A true American hero

[Barney]

The Last Hero I can recall rather vividly was John Wayne, the cowboy hero of our youth, who made well over 165 fulllength movies in his 50 year career as an actor. In his early low budget Western movie days, Wayne completed a rather astonishing 90 in less than 7 years. This famous actor was and still is a living legend, whether one is speaking with New York or Hollywood directors, producers, or actors Wayne is considered the consummate Pro. In addition to being able to affordmany of the luxuries of life afforded his fame and money, Wayne liked to give back to the commnity and nation by beinga community leader in charitable organizations; the John Wayne Cancer Institute, the John Wayne Youth Ranch for CancerVictims, founding director of the National Cowboy Actors Association along with many other philanthropic organizations.Here we had a man, an actor by profession, standing 6' 4" tall, and weighing around 235 lbs. who acted out the Code of theWest, the Code of the Open Range, that ran from the 1840's and ended around 1910'. John Wayne Enterprises is now run byhis son, Ethan Wayne, probably named after his famous part in the glorious western movie, The Searchers. Ethan is chargedwith protection of the Wayne name and legacy, and enters into licensing ageements only with firms who uphold the highestdegree of excellence in products for sale to the public. Ethan Wayne was born when his father, John, was 56 years old butthey had a wonderful time together until his passing while Ethan was near graduation from high school. Ethan explains it likethis, Dad was not only an adventurer on film, but in life. He liked to be constantly working, or on the go to some new place,some new adventure for us all to enjoy. With our ship we went to Mexico, and Cent. and South America in the winter andto Canada, Alaska, and beyond in the summers when not somewhere in the world working hard on a movie set. That ship andhis work were very important to his life and legacy.