A gift of a Beatles ticket from Sharon

   The ticket pictured belonged to Sharon Sommers until she, as a wonderful gesture, gave it to me last night at the church’s Administrative Council Meeting.. Sharon has learned what a Beatles fan I am and figured it carried more sentimental value to me than ever it would to her. I explained that receiving it was “a very big deal, as if Neil Armstrong were to give you something related to his moon mission.” She responded “seeing the smile on your face is worth it!”.

   Sharon, far left in photo, serves as Financial Secretary at the Claypool United Methodist Church in Claypool Indiana, she serves food at our community dinners, and she serves to enhance my collection of Beatle memorabilia by her gift.

   She explains in her note, kept from 1964,  that she had been asked to go to this concert by a friend.

I asked her to describe the event. She said “It was loud!”

   I’m sure Beatle fans out there who, like me, were never able to attend a Beatle concert will understand…as I looked at the ticket, felt its texture, and “lived” her description of the event, I could almost imagine myself there at the Indiana Fairgrounds, outside, as a group of four people from England ascended the stage and performed a radically different popular music. I imagined the energized crowd of fans, perhaps still numb from the Kennedy assassination just months earlier, eager for some new, fresh experience to begin the process of a “cultural resurrection” of some kind.

Thank you, Sharon, for this great gift. Of course I shall cherish it along with your story which accompanies it. Imagine receiving such a gift at a church business meeting!

And also, I’m sure as many other Beatle fans read this, they are stirred with envy!