Category Archives: Columns

Epilogue: New Free Book Bench

by Woody

Woody’s award-winning novel “The Butterfly Tree” is available at Amazon (click here), other online retailers, and orderable at all bookshops.

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Let me begin by borrowing the signature phrase of the late, great radio broadcaster Paul Harvey, “And now the rest of the story…”

Two weeks past in this space I shared the tale of a unique bench I happened upon while out for a run on a woodchip path in Redondo Beach. Situated in the shade of trees, with the salty perfume of the nearby ocean in the air, what made this bench special was that three mornings in a row I found a single book, different each day, resting on the wooden slat seat and bearing a Post-It Note reading: “Free! Good Book. Enjoy Me!”

The first two offerings – “Tuesdays With Morrie” and “Angela’s Ashes,” good books indeed – I had already read. The third book, on the final day of my visit, “The Old Man by the Sea” by Domenico Starnone – not to be confused with Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man and the Sea” – was new to me so I took it.

I also took away something else: inspiration to leave a free book on a bench for someone to take and enjoy.

And I knew the perfect bench.

It is about a mile, as the crow flies, from my front door and indeed has crows – and hawks and hummingbirds, osprey and owls, gulls and geese, on and on, even an occasional golden eagle – flying overhead, for the bench is in Ventura’s Harmon Canyon Preserve.

More specifically, this bench is a five-minute stroll from the preserve’s Foothill Road entrance, a relatively flat walk on a dirt pathway wide enough for hikers and trail runners and mountain cyclists. Tucked around a bend, and northwestward facing, it is an idyllic spot to sit and watch the sun set behind the foothills. Directly behind the bench is a sycamore tree, too young now to provide shade, but one day, Nature willing, it will grow into a Joyce Kilmer poem and afford a canopy of coolness to those who find respite here.

All of which is to say this is a most lovely bench, as it must be, for it is a memorial for a most lovely person, Suz Montgomery, who five years ago at age 73 succumbed to cancer after a lengthy courageous battle.

Not long ago, after a long fundraising effort, Suz’s Bench became a reality and a dedication ceremony was held with nearly a hundred family members and friends – Suz had a magical gift of making the latter feel like the former – gathering during a sunset that was so gorgeous it made you think Suz was somehow responsible, once more making those who loved her smile.

Suz’s Bench has become one of my favorite sanctums, a place to escape the busyness of life, a place to savor fresh air and postcard scenery and listen to avian symphonies and watch birds float on updrafts like feather kites and, of course, a tranquil place to read.

Inspired by the free book bench on the woodchip running path in Redondo Beach, I have started leaving books now and again on Suz’s Bench, one at a time, each with a Post-It Note: “Free! Take Me! Enjoy!” Because my dear friend died before my debut novel “The Butterfly Tree” was published, it was my wistful first offering.

I hope the recipients have enjoyed these token tomes and that other hikers follow in kind in giving so this becomes the littlest of Little Free Libraries – Suz’s Free Book Bench – because I think she would have liked that.

“And now you know,” as Paul Harvey would conclude, “the rest of the story.”

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Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn

Woody’s new novel “The Butterfly Tree” is now available in paperback and eBook at Amazon (click here), other online bookstores, and is orderable at all bookshops.

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Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn.

“Free! Very Good! Read Me!”

by Woody

Woody’s award-winning novel “The Butterfly Tree” is available at Amazon (click here), other online retailers, and orderable at all bookshops.

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Good books can help you run away from wherever you are, but the reverse happened to me a short while ago: running brought me to good books.

Here is how it happened…

While spending a few days visiting my son’s family in Redondo Beach, I went for my daily run on a local woodchip path that is popular for good reason as it so near the ocean as to carry salty perfume in the air and furthermore is amply lined on either side by trees whose canopies form a tunnel of shade.

The pathway stretches for some four miles in a park-like median between two heavily trafficked roads. The cross streets are few and far between and not very busy, sans just a couple with stoplights, making the soft trail idyllic for clearing the mind and getting lost in one’s thoughts without worrying about four-wheeled vehicles.

Along the footpath are numerous wooden benches, all on the eastern side and facing toward sunset, most with memorial plaques on the backrests. On this recent morning, azure-skied and summertime-warm by 10 o’clock, one of the benches caught my attention. Specifically, I noticed a book resting on the slatted seat, all alone, its owner apparently having stepped away for a moment or, perhaps, accidentally forgot it behind entirely.

