Dorothy Bray is doing all she can to raise awareness of polycystic kidney disease, including participating in this month’s San Antonio Walk for PKD. And 75 years ago, George Bush, then a Navy pilot, put up a good fight even after being hit by anti-aircraft fire over the Pacific.
Fighting Kidney Disease
Dorothy Bray has been hit hard by polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder that causes the growth of fluid-filled cysts. She has undergone two kidney transplants and watched her father and two older siblings die of the disease. Her son, daughter and a granddaughter also have PKD.
So Bray, a longtime member of Guadalupe Valley Electric Cooperative, passionately volunteers for the annual San Antonio Walk for PKD, which this year is September 14.
“I feel so blessed to live in an age of medical advancement that makes it possible for someone like me to survive much longer than people like my dad ever had a chance to,” says Bray, 72. For more information, call (210) 414-6614 or visit walkforpkd.org/sanantonio.
Almanac
100 Years Ago: The Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi was demolished by a hurricane September 14, 1919, in which a nun, two patients and two employees were killed. The hospital was rebuilt and back in operation by 1923.
75 Years Ago: Grammy-winning singer and composer Barry White, known for his gravelly and seductive bass voice, was born September 12, 1944, in Galveston.
75 Years Ago: Navy pilot George H.W. Bush was hit by anti-aircraft fire during a World War II bombing run on Chichi Jima, a Japanese island. Before bailing out into the Pacific Ocean on September 2, 1944, he dropped his four 500-pound bombs on the target, a radio facility. He banged his head on his plane’s tail after he ejected, and once in the water, jellyfish stings and swallowed seawater made him sick.
By the Numbers: 12,500 to 1
Those are the odds of an amateur golfer making a hole-in-one. A pro golfer has a much better chance—2,500-1. This month marks the 150th anniversary of the first known ace. Young Tom Morris hit a hole-in-one September 15, 1869, during the Open Championship in Scotland.
Milestone Birthday
Archie Bell of Archie Bell & the Drells turns 75. Tighten Up, their first hit song, reached No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B and Hot 100 charts in 1968. Bell was born in Henderson on September 1, 1944, and raised in Houston.
