Of the Church. Where Mitt’s tithes go, and KIRO TV …
One of the things that impressed me about the LDS church was how they do a great job of taking care of their own. The LDS has their own welfare system and, while it primarily serves church members who need assistance, it’s not exclusively for the church membership. They have job programs as well.
I’ve had reason of late to recall how I was once down and out as a teenager, not a member of the church yet but I knew a family that I attended servcies with at Seattle’s 4th Ward. Through the church I was given a job at KIRO as a janitor. I didn’t make much money or anything but it was what I needed at the time.
The experience at KIRO was quite fascinating. Being a janitor, I had access to every nook and cranny of what was then a brand new state-of-the-art facility on Broad Street. There was a lot of cool stuff going on there and a lot of wonderful people and, like anywhere else, some not so wonderful.
Not all of the TV personalities were all that friendly. Chris Wedes, “JP” was a chain smoker and he wasn’t friendly at all. Neither was “Gertrude”. The woman who hosted the “Dialing for Dollars” afternoon movie, Sandy Hill, was a bit of a stuck up bitch. Sportscaster Ron Forsell never even acknowledged my existence, not even if he tripped over me. Cliff Kirk was nice enough. Executives like Lloyd Cooney and Ken Hatch were great people. The guys on radio were asses. I eventually learned to enjoy banging waste baskets while they were on air. That’d get them riled up every time. I really liked one of the floor managers, a black guy, which back in those years impressed me that he had risen to such a position. Bearing the “Mark of Cain” was no hinderance to career advancement for a black man at KIRO.
The person I liked most, though, was the late night and weekend anchor, Ann Martin. What a wonderful woman! She would go out of her way to show respect to me, a lowly janitor, always greeting me warmly and showing me kindness.
One evening there was a big banquet going on at the station. I didn’t have money for good food at the time and when I saw the spread, I was like, “Wow, look at that food!” A little while later I was doing something in another part of the building when I was surprised to see Ann approaching me. She had heaped a pile of food on a plate, put it on a tray with desert and a glass of milk, then searched around the building and eventually found me. The food was for me, the janitor. We sat down together and talked for awhile as I enjoyed a very wonderful meal.
Sandy Hill was known as KIRO’s “hot babe”, a sexy, extremely attractive woman. On screen, Ann didn’t come off as being especially attractive, maybe even a bit dowdy. But in person she was so incredibly beautiful! I’m not sure how much of that was inner beauty, as she certainly had that in spades. But all in all, she was one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever known.