On February 1, 1983 a radio disc jockey from Quincey, Ill. called the United States Post Office in the small Eastern Ohio town of Cadiz.  The question to postman Pat Frazier was, "Do you know whose birthday it is today?"  Pat answered honestly that he did not and was informed by the deejay that Feb. 1 was Clark Gable's birthday.  He then asked what Cadiz, Ohio was doing to commemorate the birth of its most famous son.  That was the last time "nothing" was the answer.  The following year a local women's organization, DISTAFF, organized the first annual "Clark Gable Birthday Celebration," held Feb. 1, 1985.  Despite a terrible ice storm the day before, the party was a smashing success with over three-hundred townspeople and devoted fans in attendance.  The 1985 celebration was the first organized attempt to commemorate Gable's hometown connection.  However, some time prior to that a group of local citizens concerned with the terrible economic slump enveloping the town and county, met to discuss tourism.  Cadiz, once known as "The Proudest Small Town in America" because of its many famous sons including Gen. George Armstrong Custer, was highly dependent on the bituminous coal industry.  In the late 1970s due to a softening demand for ecologically polluting high sulfur coal, the mines began to close.  At one point in 1985 the unemployment rate for Harrison County reached over 25%.    Some were convinced that the tourism potential of its beautiful topography, historical figures and strategic location near several major population centers was ripe for development.  They were also quite embarrassed that no memorial to Clark Gable existed in his hometown.  In fact they couldn't even point out the house in which he was born.  That house on Charleston Street in Cadiz was razed in the early 1960s.  Three business and professional men from Cadiz, Mike Cope, Jon Kirkland, and Chuck Peterson were friends and concerned about the decline of the community.  Meeting informally one evening in 1984 they dreamed of an organization dedicated to preserving Gable's memory.  They believed this would spur tourism interest in Cadiz and Harrison County and they set about forming what Jon thought should be called "The Clark Gable Foundation."  Not long after that other members were enlisted.  The group's first goal was to erect a monument on the site of his birth.  With this in mind and through the cooperation of the Worley family who owned an interest in the land on which the house once stood, the Foundation was granted an interest in the property.  In a few months, over seven-thousand dollars was raised locally and Saturday Feb. 1, 1986 with great expectation and national media attention, the monument was dedicated. The following year the Foundation assumed the birthday celebration from DISTAFF and the momentum began.  Since then it has hosted thirteen birthday celebrations and three "barbecues."  In December 1988 the Foundation was able to make contact with Mr. Fred Crane who accepted an invitation to attend the next Birthday Celebration Feb. 4, 1989.  Fred played Brent Tarleton in Gone With The Wind.  That contact with Fred and Anita Crane opened the door to its "California Connection" including Mr. Bill Tomkin who had worked for many years at MGM Studios in the film archives department.  These people helped us make contact with other members of the GWTW cast which made Foundation events even more successful.  The next event was "The Twelve Oaks Barbecue" in June 1989 commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Gone With The Wind.  The Foundation was able to host four of the original cast members including Cammie King, Butterfly McQueen, Patrick Curtis, and Mr. Daniel Selznick, son of legendary director David O. Selznick.  Since then the Foundation has invited celebrities from Gable's films to attend as guests of honor for each of its "Birthday Celebration" held the Saturday nearest his birthday, annually.  In 1991 the guests were Gable's only son John, and his stepdaughter Joan Spreckels.  In 1992 the guests were Ann Rutherford and Rand Brooks, the actress and actor who played Careen O'Hara and Charles Hamilton in GWTW.  In 1991, the nonprofit Clark Gable Foundation received a sizable bequest from a local woman's estate.  Isabelle Clifford was a Gable contemporary and lived just down the street from the house where he was born.  She loved her hometown and was proud of its history.  Her generosity and forward thinking gave the Foundation the seed money so essential to reach its goal.  http://www.clarkgablefoundation.com/foundation-history.html  

Cadiz is a village in and the county seat of Harrison County, Ohio, United States, located about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Steubenville.  The population was 3,051 at the 2020 census.  Cadiz was founded in 1803 at the junction of westward roads from Pittsburgh and Washington, Pennsylvania, and named after Cádiz, Spain.  The town became the county seat of newly formed Harrison County in 1813.  By 1840, Cadiz had 1,028 residents; by 1846, the town had four churches and 21 stores.  The Steubenville and Indiana Railroad, a predecessor of the Pennsylvania Railroad, opened to Cadiz June 11, 1854.  In the early and mid nineteenth century, several local families operated stations and served as conductors in the Underground Railroad, helping runaway slaves escape to Canada.  By 1880 population had nearly doubled and the town had three newspapers and three banks.  Early industry was based on agriculture and processing farm products.  In 1889, a brief oil boom began with the shipment of 120 barrels of oil produced in nearby Green Township. Coal mining, both underground and surface, became the prominent industry through most of the twentieth century.  More recently the development of the Marcellus Shale in the surrounding area has made Cadiz a center for natural gas production.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadiz,_Ohio  

“Beside” is a preposition that means “close to” or “next to.”  On the other hand, “aside” is an adverb that means “on or to one side” or “away from one’s thoughts or consideration.  https://textribe.co.uk/aside-or-beside/  

According to Professor Lisa Bitel, no fewer than three (3) different martyrs named Valentinus died on February 14th, all of them during a two-year period towards the end of the third century.  Jack B. Oruch reports that the name was so popular that over 30 Valentines, not to mention “a few Valentinas,” ultimately achieved sainthood.  However, no matter which Valentine you look at, their traditions and texts actually have . . . absolutely nothing to do with love or courtship.  Literary Hub  February 11, 2024  

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2783  February 14, 2024