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| Photo from Nautilus '75, the Santa Monica High School yearbook. |
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TY GRANT HEATH
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30 Nov 1959 -- 10 Sep 1976
Los Angeles County, California, USA
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Buried at North Fork Cemetery
North Fork, Madera County, California
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ELEGY FOR AN OUTLAW
(For Ty Heath)
Written by Stephen T. McCarthy on 8-6-1982
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"YOUTH SLAIN AT BAY COUNTRY CLUB
IDENTIFIED AS S.M. TEEN"
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He was very shy
And had a round face
With the laugh of a chipmunk.
He was always nervous...... about everything.
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"Authorities have identified an
armed youth slain by police early
Friday at the Brentwood Country Club
as Ty Heath of Santa Monica."
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In Mister Freed's Spanish class
We would mold notebook paper
Into light yet deadly round weapons and
Hurl them across the room at...... each other.
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"He was shot and killed on the 18th
green of the golf course during a
confrontation with four West Los Angeles
officers responding to a burglary report."
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Once he came into class and hit me
With a paper ball that really stung.
Tearing it apart, I found a hidden rock.
I laughed...... and surrendered.
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"Santa Monica Police said they
received a call from a person identifying
himself as 'Mr. Heath' and that the caller
told them a burglar wearing a cowboy hat
and green coat was at the club."
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I did not contact him during the Summer
When he saw 'The Outlaw Josey Wales'
so often
And became very despondent because
He thought he had...... no friends.
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"Police found Ty Heath, wearing a cowboy hat standing on the green and holding a pistol in each hand. They said they pleaded with him for about 20 minutes to drop the guns but Heath refused. He was shot when he raised the weapons, police said."
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When I answered the phone
And was told that he had been shot and killed
I smiled, because it hurt too much to cry.
Ty Heath, I was...... your friend.
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| Click on images to enlarge them. |
In keeping with the God-created concept of "Two Witnesses", Ty Heath contacted me a second (but final) time. In the second visitation, he displayed the fact that humor - also created by God - does exist on "the other side" in the afterlife:
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1976 was the first time that I experienced a Spiritual interaction with someone on "the other side". I've had several such experiences since then.
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Ty Heath and I met while we were fellow members in a Police Explorer post, and we both attended the 19-week Academy together in 1974. The Academy was extremely stressful, but we both graduated with high grades. In fact, it was Ty who introduced me to a drafting device called a Pickett Freehand Letterliner which greatly improved my notebook grades at the Academy! 52 years later, I still have and occasionally use my handy Pickett template. (Thanks again, Ty!)
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It was while at the Police Explorer Academy that I learned how and when to apply a tourniquet to a serious wound, and it was that knowledge which allowed me to save my Brother's life a few years later, when he crashed through a window while playing Birdieball, slicing open the artery in his left bicep.
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Somewhere I have a good photograph of Ty and me at the Police Explorer Academy graduation ceremony, and when I find it, I will return here to post it.
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*Very Special Thanks To...
Karen Burns who created the page for Ty Heath at the Find A Grave website HERE.
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Julio Seis-Abeja (aka Bryan Pedas) who utilized his best buddy, Botboy, in finding for me the location of Ty Heath's gravesite. My Ma and I attended Ty's funeral, but I lost touch with his Mom shortly afterwards, and until very recently, I did not know where he was laid to rest.
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May you all Bless & Be Blessed!!
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
(aka D-FensDogG)
It is interesting to me that Ty chose to commit suicide by the police after having attended the academy. I would imagine that you might have asked him about that during your walk up the stairs.
ReplyDeleteAs usual, this is tribute is well written. As you mentioned to me in your email letting me know you had posted it, it is different than others you've written. Yet, it is the same. It features the same attention to small details that "make" any written piece. Again, we get to know Ty - at least somewhat - through these details.
I also have always been fascinated by your communication with those who have gone before. That has never been a part of my experience that I'm aware of. I have had a few dreams featuring my father or my mother, but 1) they were nothing much that I can discern, 2) I rarely remember much, if anything at all, about my dreams. They vanish at the blink of an opening eye.
One thing not clear to me after this blog bit is just how close you were to Ty. I get the impression that though you were friends, you were not close friends. He would not have - for example - been a member of the Soul Crusaders, right?
