Old Dogs And Intelligence

By Frank Absher

A recent lunch with Martin Duggan proved to be a continuation of my ongoing wake-up call.

Martin, as most of you know, recently stepped down as host of KETC’s Donnybrook program. For a significant portion or you, that’s all that is known about him. He’s an old guy who was a TV host.

Of course, that’s not even half the story. He’s a doting husband, father, grandfather, and close friend to many. Sitting at lunch and talking, I realized that, if I closed my eyes and just listened, there would be no way of knowing he is 87 years old.

But I kept my eyes open, because you could literally see the sparkle in his eyes as he told stories of his days at the Globe-Democrat. The newsroom he described was eerily reminiscent of “The Front Page,” filled with characters.

Martin described his pleasure at having worked with a lot of very good people. His joy was obvious as he recalled going after stories and beating the Post on important details.

I thought of others who’ve passed through my life. Dave Pasternak was just an old guy to me. Turned out that I learned (after he died) that he had been a driving force in early radio and in the development of television in St. Louis. I didn’t take time to get to know him – my loss.

Ollie Raymand and I had a great talk about his days in St. Louis radio during the dying gasps of radio’s golden era. He has enough stories to fill a book.

Lou “Fatha” Thimes and I spent an afternoon talking about the days of race radio in this market. He still delights in the memories of going on the air with the express purpose of entertaining his “children.”

These are old guys by anyone’s standards, but they sure have some great stories, and there’s always more to these folks than what might appear on the surface.

Martin Duggan and his wife, Mae, for example, have been very active through all their years of marriage serving the community. They are still donating their time and significant amounts of money to deserving causes. They’re not making a big deal about it. There’s no need. They are very happy and still very much in love.

I consider myself blessed to have met and known these “old” folks.

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