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November 27, 2007
Judging Book Covers
by Tina Grazier
Shakelford, who owns a small winery in Oregon, has shoulder length white hair with a matching beard. His youth was spent in a typical fashion for the day:
At 25, Shackelford had married, fathered two children, divorced and served a few weeks in a Cuban army prison after showing up to help Castro win his revolution. In the winter of 1964, a new girlfriend in hand, he set off for Mexico. They played in the sun and camped on the beach.
Today his coastal winery finds him playing host at wedding parties, anniversary celebrations, art shows and concerts and he has sponsered bluegrass festivals and concerts. His service to the community is legendary...as one woman put it:
"He always rose above the mundane and came up with some new way to support his passions for music, gatherings, charities -- and he was successful beyond anyone's dreams."
His community efforts might be considered the limits of what any one man can accomplish but that’s not the end of this man’s story. When he’s not playing host he travels and in his travels he’s found ways to touch the lives of others:
Shakelford helped Lang upgrade his bicycle to a motorcycle and then to a car, and he helped pay for Lang's schooling. Then, learning that Lang's village had never had a school, he built two -- one for students in grades first through third, and a second for learning English. It was a start, but it wasn't food on the table. *** Lang suggested a sewing room, and last summer Shackelford returned to Chheneng with $1,500 from sales of the colorful silklike handbags, backpacks and wine bags he sells in his tasting rooms. "Four hundred dollars would feed the village for 20 days," says Shackelford. "They don't have a lot." *** Shackelford is currently in Tanzania helping a friend he met 12 years ago in Ecuador fix up a house.
Now it’s time to judge this book by its cover. What say you…is Mr. Shakelford a conservative or a liberal? It's not always easy to tell. Let’s look a little deeper….
This veteran of the Vietnam War won two silver star medals and has not stopped giving of himself since:
In the past few years, Shackelford estimates, he's spent $25,000 to $30,000 helping out in Cambodia and other developing countries. "People should help each other," says Shackelford, who considers himself a Republican with strong libertarian leanings. "That is a conservative principle that built this country." *** His kindness, however, does not come without certain expectations, say those who know him. *** "Ray expects you to work hard," says Darrell Spacek, a disabled man who has worked at the winery for three years. "He's very demanding, and when it comes time to do something, Ray wants to just get in there and get it done."
But he's fair, says Spacek, and a believer in second chances.
Our notions of what it means to be conservative do not always match the reality! Conservatives are truly individuals...and we find individual ways to express ourselves.
Read about Ray Shakelford in The Oregonian in the story, Winery owner uncorks, by Lori Tobias
Posted by Post Scripts at November 27, 2007 11:16 PM