘Rest of the Story’, we’d have a good chuckle. We’d put our empty sandwich bags back into the lunch box and toss our apple cores into the ditch for the coyotes. And we’d start the day again.

  Paul Harvey always ended his radio show with

  Paul Harvey *Pause* Good Day!

  So I say: Paul Harvey — Goodbye.

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