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In case you somehow missed it, (this is about the 20th time I have mentioned it) Karen Thomas now Karen Thomas McNay,an award winning principal at Christ The King Elementary in Lexington , and I were married on June 9.
Here are links to the some of the wedding pictures that Tops In Lex took.
Karen Thomas- Don McNay June 9th wedding Part one
Karen Thomas-Don McNay wedding June 9 Part Two
Enclosed is the story about how I became well acquainted with hanging out with an elementary school principal.
Don
How a Facebook mistake led to a tribute to great teacher.
A Facebook pop up reminded me this week to send a birthday greeting to my eighth grade teacher Jerry Vogt.
I did. Only to find that he died six months previous.
Jerry taught me forty years at St Pius in Edgewood Kentucky but remains a part of who I am.
I'm embarrassed that Facebook encouraged me to send birthday greetings to a dead person. One of my Facebook friends was murdered. Until I "defriended" her, Facebook would send messages, saying "you have not talked to Amanda in some time, post on her wall."
Facebook plays an interesting part in my life. I was a very early adopter and have thousands of Facebook friends. It's how I keep up with people I have not seen in decades and people I see every day.
My daughter's fiancé proposed via Facebook. Simpler, cheaper, and as effective as the "down on one knee" method I chose.
Facebook gave me a unique opportunity: the chance to say thank you to a man who made a difference in my life.
Going back to eighth grade, adolescence, hit me hard. In a few months, I went from being a shy, conforming, kid, to a loud, cocky, smart aleck.
I was a teacher's worse nightmare.
Jerry Vogt could handle it in a very unique way.
The first thing Mr. Vogt did was isolate the troublemakers.
He took the four guys smarting off and put them in a row far away from the other students.
He obviously spotted potential.
The four of us, included a future dentist. a big time home builder and a high ranking executive at Proctor and Gamble. Looking back, we were the four who had the greatest degree of professional achievement and notoriety.
Like carefully breaking a horse, Jerry did not stifle our energy and creativity. He worked to channel it in positive directions.
He was imaginative in how he kept us in line. I was smarting off in music class so he had me stay after class and sing to the rest of the school.
That backfired on him.
I was supposed to sing ten songs but by the third, I had found my stride and my rousing version of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco." forced Jerry to pull out the hook.
I was enjoying it too much.
That was my maiden voyage in front of an audience. I've always been comfortable out front in the forty years since then.
It's hard to be pompous after you've sang Tony Bennett to an entire grade school.
No one saw it ever forgot it. One of my classmates was married 20 years later and the band played the song in my honor.
Although he had some tradition techniques, like sending me to the principal's office and informing my father, who threatened to have me rubbed out, you could see that Jerry was a pretty cool guy who "got" the eighth graders and found a way to communicate with us.
By the end of the year, I calmed down, came off the segmented row and back to the regular classroom. Jerry had me ready for a tough, Catholic high school were my previous behavior would have had me expelled in a week.
Jerry got out of teaching when I was in college and had a long career as a Cincinnati court reporter. I had a college internship in the courthouse where he worked and we had lunch.
He told me the letter I wrote a letter to evangelist Oral Roberts for a business writing class was the funniest thing that happened during his teaching career. Tony Bennett was a close second.
When Leslie Kennedy Wagner, one of my classmates found me on Facebook, she had also found Jerry and reconnected us.
He took pride in my career accomplishments and I was able to thank him for being there at a turning point in my life.
The last time we wrote, I told him I was engaged to an elementary school principal, who I married three weeks ago.
Since he knew how much time I spent in our principal's office, he appreciated the irony in that.
His passing did not draw a lot of headlines, but he was given an opportunity to mold young lives and made the most of it.
I'm glad I was able to thank him when he could see the finished product, and in a weird way, glad that Facebook sent the after-death birthday notice.
It reminded of what Mr. Vogt did for me.
The lord speaks in a mysterious ways but I never thought that Facebook would be one of them.
But I since Tony Bennett and Oral Roberts are on my list of life changers, I guess Facebook can be too.
Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC is the bestselling author of the books, "Son of a Son of a Gambler: Winners, Losers" and "What to Do When You Win the Lottery" and "Wealth Without Wall Street;" McNay, who lives in Richmond, Ky., is an award-winning financial columnist and Huffington Post contributor. You can learn more about him at www.don mcnay.com.
