GLEN CAMPBELL'S WRITES FINAL SONG FOR FAMILY

I watched a bit of the "Ocars" Sunday night.  There was quite a bit of social commentary from award winners, but an especially moving part for me was the song which Tim McGraw performed. We have known for sometime that Glen Campbell was suffering from dementia.  His wife had been telling audiences for several years that Glen might forget lyrics at times, but that it was not due to alcohol or drugs. He had experienced addiction  problems in earlier years. In accepting his growing loss of memory Glen had written a song for his family entitled "I'm Not Going To Miss You." McGraw's singing of this drew attention to the problem of dementia among our older population. I do not believe that senile dementia, in all it's forms including Alzheimer's, is a new disease of the elderly. We simply see more cases because modern medicine is allowing more of us to live longer and subsequently develop this condition of the elderly which has been around for generations.

Then on the Monday evening the PBS News Hour a segment was aired showing how music was helpful to people having dementia problems. Even though many could no longer function well enough to live at home and care for themselves they still retained their musical skills. A band had been formed for them to participate in and they sounded quite good. We have learned earlier that as we age it is important to exercise both our bodies and our brains. Learning new musical skills is beneficial for the latter, whether it means learning to play a new instrument or learning new tunes. I try to do both and believe it is definitely beneficial to my overall health. I hope you are doing the same.

The "Glen Campbell Good Time Hour" came into being around 1970 when the Smothers Brothers were removed from the air due to their very liberal social commentary during those more conservative years. Campbell had  direct impact on my family as my three year old son was one of his more ardent fans. He came to love the show and would sit on the floor as close to the console TV as he could get. That turned into a love of the guitar which has impacted his entire life. By the age of 12 he had organized his first garage band and he has continued to have bands all of his life whether living in Billings, Bozeman, Seattle, Austin TX or Nashville where he now resides. So Tim McGraw's rendition of Glen Campbell's final song had special meaning for me.