successful life comes after crossing the nonsense divide

CROSSING THE NONSENSE DIVIDE

Crossing stories

Christmas dinner with Perry Mason

On Christmas Day, 1962, I was spending my first Christmas outside the United States at Wakkanai, Japan. I entered the dining hall and began to eat Christmas dinner all alone. The dining hall was completely empty except for the cooks and staff.

I was feeling a little sorry for myself when a civilian walked in and asked if he could join me. It was Raymond William Stacey Burr.

At that time he was about half way through his hit TV series, Perry Mason, which won him two Emmy awards. What started as my worst Christmas dinner quickly became my most memorable. The great actor was familiar with my hometown. He had fished many times in the Arkansas Ozarks.

Raymond Burr could have spent Christmas anywhere he pleased. He unselfishly chose to spend it on the northern tip of Japan with me. He was a real Hollywood star who dated Natalie Wood and starred in movies, TV and radio. He was also a generous man. He donated his salary from the Perry Mason Movies to charity. He once sponsored 27 foster children through the Christian Children's Fund. He would take the children with the greatest medical needs. This is what I mean by noblesse oblige.

He was a great man and helped shape my life. When I commanded a three billion dollar multinational provisional wing, I never forgot to give back something.

Gene McVay

Author of 'Top Gun Management'

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Added: August 2007

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