Curious of its title, but not so much so as to stop and look, I continued on my way without pause, enjoying the ease and rhythm of my stride, enjoying the sunshine, enjoying the shared company of numerous flitting monarch butterflies here and there as well as more than a few other runners plus many, many walkers. The latter were generally side-by-side in pairs, friends with slight spacing between them as they talked; couples closer together holding hands; moms pushing strollers; folks with dogs on leash; and, most memorably, an elderly woman alongside a younger man – her son perhaps, or a healthcare aide – lovingly helping her take a slow stroll using a wheeled walker that did not roll well at all on the woodchips.

After reaching the path’s distant endpoint, I turned around and headed back whence I began and when I came to the bench again the abandoned paperback was still there. Curiosity now got the better of me and I stopped, stepped close enough to see its title – Mitch Albom’s “Tuesdays With Morrie,” a memorable book I read years ago – then quickly resumed my run.

Next day, same path, same bench, but a different orphaned book: “Angela’s Ashes” by Frank McCourt. Newspapers discarded in public are common, even today as newsprint editions become more rare, but an abandoned book brings to mind a lost puppy in need of rescuing. Looking around and seeing no likely owner, only fellow runners and walkers and dogs, I picked up the hardback edition and on the back cover found a blue Post-It Note: “Free! Good Book. Enjoy Me!”

Having already read this Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, I left it for someone else to find and enjoy for it is indeed a good book. The curator of this Little Free Library Bench was two-for-two in my eyes.

Third day in a row on these knee-friendly woodchips, my last run of this visit, I was greeted by an abandoned hardcover I initially thought was Ernest Hemingway’s quintessential “Old Man and the Sea” but in a beat realized it was actually “The Old Man by the Sea” by Domenico Starnone. Another blue sticky note read: “Free! Very Good! Read Me!”

Intrigued, I jogged off with it in hand.

Epilogue: It lived up to its Post-It Note review.

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Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn

Woody’s new novel “The Butterfly Tree” is now available in paperback and eBook at Amazon (click here), other online bookstores, and is orderable at all bookshops.

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Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn.

Young Year In Need Of Older Wisdom

by Woody

Woody’s award-winning novel “The Butterfly Tree” is available at Amazon (click here), other online retailers, and orderable at all bookshops.

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On New Year’s Eve an old Irish tradition calls for opening your front door at midnight to let out the Old Year. Perhaps two nights past, it strikes me belatedly, we should also have opened the back door, side door and garage door, plus all the windows and even the chimney chute, because 2025 seemed to overstay its welcome like a rude party guest.

As we move forward in 2026, some wise words of inspiration might be welcomed, so here are some favorite quotes I have saved over the years for just such an occasion.

“This is a wonderful day. I have never seen this one before.” – Maya Angelou

“Write in on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.” – Kurt Vonnegut

“Love is the bridge between you and everything.” – Rumi

“That best portion of a good man’s life: His little, nameless acts of kindness and love.” – William Wordsworth

“The hands of a clock can measure a long life, but it is our hands that can make it a good life.” – my son Greg Woodburn

“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you’ll look back and realize they were big things.” – Kurt Vonnegut

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“If you don’t make an effort to help others less fortunate than you, then you’re just wasting your time on Earth.” – Wayne Bryan, my mentor and a role model of his words

“Great people are those who make others feel that they, too, can become great.” – Mark Twain

“If you can give nothing else, give encouragement.” – Wayne Bryan again

“All kids need is a little help, a little hope and somebody who believes in them.” – Magic Johnson

“A torn jacket is soon mended, but hard words bruise the heart of a child.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends.” – H. Jackson Brown

“If there’s someone whose friendship you treasure, be sure to tell them now, don’t wait for a memorial service to say it.” Chuck Thomas, my dear predecessor in this space

“If you are planning for a year, sow rice; for a decade, plant trees; for a lifetime, educate people.” – Chinese proverb

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” – Audrey Hepburn

“Don’t tell me about your dreams of a castle, show me the stones you laid today.” – Wayne Bryan once more

“You ask me about the past, you ask me about the future, the only way to be happy is to be living right now.” – Yvon Chouinard

“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” – C.S. Lewis

“Remember this, the choices you make in life, make you.” – John Wooden

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” – Henry David Thoreau

“Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.” – John Lennon

“It’s okay to sometimes have cookies for breakfast.” – Woody Woodburn

“Wishing you a masterpiece New Year!” – me again

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Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn

Woody’s new novel “The Butterfly Tree” is now available in paperback and eBook at Amazon (click here), other online bookstores, and is orderable at all bookshops.

