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Health & Fitness

Inspiration INSPThe TV Station, Inspiration In Life

I love the word inspiration. It is a very inspiring word. I wrote an article called Bank Of Your Mind and it was published on The Patches online newspaper a few weeks ago.

In it I mentioned that I had just viewed on television a few of the old The Waltons shows from way back in 1972-81. I wrote how sweet and happy a show it was all about a family of eight children and their parents and grandparents who all lived together on an old farm and the devotion between the three generations of people.

Somehow a man named Greg Bentley in South Carolina who is Social Media Manager of a television station called INSP an inspirational network found it and read my article online. It features family entertainment programming and they spotlight shows such as Matlock, The Waltons, Little House On The Prairie, Dr. Quinn Medicine  Woman, Old Henry and The Big Valley. All of these shows are family oriented shows of former years.

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They are still relevant especially now days when most television is centered on cop stories, murders and way out comedies. These old shows featured honesty, family situations, love of family and not much money in the home. They celebrated caring and loving family members who sometimes may have gotten into some community problems. Rarely was there murder or mayhem.

Mr. Bentley wrote a complimentary note comment at the end of my story Bank Of Your Mind and I got in touch with him by phone to thank him. He returned my call and we spoke for over half an hour and I promised him I would write a new story all about his fabulous network.

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The first few hours of the television day for INSP is used for some ministry shows and then from eleven a.m. until the late hours there are many of the above listed shows. They are reruns of the first and highest order. I watch it in my county here in Maryland on Comcast 295. It is a treat to relive the fine moments when these original shows were produced which was in the sixties, seventies and probably the eighties.

The Waltons are featured a lot and Mr. Bentley met a few years ago the real Mom and Dad on the Waltons show. Michael Learned was Liv Walton and Ralph Waite was John Walton. The kids were John-Boy, Mary Ellen, Jason, Ben, Erin,  Jim-Bob, Joseph and Elizabeth. The storyline was always about family continuance and though the kids had some everyday problems, they were quite minor compared to these times. Many of the stories relied on the closeness of the family and when Grandma Walton, Esther, in real life Ellen Corby had a stroke, they wrote it in some of the stories. So it was the first time a real stroke victim played a story stroke victim. It was bittersweet and factual and the love the kids all showed Grandma was eloquent and beautiful.

Mr. Bentley told me that he went to a family reunion show in Schuyler, Virginia where the writer of the show that was based on his own life was there. His name is Earl Hamner.

The motto of the station is

1. Honoring Traditional American Values

2. Celebrating The American Spirit

3. Positive Entertainment

4. Inspiring Stories

5. Quality Dramas

There was a reunion special and I watched it last night. All the children are now adults and they talked about different episodes from the past. It seemed John-Boy did not make the return. His name was Richard Thomas and many times he narrated the story. Ralph Waite the father starred in another show called Old Henry and I watched an episode of that yesterday too. It was very sweet and though it did not last long, it was delightful.

Michael Learned a few years ago substituted on Young and Restless for a key actress who was out for about two months named Jeanne Cooper, It was hard to get used to her playing a different character than Liv Walton, but after a week of her doing this, we kind of were able to let her be in the part even though she was a lot different than the original actress. Ralph Waite I hear is now appearing on another soap opera.

They were much imbedded in our minds and hearts of the devoted characters in The Waltons. They won several Emmys for the show. One particular one was in 1973 and it was for the outstanding drama series. The show was created from the book called Spencer’s Mountain about a place in rural Virginia where Earl Hamner grew up. I believe the beginnings of most of the shows were started out with Earl’s voice narrating the opening theme.

My father came to this country when he was seven along with his mother and father and his four siblings. They came here legally and they all became citizens. His father, my grandfather settled in Savage, Maryland and he ran the cotton mill and they lived right there. They were poor, but proud people, and like The Waltons, the father and mother worked hard and the children were Joseph, my dad, Louis the youngest brother and three sisters, Annie, Jenny and Sarah. My dad was seven and this was about in 1899.

I researched where he lived at the mill and I got in contact with a townsman and citizen of Savage, Maryland which is about 25 miles from where I live now. This fine man Mr. James Dewey Williamson contacted me and he tried to find a picture of my grandfather there and when he did, we were not sure which man was him. The town of Savage where this old mill is now a traveler’s place to stop and see the old buildings, the mill and the way the town was then. I hear it is lovely, parts restored and Jim and I are email pals writing about our lives now and then, our children and our grandchildren. He is a nice man and he has lived there his whole seventy years old existence.

 

I conjure up in my mind that it probably is a bit similar to the place where the Waltons lived so many years ago during Great Depression and World War Two.

There is a saying that home is where the heart is.

INSP is a wonderful new station on my remote control. Right now as I write this on Saturday night they are showing The Big Valley with the famous actress Barbara Stanwyck. The only semi violence is someone being threatened that he owes 22 dollars  for a week stay in the hotel; he doesn’t have the money so he takes on driving the horse drawn several horses for Barbara and a few shots by the good and evil guys. Even at this theme, it is far away from the violent stories on cable each night. I enjoyed the old scenery, the non-sexy clothing, the dialogue and the sincerity of the theme.

So I am happy I found INSP and its old shows; they give insight to our young people on what life was like way back then.

There is an old saying that says:  “Don’t let your limitations overshadow your talents.”

 

INSP is on the road to fantastic old stories being reinvented and for all the youngsters to get a taste of the shows watched in the old days of 1960’s up to now. They can glean the atmosphere of these olden days and the proudness of the people and the love they had for each other.

Greg found my article on The Waltons from something called Vocus that is used by stations to know what is going on elsewhere. His staff typed in Waltons and found me and my story. It is a small world and a great world we live in and we are closer in knowing others through the Internet.

Home is where the heart is and the heart is feeling quite exhilarated in today’s life.

 

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