Have you ever tried to check on who else in your class are still around and who has passed? Of my high school group (with whom I was not very close) my closest friend has passed as have several acquaintences. I had a close group of friends DURING high school but not AT high school, and all of them are still kicking. Well, at least rolling around in wheelchairs. Of my college friends, quite a few have left us.
Your email to me and this post as well both make me think of a quote by the founder of Christian Science. In the book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy writes: "The sharp experiences of belief in the supposititious life of matter, as well as our disappointments and ceaseless woes, turn us like tired children to the arms of divine Love. Then we begin to learn Life in divine Science. Without this process of weaning, 'Canst thou by searching find out God?' ” To me this agrees with your statement that there is no such thing as death - "real" death. It implies to me that the ceaseless woes of this world can seem to hammer at us until we turn to God, and that without these woes (which are the result of our own sinful belief) we may become too comfortable with matter, mortal pleasures, and with "this world" to striving to seek God. Ty must have felt the disappointments and woes a great deal to do what he did, but I am sure he learned that death did not accomplish his goal, and that we must all either here or hereafter turn to God for the relief we seek from "this world."
Thanks for the heads up on this blog bit. I enjoyed it.
As an aside, I - like Bryan I am guessing - use paid AI on a daily basis to get my questions answered immediately and properly. At least until AI takes us all over and makes us it's slaves.
Sixgun McItchyfinger
Part 1 Of 2:
DeleteMcSIX FRIEND ~
I thank you for the kind and extensive comment! If I had a 'Most Loyal Reader' Award to give, you would certainly get it!
My dream life has always been completely off the charts. It's downright incredible! I have these dreams that go on and on and on, sometimes (somehow) transitioning into different storylines. My subconscious mind is far more creative and imaginative than my so-called "awake" mind is. I've often lamented that there's not some way of transmitting my dreams onto TV screens, because I can guarantee you the 'Dreams Of Stephen T.' show would be a massive hit (and make me lotsa money, too!)
I can usually remember a fair amount of my dreams for awhile after waking, but eventually (hours, days, weeks later) most of them fade from my memory. The occasional lucid dreams I have are the ones that really fascinate me the most.
Despite the fact that my "normal" dreams are wildly intense, the very, very rare times when I've been visited by someone who has gone on, are something else completely. I can tell the difference. God knows exactly what He is doing, and it's always for the best, which is why I don't have any problem with the fact that my Ma has never visited me in a dream. Oh, I've definitely had dreams in which she played a role, but it wasn't really her - her soul - they were just my usual head-shaking dreams. Like I said, I know the difference, and I am utterly mystified by the fact that Ma hasn't visited me in a "dream". She hasn't even contacted me in any other way, like my Pa has done many times. I don't understand it. But I know that for some reason - which I can't wrap my mind around - it's ultimately for the best. It's all in God's good Hands.
{I am sure that's the reason why I was unable to remember any of Ty's in-depth answers to my questions. I wasn't meant, at that time, to know them. I was simply supposed to know that they exist.}
Continued...
Part 2 Of 2:
ReplyDeleteTy was my closest friend in the Explorer post. But then he got upset about something that the Advisors (cops) did, or were doing - I can't recall what Ty's complaint was about - so he quit the Explorer program. And because that activity took up most of my spare time, from then on I only saw Ty on the high school campus, so our friendship wasn't quite as involved as it had been previously. Then, about a year later, I also quit the Explorer post over a complaint of my own, but Ty was already on the other side by then.
Ty and I were both extremely shy (me probably even more so), therefore we didn't have a lot of interactions with other students. The 50-year anniversary of my graduation class is next year, and I haven't attended a reunion yet. I doubt that many of my fellow students (who are still here with us) would even remember me.
I think that after Ty quit the post, what social life he'd had probably dried up completely. Being so shy, he probably felt very much alone. And at 16, most people are trying to achieve some level of acceptance, and every little thing - every perceived slight - seems so amplified. So, I suspect that Ty was just having trouble finding his true self, finding his own "voice". He probably felt very much alone and that he wasn't appreciated. If Ty could have just hung in there through the bizarre teen years, I am sure he'd have turned out fine. He was a real good guy who just hadn't yet found any confidence in himself.
50 years later, I am still so appreciative of what Ty did for me via his two visitations. At an early age, he made me understand that "this world" is not at all the whole story; that there is indeed a Spiritual realm that is far more real than this shitty place is, and that's where we're all ultimately going. He also taught me that so-called dying is "alright".