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Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn.

Final Gift Sports Balls Tally Is…

by Woody

Woody’s award-winning novel “The Butterfly Tree” is available at Amazon (click here), other online retailers, and orderable at all bookshops.

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Good Ol’ Saint Nick, when I was seven, came through with a purple stingray with a banana seat that I wished for, my first bicycle that was not a hand-me-down from my two older brothers. As magical as that morning was, however, my favorite Christmas is a tie between the last 25 or so thanks to you generous readers making “Woody’s Holiday Ball Drive” an annual success.

“Life is hard enough,” noted Lauren Siegel, who donated 15 smiles this year, “without a kid having to worry if he or she has a ball to play sports with.” Others making life easier for local kids include…

Steve Askay donated five balls “in memory of my granddaughter Mabel” who tragically died in an accident at age 6, and Rebecca Fox gave three balls “in memory of our dear friend Doris Cowart who lived an amazing 101 years!”

Shelly and Steve Brown gave one ball for each of their “six spectacular grands” who excitedly made the selections and Linda and Jerry Mendelsohn, with the shopping help of grandchildren Blakely, Asher, Garrick, Dannika, Parker and Joy, gave 28 balls.

Local coaching legends Joe Vaughan and Mickey Perry assisted with 10 basketballs; Kym King, “in memory of my beloved puppers Scarlett,” also donated 10; as did Mary and Rick Whiting; Lynne and Don Steensma likewise; and also Susan Hall.

Leslie and Mike De Los Santos donated 10 balls in memory of Leslie’s father, Arthur Seifert, “who enjoyed playing basketball on courts throughout the area until he was 80 years old.”

David Hilty, on behalf of The Bench Warmer, donated nine balls, as did Patricia and Paul Schuster “in honor of the coaches at Buena High School.”

Cathy and Gary Metelak “cheerfully” gave 11 balls; Bobbie and Dave Williams donated “with great pleasure” half a dozen; and Bobbin and Steve Yarbrough “happily” gave four, as did Sandie and Jim Arthur.

Brenda and Doug Terzian gave a dozen balls in honor of their daughters; Laura McAvoy and Sol Chooljian donated ten more; Kent Brinkmeyer added four; Colleen Scott gave three; and Chris Huseth added two.

Erin and Mike Powers donated five balls “in memory of Lance Eaton for his leadership of the Arc Foundation of Ventura County as well as his lifelong, unwavering support of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.”

Ruth Vomund and Gary Tuttle donated two basketballs “in honor of Bob Tuttle and retired Nordhoff High coach Ted Cotti,” and Susan and Tom Doria donated half a dozen balls “in memory of Ventura College Hall-of-Fame coach and mentor Larry Baratte.”

Ann Cowan gave 10 basketballs in honor of her late husband Jim Cowan, and an anonymous donor gave a dozen “in memory of Jim Cowan and Dr. Jim Woodburn III: two wonderful men who are very much missed.”

Another anonymous donor gave 10 basketballs in memory of John Wooden, and Daniel Eggertsen, inspired partly by Coach Wooden’s “Pyramid of Success,” also donated 10, noting: “In an age of AI, gadgetry, and obesity, what better way to try and help keep our youth grounded to things that really matter – like the camaraderie and life lessons borne from sport.”

The Pleasant Valley-Somis-Camarillo Lions Club collectively gave 45 balls; Patrons of The Goebel Adult Community Center in Thousand Oaks gave 73; and in another group effort, a whopping 307 balls were donated by the “A Team” of family members and friends who wished to be acknowledged by first names only: “Mom” Alma, Allen and Alast, Michael and Reina, Rick and Nancy, Andy and Connie, Lou and Carmen, Alma and Tomas, Shaun and Ruth, John and Kellie, Phil and Charlene, Mike and Claudia, Steve and Mary Kay, Dave, Pamela, Dawn and Jim, Stan, Ron and Anita, Will and Heidi, Tina, Melissa and Todd, Michelle and Michael, Deborah, Achilles and Caren, Jesus, Lane, Kelly and Lisa, Rose and Jace, Ricky and Brenda, Garny, Maddie, Carlos and Cathy, Mike and Cathy, Eric, Paulina and Peter, and Juan.