Bill Cook, French Lick and a Billionaire giving back. In my bestselling book, Son of a Son of a Gambler: Winners, Losers, and What to do When you Win the Lottery, I note that the only wealthy people who are truly happy are those who give back to their communities. Lots of rich people talk the talk but the late billionaire Bill Cook was one who truly made a difference. By opening a resort and casino. Cook was a self-made billionaire, who lived in Bloomington Indiana and made his money in the medical device business. He was totally unknown outside of the state of Indiana and liked it that way. The Bill Cook Story, a biography by Bob Hammel gives insight into a billionaire who danced to a different drummer. He had hobbies like driving his friend John Mellencamp's tour bus. He invented his first medical device in a small apartment, moved to a small house and stayed in the house for the rest of his life. He didn't get a garage until late in life when they made him quit parking his cars on the street. Cook didn't spend much on housing so the irony is that he sunk his money into the ultimate real estate white elephant. The West Baden and French Lick Hotels in French Lick Indiana. The West Baden had been a historic landmark fallen on hard times and literally falling apart. The French Lick Hotel was also long in the tooth and the local unemployment rate in pre recession 1996, shortly before the resort opened, was over 20%. It was a dead facility in a dying town before Bill Cook ponied up millions to bring both the resort and city back to life. All in the pursuit of historic preservation and jobs for the community. I found out about Bill Cook at an unusual time, my honeymoon. I was married on June 9 and chose the West Baden hotel for a honeymoon as it was a two and a half drive from my house and my wife had to cut the vacation to four days to speak at an International Education Reform Symposium. I had been to French Lick but never West Baden but she had been to neither. She was a little disappointed that we didn't fly to a more exotic honeymoon destination, until she got to the West Baden. Now she wants to go back every weekend. It's hard to do better than the French Lick experience. We let them know it was our honeymoon and they gave us a huge suite with a balcony overlooked what that had been the largest indoor dome in the world, 60 years before the Astrodome was built. Both hotels had the beauty and splendor of a European grand hotel. The service and the restaurants, especially the 1875 steak restaurant was outstanding and reasonably priced. The resort has three golf courses with two (one designed by Pete Dye, another by Donald Ross) considered tops in the nation. It has a large casino but one of the rare resorts where you can avoid the casino easily if it is not what you are into. Who I kept running into at West Baden was the ghost of Bill Cook. Many of the employees at both hotels seemed to be history buffs and several had been at the resort since it re-opened in 2007. They all kept quoting or mentioning, "Mr. Cook," with personal affection and reverence. Finally, Clarence, a bellman, filled me in on Mr. Cook, Cook's history and his total devotion to making West Baden and French Lick world class hotels. Clarence, who like all longtime employees knew Mr. Cook well, got me to buy the Bill Cook Story and spent nearly an hour telling me about Cook's philosophies. One that struck me in particular was Cook's idea that helping a person find a job was the most important thing you could do. It gave the job recipient self-esteem, it gave them a way to support themselves and support their families, it gave them hope and a chance to plan for the future. Most of the jobs in the French Lick area are related to the resorts that Cook restored to their original glory. The jobs are held by people proud, skilled and glad to have them. Bill Cook didn't get into the West Baden and French Lick projects to make money. He had all money he needed and hotels looked like white elephants. He got involved to preserve an historic property and make it a destination point. One that I plan to visit as often as I can. Bill Cook used his money to make a difference. When you are looking for models on how to be rich, forget about Donald Trump and pick up the book on Bill Cook. Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC is the bestselling author of the books, "Son of a Son of a Gambler: Winners, Losers" and "What to Do When You Win the Lottery" and "Wealth Without Wall Street;" McNay, who lives in Richmond, Ky., is an award-winning financial columnist and Huffington Post contributor. You can learn more about him at www.donmcnay.com. He is one of the world's leading authorities on what to do when you win the lottery. He is the Chairman of the Board for the McNay Settlement Group, which provides structured settlement consulting for injury victims, lottery winners, and the families of special needs children. McNay founded Kentucky Guardianship Administrators LLC, which assists attorneys in as conservators and setting up guardianships. It is nationally recognized as an administrator of Qualified Settlement (468b) funds. John Edwards and the Ed Prichard Example In 2008, Eliot Spitzer was the politician making headlines because of a sex scandal. That same year, author and CNN