It was another 18 years before I received my baptism from Jesus, and that's when I was taught so much about the Spiritual reality. But I feel that Ty sort of prepared my mind for what I was eventually going to come to understand to a far greater degree.
Again, my thanks for your wonderful comment, Sir Sixy! ("John Wayne! John Wayne!" ;-)
WE HAVE FALLEN ASLEEP IN GOD'S EMBRACE
HAVING A NIGHTMARE THAT WE ARE ELSEWHERE.
~ D-FensDogG
As I often do, I revisited your blog bit and realized that I had forgotten to comment on one very important thing: the poem.
ReplyDeleteI genuinely think it is beautiful. It is certainly very creative! I have taken a couple of full-semester poetry classes in my high school and college days, and I cannot recall every encountering a poem that incorporates quoted prose and counterpoints it with a poem. Had you done that in Mr. Bergstresser's poetry class in my high school he would have spent an entire class extolling it's virtues. He was tied for my favorite teachers of all time, along with Mrs. Ward (my fantasic 4th grade teacher) and Professor Abbott (at SDSU for my geology class.)
With each tribute I have read of yours, you use a new technique. With the first one I read I felt rage at the injustice of her loss. (There was much more than that, because I know you know she never left God's embrace... but that is what I remember at this point, years later, without re-reading it.) With your mother's tribute, I felt humor and warmth and love. With Ty's, I feel a sense of wonder and of God's mysterious ways.
Anyway... loved the poem.
Six
McBUDDY, KING Of The SIXES ~
DeleteThat was one helck of a comment & compliment. Hokey-Smoke, Brother, methanx ya from the very bottom o' mine heart. Really!
When I wrote it, I think I was trying to convey the idea that when we read brief articles in the newspapers about various people, we often lose sight of the fact that these are real human beings, most all of which have known joy and pain and a great many experiences of different kinds. I was attempting to get across the idea that Ty was a *real* person, and one whom I really enjoyed interacting with and felt blessed to have known.
One other little factoid [I'd normally refer to it as a "Fun Fact", but that expression isn't appropriate here] is that although I wrote the poem 44 years ago, I still remember why I deliberately used six ellipses instead of my usual three. Ty went Home in 1976 at the age of 16, so that's what the "......" was meant to symbolize.
I'm pleased as spiked punch that you returned here, because I also left something out of my reply which I want to add now. You wrote...
>> "It is interesting to me that Ty chose to commit suicide by the police after having attended the academy. I would imagine that you might have asked him about that during your walk up the stairs."
Quite honestly, not only could I not remember Ty's answers when I awoke, but I couldn't even remember any of the questions I had asked, except for that one short Q and short A. It was like all of the specific info - and there was LOTS of it - was deliberately blocked from my mind. That was so unusual for me, that I know it was the Will of God that I wasn't meant to retain any of it, other than the fact that death is not to be feared.
On the topic of Teachers, I had a crush on my 3rd grade teacher (yes, a "SHE"!), and I have a very trivial yet slightly amusing little story about her, which isn't really relevant here. But my very favorite teacher was Mr. Oldham, in elementary school. I had him in 5th grade, and I loved him so much (not in the same way I loved my 3rd grade teacher, mind you!) that I requested him again in 6th grade. Sadly, he died of some very rare sort of disease when I was in 7th grade, in junior high school. He was the first person whom I greatly cared for and "lost" in this lifetime. My Ma and I attended his funeral, too. I know that, even at such a young age, Mr. Oldham saw something special in me, and I was one of his two favorite students.
In my playlist [Link> GOLDENSHADOW'S TOP 40 HITS!, there's even a song specifically included in it which pertains to and reminds me of Mr. Oldham. I'll expound on that when I get my next E to thee finished and sent.
Thanks again for the wonderful words. They are very greatly appreciated, my friend!
~ D'DogG
POSTSCRIPT:
DeleteUhp! I'm an idiot!
Wrong Goldenshadow playlist.
It's in this one:
[Link> MORE GOLDENSHADOW HITS!
~ Da Dumb DogG
Rupert -
DeleteSince this so private - and even AI scraping info for their data centers will not look here - I will expound further on the favorite teachers line of thought.
