Before - Legends A Childhood Hero - In the News Challenge Response

Title: A Childhood Hero
Author: SabyneAmberle
Characters: Kabrina Gamon (Exile), Atton, Mira, Mical
Genre: Humor, Vignette
Summary: Mical wishes to take an unplanned detour. Will his crewmates allow it?
Notes: Written for the "In the News" Challenge.

**************************************

Cream of Wheat? man finally gets a tombstone
Frank L. White, believed to be the model for the smiling chef, died in 1938


The man widely believed to be the model for this Cream of Wheat image is believed to be getting a tombstone after nearly 70 years.

Updated: 5:26 a.m. ET June 15, 2007
LESLIE, Mich. - A man widely believed to be the model for the smiling chef on Cream of Wheat boxes finally has a grave marker bearing his name.

Frank L. White died in 1938, and until this week, his grave in Woodlawn Cemetery bore only a tiny concrete marker with no name.

On Wednesday, a granite gravestone was placed at his burial site. It bears his name and an etching taken from the man depicted on the Cream of Wheat box.


Jesse Lasorda, a family researcher from Lansing, started the campaign to put the marker and etching on White?s grave.

?Everybody deserves a headstone,? Lasorda told the Lansing State Journal. He discovered that White was born about 1867 in Barbados, came to the U.S. in 1875 and became a citizen in 1890.

When White died Feb. 15, 1938, the Leslie Local-Republican described him as a ?famous chef? who ?posed for an advertisement of a well-known breakfast food.?

White lived in Leslie for about the last 20 years of his life, and the story of his posing for the Cream of Wheat picture was known in the city of 2,000 located between Jackson and Lansing and about 70 miles west of Detroit.

The chef was photographed about 1900 while working in a Chicago restaurant. His name was not recorded. White was a chef, traveled a lot, was about the right age and told neighbors that he was the Cream of Wheat model, the Jackson Citizen Patriot said.

Long owned by Kraft Foods Inc., the Cream of Wheat brand was sold this year to B&G Foods Inc.

© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

***********************

?Wait a second. You wanna do what?? Atton swiveled the pilot?s chair around to face Mical, whose expression of surprise seemed to mirror his own. Kabrina sat placidly in the co-pilot?s seat, while Mira leaned on the nearby wall, attempting unsuccessfully to contain her giggles.

?Well?? Mical began, pausing to clear his suddenly-dry throat. ?I?ve been following the Holonet for the past few weeks, and I just learned that a very generous benefactor recently paid to have a proper memorial built on Garos IV for the Cream of Wheat man.?

??Cream of Wheat? man?? Atton asked. ?What the hell is Cream of Wheat? And what does a man have to do with it??

Mical paused, trying to search for the right words to describe his favorite childhood food. ?It?it?s difficult to explain. It?s a breakfast food, served hot with milk and sweetener. It?s very much like the meals served here on the Ebon Hawk, only much more delicious. It was my favorite breakfast as a child; I must have eaten bowls upon bowls of it before being sent to the Jedi.?

?Yeah, you probably ate so much you have brains made of this Cream of Wheat stuff.? Atton muttered, folding his arms. ?Okay, so you?ve sorta answered my question as to what the stuff is. But who is the guy you?re talking about??

?I?ve heard of him.? Kabrina piped up from her seat. ?I guess he was a cook of some kind on Garos IV, whom it was decided had just the right face for the Holo ads.? She shrugged. ?No one really knows about the details, it was all so long ago. But I guess when he died, he didn?t have a proper memorial, so someone finally must have put up the credits to get him one.?

Mical nodded. ?You?re exactly correct, Kabrina.? He answered. ?So why don?t we go and pay him a visit??

Atton held up a hand. ?Hold on, kid.? He interrupt

 

This made me laugh. It's a great way to wake up in the morning.

It's also a humorous response to the challenge... as well as speedy!

 

That was a wonderful response to the challenge!