David Walker

Christy and I love our dogs, and this short little video depicts just that feeling perfectly!

Here our song lyrics that honor our four-legged family as well: 

“Bless the beasts and the children,
For in this world they have no voice,
They have no choice.
Bless the beasts and the children,
For the world can never be,
The world they see.

Light their way
When the darkness surrounds them;
Give them love, let it shine all around them.
Bless the beasts and the children;
Give them shelter from a storm;
Keep them safe;
Keep them warm.

Light their way
When the darkness surrounds them;
Give them love, let it shine all around them.
Bless the beasts and the children;
Give them shelter from a storm;
Keep them safe;
Keep them warm.

Bless the beasts and the children;
Give them shelter from a storm;
Keep them safe;
Keep them warm.”

Songwriters: Barry De Vorzon / Perry L Botkin
Bless the Beasts and Children lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

I miss my father-in-law, Charles Dexter Hogan, known far and wide as “Deck”. Like many of his generation, Deck joined the Navy after Pearl Harbor. He’d played high school dances at Modesto High before the war. Once he joined up he toured the South Pacific playing his already legendary trumpet and trombone with the USO Shows. Deck played with all the greats of his time, The Tommy Dorsey Band, Red Norvo, Harry James, Dave Brubeck. He was in the USO band when Bob Hope and Bing Crosby played shows in South Pacific bases like Espiritu Santo.

Deck loved his family, boat racing and his music equally. He and his band “Hogin’s Heroes” played parties, weddings and every sort of event for years all over the Valley. Hogin’s Heroes played at our wedding and Deck personally played St. Louie Blues at my Father’s funeral. Deck was a student of Frank “Proof” Mancini and played for years and years with MoBand at Concert in the Park. He and the “Heroes” were often invited to play the Dixieland Jazz Festival in Sacramento and other jazz festivals. He even played in Japan as part of the sister City exchange under Mayor Lang’s administration.

Deck’s day job was delivering kegs of beer for Delta Brands throughout the area. In his younger days he was an avid hydroplane boat racer and would drag his family around the State to races. His racing days ended when he was seriously injured in a boating accident, fortunately the accident didn’t affect his ability to play his music.

Deck practiced every day. I sometimes think I can still hear him playing scales in the evenings. Upon his death, Deck left all of his musical equipment to our son, Alex. Deck must have known Alex possessed the “music gene” in addition to the “art gene”, Alex has become quite the guitarist and recently I heard him practicing the trumpet.

I firmly believe each and every one of us are unique. I’ve based my practice and life on this fact. But some people really step right into their calling, their uniqueness, and when they do, they change the world on their platform. Deck’s was call was his love of music and he played it out right here in Modesto.

Thank you Deck!

Deck’s Memorial at McHenry Museum – 2008
Watch “Dixieland Dirge” in Modesto for Deck’s wake

My dad was Duane Raymond Walker, M. D. He was born and raised in Clark Missouri, a tiny town near Moberly. He had polio as an infant and spent long periods in an iron lung. The disease left him with a withered leg and a permanent limp. Despite his pronounced limp he played tennis in high school and college and was an avid hunter and fisherman. He never let his condition slow him down nor did I ever hear him complain of it.

I’m sure the experience of his illness along with the kindness and generosity of the Shriner’s and treatment he received at their hospitals inspired him to become a doctor. He founded McHenry Medical Group with Howard Nachman, M.D. and was also a founder of Doctors Medical Center.

Attached is my favorite photograph of him doing what he loved, fishing along the Sacramento River.

Have you ever heard of the “Monkey Trial”? In 1925 in the state of Tennessee the Butler Law was passed forbidding the teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution in any public school or university. As ushistory.org continues, it states that, “in the spring of 1925, John T. Scopes walked into his classroom and read, from Dayton’s Tennessee-approved textbook Hunter’s Civic Biology, part of a chapter on the evolution of humankind and Darwin’s theory of natural selection. His arrest soon followed”.

History.com states that, “ the law, which had been passed in March, made it a misdemeanor punishable by fine to ‘teach any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals’. Scopes enlisted the aid of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to organize a defense”.

The sun is out, what better time to get on your motorcycle and go for a ride. As with any road trip you take, safety is important. You should do a safety check on your motorcycle, to include checking tires, gas, electrical system, etc. And then from there, I found this list of other important safety checks for your ride. Here are a few from the list:

• A tire-plug kit and/or small pump along with portable GPS.
• A neck cooler for these warm days.
• Wrenches, sockets and other tools specific for your bike.
• First-Aid kit, Swiss Army knife, duct tape, and water (to stay hydrated).