The teacher that would come in third on my list was Prof. Abbott. I was a journalism major NOT a geology major, but I needed a science class and all the more popular sciences classes were full, so I took geology. He was such a compelling and interesting instructor that I actually considered switching majors, even though the family OWNED a newspaper and I was a 7th generation journalist. But I did not do so, and I am left with - 53 years later - just the memory of a really GREAT teacher. He is still alive and kicking, BTW. I checked: Professor Emeritus of Geology at SDSU... retired but taught a class a few years ago.
The other two teachers were not only great, but had a greater impact on my life. My 4th grade teacher was Mrs. Ward, and boy, howdy, was she GOOD! It was a remarkable class of students. I think I mentioned this stuffs in an email maybe 15 years ago (good grief, have we known each other that long???) but in that class of maybe 25-26 students, I am certain that there were at least seven kids with Mensa-plus IQs. The one I would label the least intelligent - well, I happen to actually KNOW what his IQ was: 136. And I thought he was a nitwit. I know you do not care about that IQ stuff, but here is what made this woman special: she taught us ALL in that class - from the room-temperature-IQ kids to the guys way brighter than I was - and we all felt special. She somehow managed to get "this" part of the room doing one thing and "that" part of the room doing another at whatever pace was suited to them. I remember noting that as a 9 year old and being kind of amazed. We all loved her and felt she was letting us learn at our own pace. We had those SRA reading program stories and I was years ahead of most kids, but there were a couple of really competitive little shits that were YEARS ahead of me. Bastards.
Finally, Mr. Bergstresser was my high school lit teacher and I had him for all four years of high school. That was at the private school I attended, and he was the only guy that taught literature of any type. Most classes had 3 or 4 students. My largest class had 7. He loved me and I loved him in the most "JW" of ways. He was a bachelor that lived with this brother and drove a four door Ford Maverick (UGH!) He was a chain smoker in the classroom. I would spend most lunches in his room eating with him and talking, maybe with another student or two. He knew EVERYTHING about literature and loved the students that actually cared about the great authors and great ideas. Mr. Bergstresser would argue with me about Ayn Rand and challenge my philosophical positions. He expected great things from me... which I never fulfilled, of course. He passed away three years after my graduation... because of all that smoking. I was heartbroken, but took it in the way my religious viewpoint dictates. But very sad to not talk to him longer.
I think he is why I wanted to write this comment about the teachers. And why am I telling you all this about Mr. B? Who else am I gonna tell? There were hardly any students that went to my school and even fewer now that are left. But like your friend Ty: SOMEONE should know just how great he was, and is! So I sneaked in a little tribute of my own on YOUR blog, ha ha!
Sheboyganboy McSix
Señor Sixy ~
Delete>>... But like your friend Ty: SOMEONE should know just how great he was, and is! So I sneaked in a little tribute of my own on YOUR blog, ha ha!
It's good what you done!
>>... Since this so private - and even AI scraping info for their data centers will not look here
Ain't dat da twooth!
I recently posed a question to Goofle's A.I. bot Gemini, and here's how that came out:
Q: Who calls himself the doggtor of alcohology and the king of inebriation nation?
A: The phrase "Doctor of Alcohology & King of Inebriation Nation" is used by Stephen T. McCarthy, a prominent fan and commentator on Outlaw Country music. He often uses this self-styled moniker when discussing legendary singer-songwriter Waylon Jennings, blending Jennings' "outlaw" musical legacy with his highly engaging, comedic stage presence. You can read some of his musings over on the The Sound of One Hand Typing blog.
Incidentally, that's the name of John Holton's blog. You get the feeling that the evil powers that be don't want people reading my own blogs?
That was quite a testament to Prof. Abbott's teaching style and ability, that you actually considered changing your major from Journalism to Geology. It's great that he's still with us. It's probably because he knows exactly which minerals to take and how much of each one. Maybe he should open a health food store called 'The Rock Of Good Health'. ;^D
>>... there were a couple of really competitive little shits that were YEARS ahead of me. Bastards.
What I can't stand are the ones who think they can out-drink me! Delusional bastards!
I have no idea what my I.Q. is. But, despite being a C-average student in high school, I know my I.Q. is above average. How do I know this? Because I'm able to recognize that I'm surrounded by idiots daily. Some, however, are likeable idiots. By far my worst subject was Math (Math is the Brussels sprouts of school subjects), and yet I was still balancing my checkbook every month up until March of 2015.
