Brush with the famous

Dear Editor,

My childhood memories from the neighborhood where I lived in Denver are full of interesting people and events.

At age 8, I ran an errand for a neighbor and was paid for it. I spent the money on a double-decker ice cream cone. Unfortunately, this treat toppled to the sidewalk on the way home.

It was replaced by a bald-headed man in an Army uniform, who turned out to be Dwight D. Eisenhower. (His mother-in-law, Elvira Doud, lived in our neighborhood).

In 1944 Gordon B. Hinckley future 75th president of the Mormon Church arrived in Denver.

He had a key job with the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad as assistant manager of mail, baggage and express. Vast numbers of troops coming through Denver's Union Depot depended on him. I attended the Denver First Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, where he was the superintendent of the Sunday School.

Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008, Gordon B. Hinckley passed away in Salt Lake City. Except when he worked for D&RG, he served full time with the church, a period of 73 years. He was ordained as president of the church March 12, 1995. He would have celebrated his 98th birthday June 23, 2008.

His duties have resulted in his traveling more than a half-million miles and visiting more than 50 nations.

Helen Ruth Arnold,

McCook