Notes for Monday – March 07, 2016

I was saddened to hear that former First Lady Nancy Reagan passed away on March 6th, at age 94. She was born Anne Frances Robbins, on July 6, 1921. She was a devoted Presbyterian Christian. Although their marriage was Ronald Reagan’s second marriage, they were inseparable. In many ways, she was a much more glamorous First Lady than Jackie Kennedy. I’d recommend avoiding Kitty Kelley’s unauthorized biography on Nancy Reagan, which was a hatchet piece.  Instead, I recommend:
Reagan: The Life, by H.W. Brands. That biography includes quite a bit about Nancy Reagan.

March 7, 1707 was the birthday of Stephen Hopkins, (Governor of Rhode Island) one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

March 7, 1925 was the birthday of Rene Gagnon, a US Marine who was seen in the famous photographs of the Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. (He died in 1979 in his home town, Manchester, New Hampshire.)

And March 7, 1944 was also the birthday of Townes Van Zandt, a gifted Texan songwriter. (He died in 1997.)