Commentator Jeffrey Toobin spoke to the Kentucky Bar Association about my fellow Kentuckian, Ed Prichard. "Prich," as his friends called him, was one of the brightest stars of his generation at Harvard Law School. He was part of a group of young stars who rose to power as Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal hit Washington. Then it all fell apart for Ed. In 1948, Prichard was caught up in a silly, ballot-stuffing stunt that caused him to serve time in prison (he was later pardoned) and ended his political career. Prichard's story is best told in David Halberstam's bestseller, The Powers That Be, and in Prichard's excellent biography by Tracy Campbell, Short of the Glory. Toobin related an additional detail to the Prichard story. In an interview of Donald Edward Graham, the longtime publisher of the Washington Post, Toobin learned that Graham's middle name was in honor of Pritch. Ed's best friend was Phillip Graham, Donald's father. The elder Graham took the Washington Post when it was the number two newspaper in its city and began its journey to becoming one of the most influential media outlets in the world. Toobin had been a law school classmate of Spitzer at Harvard. Toobin said he sent a copy of "Short of the Glory" to Spitzer.I hope someone sends a copy to John Edwards, too.The John Edwards scandal has been a real dilemma for me.I knew John Edwards and really wanted him to be president. I helped to sponsor a couple of fundraising events for him in 2003, and, like most my family, made the maximum donation to his campaign. I had lunch with him. We spent most of the time talking about our families and our affinity for a band popular with infant children, called the "Wiggles." He seemed like a standup guy. I really thought he was on track in 2008. His message of two Americas and his focus on poverty was more in tune with Main Street than what Obama and Hillary Clinton were saying. People wondered why I gravitated to Mike Huckabee and Edwards since they differed dramatically on social issues. But both seemed to have a populist spirit and neither seemed to be controlled by Wall Street.As the economy crashed later that year, I felt either Edwards or Huckabee would have had an ear to Main Street closer and better than anyone else running.Then, like Pritchard, John Edwards stupidly threw away his political future. At age 59, Edwards must be wondering what to do next. He "won" a trial that never should have taken place, but was not seen as victorious in the public eye. Everyone despises him. I met Ed Prichard when he was roughly the same age that Edwards is now. I was a college student who had allegedly run a stop sign in Frankfort, Kentucky. My lead foot was going to cause me to lose my driver's license. Ed got my ticket amended and I kept my license. But doing traffic court work was well below Ed's Harvard training.Prich wasn't making a lot of money but he devoted himself to public service. Quietly, and, as time went on, more and more publicly, he devoted himself to education reform in Kentucky. In 1980, he put together an education reform group that became known as the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence. That group had, and continues to have, an incredible impact on education in the state. Although Prichard died in 1984, he has received most of the credit for the ground-breaking Kentucky Education Reform Act that became law in 1990. I grew up in Northern Kentucky, where many people moved across the river to Cincinnati because the schools were better there. Now it frequently works the other way. You have to give Ed Prichard his due for that kind of impact on society. The late Robert Sexton, who was a longtime director of the Prichard Committee, said "There were, of course, two Ed Prichards. One was a genuine prodigy - charming, compelling, brash, arrogant, irresponsible. The other, familiar to us years later, was older, still brilliant, but also mellowed, chastened, and remade; a far different man from the younger Prichard."I hope someday, years in the future, people say there were two John Edwards. That the one who was irresponsible, charming, arrogant and a liar was replaced by one whose tremendous fall from grace chastened and remade him into a man who truly made an impact on the plight of "the other America."Edwards needs to get Prichard's biography. It's a good starting point on redemption and channeling great talents in a productive manner. Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC is the bestselling author of the books , Son of a Son of a Gambler: Winners, Losers and What to Do When You Win the Lottery and Wealth Without Wall Street; McNay, who lives in Richmond, Ky., is an award-winning financial columnist and Huffington Post contributor. You can learn more about him at www.donmcnay.com.He is one of the world's leading authorities on what to do when you win the lottery.He is the Chairman of the Board for the McNay Settlement Group (www.mcnay.com) which provides structured settlement consulting for injury victims, lottery winners, and the families of special needs children.McNay founded Kentucky Guardianship Administrators LLC, which assists attorneys in as conservators and setting up guardianships. It is nationally recognized as an administrator of Qualified Settlement (468b) funds. 
