Kirby Pines Retirement Community | The Pinecone

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• 2 • The Pinecone | November 2015
ON THE PINECONE COVER
The phrase “Happy Thanksgiving” can be
heard throughout the community at this
time of the year. We hear it from friends
made years ago and from new friends we
have made in the last month.
When we think about Thanksgiving,
many thoughts come to mind. First,
there is the image of pilgrims and the
Wampanoag tribe in 1621, sitting down
together for a feast and giving thanks for
the harvest. There are the more modern
portrayals of shopping on Black Friday,
football games and eating all day. The
roots of Thanksgiving, however, go back
to Roman times when they celebrated the
harvest and gave thanks to the goddess of
agriculture, Ceres. In Exodus 23:16 it is
referenced by saying “Celebrate the Feast
of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops
you sow in your field. Celebrate the Feast
of Ingathering at the end of the year, when
you gather in your crops from the field.”
While we grew up learning that
the pilgrims were the first to have
Thanksgiving in America, this isn’t
entirely true. Marian Horvat, Ph.D.,
claims the first Thanksgiving in America
was held in 1598 by Spanish explorers
in El Paso. Also, it would be absurd to
think that Native American tribes didn’t
celebrate an autumn festival of harvest,
when so many other cultures were doing
so. The pilgrims no doubt held a fest and
a day of thanks, but it wasn’t the first, just
the most iconic in American history.
T ime t o b e Thank f u l
a t K i r b y P i n e s
President Lincoln officially recognized the
holiday in 1863, in an attempt to unify the
North and South with a singular, cultural
holiday. Much later, President Franklin D
Roosevelt declared Thanksgiving is set to
fall on the fourth Thursday in November.
This move was largely in part to boost the
economy and provide a longer holiday
shopping season for Christmas.
The image of pilgrims and natives sitting
down together does offer a symbol of
peace. It’s a beautiful moment in history
we can look back on, be humbled and be
thankful for what we have and for those
around us. Thanksgiving, should be a
holiday in which we, as individuals, focus
on our past, our present, and the future. It
should be a day to slow down for a few
hours, join hands with family and friends,
and truly reflect on how blessed many of
us are.
You can still go shopping, watch a football
game, and go for a second serving of food,
but do take a moment to be thankful.
Happy Thanksgiving. Michael
Escamilla,
Executive
Director,
Kirby Pines
Despite the inclement weather, there was
nothing dark and dreary once we entered
the famous doors at Sun Studio, the
“Home of Rock & Roll”.
Sun Studio is a recording studio opened
by rock pioneer Sam Phillips at 706
Union Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee,
on January 3, 1950. It was originally
called Memphis Recording Service,
sharing the same building with the Sun
Records label business.
Sun recorded blues, R&B, country,
rockabilly and of course, rock and roll.
Artists include; Howlin’Wolf, B.B. King,
Rufus Thomas, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee
Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and of
course, a very young Elvis Presley.
Kirby Pines Gets A Taste Of Rock n’ Roll At Sun Studio
John & Jody Sosh and Dan & Judy Moffett
fight the rain on our trip to Sun Studio
Kirby Pines Retirement Community
is managed by:
BOARD OF D I R ECTOR S
Dr. James Latimer, Chairman
Mr. Rudy Herzke, President
Mr. Berry Terry, Secretary/Treasurer
Mr. Larry Braughton Rev. Richard Coons
Mr. Jim Ethridge Dr. Fred Grogan
Ms. Mary Ann Hodges
Mr. Boyd Rhodes, Jr.
RCA S TA F F
Charlie Trammell
President, RCA
K I RBY P I NE S S TA F F
Michael Escamilla
Executive Director, Kirby Pines
Annette Marlar
Director of Medical Services and HR
Mike Abutineh, M.D.
Medical Director
Linda Huston
Director of Accounting
Don Johnson
Chaplain
Cheryl Grimes
Director of Activities/Social Events
Daniel Longstreth
Director of Environmental Services
Chuck Neeley
Director of Maintenance
Mark Simpson
Director of Dining Services
Mike Rayder
Director of Grounds & Landscaping
Calvin Sims
Director of Security
Faye Smith
Director of Transportation
This magazine is produced by R.C.A.
6465 N. Quail Hollow Rd., Suite 400
Memphis, TN 38120, 901-794-2598
Electronic version of
The Pinecone is
available at
Our front cover has John and Jody Sosh
ready to lay down a track of their own,
while the back cover features Dan and
Judy Moffett in front of the old time
Wurlitzer Jukebox at the building’s
entrance. We thank them all for joining
us on our musical pilgrimage!