Wait a second! Whaddaya have against Ford Maverick's?! Why, that's downright un-American! The [Link> MAVERICK is my favorite Odder Odd Rod card in my collection. Saying "UGH!" about the Maverick is like being critical of Adam West's "Batman" or critical of Davy Jones' "Monkeying around". I'll overlook it this time, but watch yer step, Mister.
~ Outlaw Country-Boy
(the shadow-banned DogG
of Alcohology & Inebriation)
I was initially planning to include this in my r-E-ply to you, but this is such a good blog bit and tribute, that after your last E I feel like I should just comment here. It's a little personal, but I don't care who sees it, and hey, maybe an extra comment or two will push some more viewers to this post instead of the other 99% of the internet that's trash and/or your recycled content (thanks, Leanne).
ReplyDeleteFirst off, it's really nice to put a picture to the name and to have some more backstory after the small bit I was able to find via my bot. It sounds like Ty was a lost, troubled kid, and it sucks that he felt like that was his only way out, and yet it's incredible to know he's not suffering and that, well, he's not weeping and gnashing his teeth, which I know a lot of Catholics would disagree with.
Also, I love that Ty was having a laugh and poking fun at the idea you even *thought* he was dead. What a ridiculous thing to think! I guess it's further proof that you can take away the body, but you can't kill the soul.
And yes, the parallel with the staircase and the end of Jacob's Ladder is pretty incredible. In fact, to tack another small layer onto that, for years now my mom has occasionally had a dream in which she sees my Grandpa (gone ~20 years now) and is talking to him in their old family house. She always asks him the basics - how are you, what are you up to today - and he starts taking her up a long staircase (she doesn't know how, since her family house doesn't have one) as they continue to talk. Suddenly she'll remember that he's dead, and she'll start freaking out. And she'll remember that she's dreaming (my mother, the overthinker), only adding to the panic, and my Grandpa will usually start saying something like, "Mija, I have to tell you something really important--" and then she'll snap awake because she's freaking out so much and trying to ask him everything under the sun - "Are you okay?" "Are you in heaven?" "Is mom there with you?" Etc. She'll wake herself up with a racing heart and feel so upset that she didn't get to hear his message.
I've told her before that she needs to calm down and just talk to him normally, but my mom - stress is her middle name, and she's a 5'1 ball of panic who freaks out over the smallest thing, so who knows what my Grandpa is trying to tell her. Hopefully she finds out before she has her own trip up the stairs.
So, whether it's just our subconscious' way of digesting the great beyond, or something more, it's incredibly interesting that it always comes back to that staircase leading up... even in a house that never had one.
~Chief Julio (has got no upstairs in his 'new' house... and hopes it stays that way for quite a while)
Julio Seis-Abeja ~
Delete>>... maybe an extra comment or two will push some more viewers to this post instead of the other 99% of the internet that's trash and/or your recycled content (thanks, Leanne).
Or sending people to John Holton's blog, when they're looking for me. I take a little pride in knowing that I am obviously right over the target and I make The Evil Powers That Be nervous enough to shadow-ban my writings.
Interesting story about your mom and her dreams (visitations?) The fact that at some point she'll realize that she's dreaming (known as "lucid dreaming") is a sign that she has some untapped Spiritual potential on the cusp of being actualized.
If only she could allow these couple of HO BIB verses to make a home in her heart:
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.
Hmmm.... I'm suddenly beginning to wonder if the "staircase" imagery is a universal symbol created by our Father in Heaven. At the time when Ty visited me, I had no special knowledge about the Spiritual realm. I believed in God, and that was about as far as my mindset went. So, Ty brought the staircase symbolism with him when he came to meet me that first time. (I wasn't even aware of the Biblical expression "Jacob's ladder" at that time. I'd had a lucid dream, however, when I was extremely young, and it played a role in healing me from irrational fear.)
Thanks for taking the time to comment here, Six Beee!
~ D-FensDogG
POSTSCRIPT:
DeleteI meant to mention that last night I had a dream in which Lonnie Millsap picked me up in a limousine when I arrived in town. (Not sure what town it was.) And we began making plans to get together after I had conducted whatever business I was there for.
I have to laugh. The majority of the time, I can't figure out how my mind comes up with these scenarios. But... me in a limousine? That doesn't sound like me at all. I'll bet Chuck the Truck (my 1989 Toyota) was jealous as hell and felt very betrayed! ;^D
~ D'DogG