You can find the links to my daughter Gena Bigler's terrific "Smart Money" column on KyForward.com and I have links to them at the bottom of this page. Also you can read what I wrote about her on KyForward.com in honor of her 40th birthday. Gena Bigler and the art of financial social work Autism and My Grandson's First Swim O, I believe, fate smiled and destiny Laughed as she came to my cradle Know this child will be able. -Natalie Merchant My 11-year-old grandson took his first trip off the diving board last week. Two weeks previously, he couldn't swim at all. Seeing an 11-year-old swim is normally not a headline. But, my grandson has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, which is a form of autism. Seeing him jump in the pool was better than winning the lottery. Having a grandson who can't swim is a frightening experience. What happens if he falls in water? I have not swum in several years but know I can. Could I get him to safety in case of emergency? Now that issue is going off the table. He can make it to safety without me. With a child with Asperger's Syndrome, it's the little things that mean a lot. When he was first diagnosed, I spent a lot of time reading about Asperger's Syndrome and autism. A lot of people with Asperger's wind up as Wall Street stock traders, professional gamblers or computer geniuses. There are some who believe that Bill Gates has a form of Asperger's. I'm not expecting my grandson to grow up to be a billionaire like Bill Gates. I am hoping that he has a happy, normal and productive life -- the same hopes every parent and grandparent has. The first thing I learned about autism is that there is no such thing as a "cure." There is a lot of education and special training needed. You don't suddenly flip a switch, or take a pill, and have an autistic child fill in the gaps in how his mind is circuited. People who have children with autism learn what they can, find all the support and programs available and give love to their child with everything they have. Thus, it is easy to get excited when a grandson jumps off the diving board and takes a swim. I was surprised recently to find that my grandson was suddenly "cured" of Asperger's Syndrome. It didn't come from being struck by lightning or due to the efforts of a faith healer like Oral Roberts. It came from the American Psychiatric Association. When the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders comes out, it won't list Asperger's as a diagnosis at all. On the same day that my grandson made his successful leap off the diving board, the APA confirmed that it would maintain a new definition of autism, which will not list Asperger's as a possibility. The irony is that for a long time he was unable to swim due to the sensory and motor issues associated with the disorder the APA is saying doesn't exist. The "re-definition" by the APA came from a perception that Asperger's, and other forms of autism, were "over diagnosed." In other words, according to the APA, the way to avoid paying for treatment is to suddenly decide that the disease doesn't exist at all. That is an outrage that will keep thousands of children from getting help. What happens when the children are 20, 30 and 50 years old and have never been counseled, educated or treated? A simple "change" in APA definition can damage children who could easily be helped. My grandson is fortunate in one respect. Our family business, McNay Settlement Group, helps special needs children handle their money and plan for the rest of their lives. His mother, aunt, and uncle are experts who know every financial vehicle and public program available to help children with special needs. If health care reform is not overturned by the United States Supreme Court, several excellent new programs will be implemented to help autistic children. There are a number of advocacy groups, such as Autism Speaks and Autistic Self Advocacy Network, that are springing up to help in this area. Last March I got to spend a few minutes with the AS founders, Bob and Suzanne Wright, when we were both on the CBS Morning News. (I was on CBS to talk about what to do when you win the lottery.) Like me, the Wrights became committed to the cause when their grandchild was diagnosed with autism. My grandson and I recently went to a baseball game. He is learning about the sport his grandfather loves. While we were there, he completely reprogrammed my cell phone. He fixed a problem in thirty seconds that Apple's tech people couldn't fix in three hours. He's a great child with a big heart. With a lot of love, education and counseling, "he will be able." The jump in the pool was a big step forward. One that caused his grandpa to leap for joy. Links to Columns by Gena Bigler on KyForward.com KyForward: Gena Bigler: As prices climb, cut expenses, consider options other than 'big box' stores Gena Bigler: Stay on top of your money, open mail, watch fees and credit score - be savvy | 
