Articles In This Issue Page 1: Pat Farrell Page 3: SABOR Column Page 7: The Way I See It Featuring Cathey Meyer Page 11 Associate Spotlight Featuring Movement Mortgage Page 14: Guest Column Featuring Paul Owens, Esq. Page 17: Associate Spotlight Featuring Ed Guerrero, CPA Page 23: Newsflash
Vol.VI, No.7
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There Is More To July Than Just The 4th Day
PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID San Antonio, Texas Permit #1416
By: Pat Farrell They may crank up the grill to toss on hamburgers and hot dogs for family and friends or attend the local parades, concerts and fireworks displays, or perhaps spend the day at the beach, but most people in this country will take time on the Fourth of July to celebrate our independence from British rule. The Declaration of Independence, a document drafted by Thomas Jefferson, was officially adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776 and though it didn’t become an official federal holiday until 1941, it has been a tradition in the United States to celebrate, in some fashion, Independence Day on that date ever since. Needless to say, the Corona virus pandemic is apt to tone down those celebrations this year. Other occurrences of note on July 4th include the openings of the
United States Military Academy at West Point, NY in 1802 and of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881, “My Country, Tis of Thee,” written by Samuel Smith was first heard during the holiday festivities in 1831, while Lewis Carroll, in 1862, told Alice Liddell a story that would eventually grow into “Alice in Wonderland.” The Louisiana Purchase was announced in 1803 and In New York the Erie Canal construction began in 1817 and the state abolished slavery in 1827. Lyndon Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act in 1966, Henry David Thoreau moved into a cabin on Walden Pond in 1845, Walt Whitman published “Leaves of Grass” in 1855 and in 1939 Lou Gehrig announced he was retiring from baseball due to ALS. But there is more to July, historically, than just the fourth. For example, there is the story of Amelia Earhart who was an acclaimed pilot known for, among other things, being the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic in 1932. She was a personal friend of Charles Lindberg, the first man to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic and of Eleanor Roosevelt, FDR’s wife. For her accomplishments she received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the French Cross of Knight and the National Geographic Society’s Gold Medal. On July 2, 1937, while attempting to fly across the Pacific from Honolulu, HI to Howland Island, she was reported missing, having never reached the island and to this day, despite multiple searches, her remains have never been found. While Napoleon Bonaparte was
campaigning in Egypt his soldiers accidently came across a large broken off piece of black stone while digging in the remains of an old fort near Rashid. The stone which bore an inscription or decree that when translated said the same thing in three different languages (Ancient hieroglyphics, Demotic and Greek) and had been built into the foundation of the fort. Pierre-François Bouchard, the officer in charge of the excavation recognized the importance of what is now known as the Rosetta Stone in that it could enable scholars to find help in translating heretofore undecipherable hieroglyphics. The stone now resides in the British Museum. Modern Medicine was also helped along in July when Louis Pasteur, who had been working with vaccines for some time was able to concoct one to deal with rabies, a dreaded disease at that time. On July 6, 1885, a young boy had been bitten by an infected dog and Pasteur successfully used his anti-rabies vaccine for the first time to cure him. And later, in July 1978, Louise Brown, who had been closely supervised by Doctors Patrick Steptoe, gynecologist and Robert Edwards, physiologist gave birth by caesarean section to her daughter Louise who became known as the first “test-tube baby.” July 1969 was all about space with the successful spaceflight of Apollo 11 on the 16th, taking our astronauts to the moon. Apollo 11 consisted of three parts, the command module which housed the three astronauts, the service module that supplied the command module with water, oxygen, electricity and propul-
July 2020 sion and the lunar module for landing on and leaving the moon’s surface. It was only the command module that returned to earth as it splashed down in the Pacific. The lunar module, Eagle, set down on a site on the moon that they named Tranquility Base on the 20th and Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon on the 21st followed by Buzz Aldrin, 19 minutes later, where they spent a little over 21 hours. “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind!” When it comes to current fashion two-piece bathing suits have been worn by women since the early 1930s, but the introduction of the bikini bathing suit was quite the shocker. On July 5, 1946 in Paris, showgirl Micheline Bernardini modelled a bikini designed by Louis Réard and named for the Bikini Atoll where the United States had tested their atomic bomb. Many members of the media present for the unveiling were shocked to see the suit made from only 30 inches of material, but after all this was just post World War II and material was scarce. The majority of the public, at least at first, found the fashion to be at best risqué and for some even scandalous including the Catholic Church. Bikini swimsuits were worn in the 1951 Miss World Pageant but were then banned from the competition. They were, however, very popular on the covers of Playboy and Sports Illustrated magazines. And, in Jolly old England back in 1540, Monarch Henry VIII was deciding whom he would marry next. Thomas Cromwell, lawyer and statesman, serving as chief minister to Henry VIII, frequently played a part