Julie and Nick Sarris donated 40 balls “in memory of Sienna’s eternal spirit.”

Tennis Hall of Famers Mike and Bob Bryan, who have also been hall-of-fame supporters of this endeavor every single year since its inception, served up an array of 50 balls.

My oldest granddaughter Maya McAuley, 7, with great deliberation picked out a green soccer ball while her sister Auden, 3, carefully chose to give an orange one. Meanwhile, my two-year-old granddaughter Amara Woodburn selected four basketballs on behalf of herself and her five-month-old brother Jayden.

And now – drumroll, please – the final gift tally for 2025, surpassing last year’s previous record by 147, is 1,491 brand new sports balls joyous young smiles!

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Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn

Woody’s new novel “The Butterfly Tree” is now available in paperback and eBook at Amazon (click here), other online bookstores, and is orderable at all bookshops.

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Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @

‘Friends’ Theme In 2025 Reading List

by Woody

Woody’s award-winning novel “The Butterfly Tree” is available at Amazon (click here), other online retailers, and orderable at all bookshops.

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To commemorate Emily Dickinson’s 195th birthday on December 10, after having visited her home in Amherst, Massachusetts, earlier this year, I recently read – and now recommend – “The Essential Emily Dickinson Poems: selected and with an introduction by Joyce Carol Oates.”

Fredrik Backman’s storytelling borders on poetry, and his newest novel “My Friends” is no exception. My friends is actually a minor theme running through my 2025 list of books read that, if I finish three more volumes, will reach my annual goal of 52. Below are the rest of my top recommendations…

To begin, three varied-but-terrific books written by author friends of mine: “Trigger Warning,” a heavyhearted and powerful novel of literary fiction that had me lingering over countless sentences and passages in order to savor Jacinda Townsend’s beautiful wordsmith skills; “When We Were Monsters,” a thriller/mystery taking place in an elite boarding school, by YA superstar Jennifer Niven; and “A Letter A Week During The School Year: Unplug. Reach Out. Discover the Power of the Handwritten Letter” – the title says it all! – by Julie Merrick.

By the way, “The Correspondent” by Virginia Evans, about a letter-writer over the course of her life, is a lovely novel I highly recommended to Julie – and now to you.

It is a rare year I do not read (or reread) something by Brian Doyle, my favorite under-known writer who feels like a friend because his essays are so personal. This year it was, for the first time, “Children and Other Wild Animals.”

Another lesser-know writer I enjoy greatly, and consistently, is Willy Vlautin. This year I could not put down two of his gritty novels, both featuring flawed and down-and-out characters one cannot help but root for: “Lean on Pete” and “The Night Always Comes.”

“The Names” by Florence Knapp has an intriguing premise, accomplished well, of three wildly divergent storylines for a baby boy (and his family) depending on three different names he is given at birth.

Two more page-turning novels, each featuring two separate timelines, are “Fun for the Whole Family” by Jennifer E. Smith and “Typewriter Beach” by Meg Waite Clayton.

From the nonfiction shelves, as someone who barely knows which end of a hammer to hold, I thoroughly enjoyed “Cabin: Off the Grid Adventures with a Clueless Craftsman” by Patrick Hutchinson; “Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller” by Oliver Darkshire; and, despite having no musical talent myself, I was captivated by “A Romance on Three Legs: Glenn Gould’s Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano” by Katie Hafner – which pairs nicely with the fictional “The Instrumentalist” by Harriet Constable about a violin prodigy.

A handful of short novellas long on enjoyment and intrigue: “Cold Enough For Snow” (95 pages) by Jessica Au; “the all of it” (145 pages) by Jeannette Haien; and “Who Will Run The Frog Hospital” (148 pages) by Lorrie Moore that is as wonderfully peculiar as its title.

The shortest novella I read, “The English Understand Wool” by Helen DeWitt, at just 70 pages is my runner-up for favorite book of any length all year. It is an odd little gem, quirky and quiet, slow and funny, and impossible to summarize. While not for everyone, some will absolutely adore it.

And – drum roll, please – my co-favorite offerings from my 2025 reading list are children’s books: “Kid Scientists at the Beach” by my daughter, Dallas Woodburn; and by another of my friends, Drew Daywalt, “Freddie Two Pants” that makes my three granddaughters laugh their heads off every time I read it to them and my giggles always explode too!

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Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn

Woody’s new novel “The Butterfly Tree” is now available in paperback and eBook at Amazon (click here), other online bookstores, and is orderable at all bookshops.

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Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn.

‘Holiday Ball Drive’ Is Kids’ Stuff

by Woody

Woody’s award-winning novel “The Butterfly Tree” is available at Amazon (click here), other online retailers, and orderable at all bookshops.

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Editorials are generally as disposable as the newsprint on which they are printed, and yet one that appeared in The New York Sun in 1897 might as well have been carved in granite because it remains relevant and favored well over a century later.

Headlined “Is There a Santa Claus?” it began with a letter from young Virginia O’Hanlon:

“Dear Editor –

“I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.’ Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?”

The Sun’s reply included the now famous line, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus,” and continued: “He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence.”

Indeed, how dreary would the world be with no Virginias – and, alas! no Sarahs, Davids and Briannas. Those are the names of just three kind-hearted kids who have emptied their jars of “Chore Money” and used their own birthday gift cards and redeemed a year of collected recyclables in past years to support “Woody’s Holiday Ball Drive” that is now underway.

I have previously shared how a young boy shooting hoops on a blacktop court with a basketball autographed by Cedric Ceballos – not caring that he was ruining the signature because he finally had his very own ball – inspired this annual endeavor three decades ago.

And yet the seed was actually planted a few years earlier when I read the following from my sportswriting hero, Jim Murray, about his early days in hard news:

“I remember almost the first story I covered – a little girl got run over by a truck and lost her leg. The thought of her going through life that way made me shrink. It still does. She must be twenty-one years old now and I wonder how she has managed. I remember I had $8 left of my paycheck (which was only $38 to begin with in those days) and I bought her a whole armful of toys and brought them to the hospital and those silly nurses were embarrassed and told me I’d have to take them back, and I said, like hell I would, give them to that little girl or I’ll bring the power of the press (whatever that was) down on you.”

I suddenly wanted to emulate Mr. Murray not just as a writer, but as a person, so thereafter I started buying a whole armful of sports balls for kids’ charities each holiday season.

You, too, can emulate and honor the late Jim Murray by dropping off new balls at Sanbell (formerly Jensen Design & Survey) at 1672 Donlon St., Ventura CA 93003 (weekdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) through Dec. 8 – or have online orders shipped to this same address – and I will see they reach the hands of deserving youth.

And please email me at woodywriter@gmail.com about your gift so I can add your generosity to this year’s tally and thank you by name in my December 19th column.

Together, we can prove The Sun’s long-ago words still ring true: Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and ball-giving MVPs – Most Valuable Philanthropists – exist.

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Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn

Woody’s new novel “The Butterfly Tree” is now available in paperback and eBook at Amazon (click here), other online bookstores, and is orderable at all bookshops.

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Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn.

Kind Givers Get Ball Drive Rolling!

by Woody

Woody’s award-winning novel “The Butterfly Tree” is available at Amazon (click here), other online retailers, and orderable at all bookshops.

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“Give every day the chance to become the most beautiful day of your life,” Mark Twain wrote. And: “It is higher and nobler to be kind.”

Once again, “Woody’s Holiday Ball Drive” is off to a fast rolling start as readers of this column have proved themselves to be both noble and kind in making the Christmas season more beautiful for local disadvantaged kids.

Linda and Frank Zych took their three grandchildren, who were saddened by the thought of other kids not owning their own sports ball, to each pick out a gift and the result was: Zoey, 12, chose a volleyball; Carter, 11, decided that a football would make some little boy very happy; and Emmy, 7, after much consideration, picked out a shiny purple ball she felt would make child’s eyes light up – plus a basketball from them all.

Jan and Tom Lewis, and family, donated a dozen basketballs in honor of coaches Mike Giordano and Joe Vaughan. “We are forever grateful,” Tom shared, “for all the life lessons they taught our daughters Cory, Emily and Maddy, and many, many others, while growing up.”

Kay Giles and Michael Mariani gave eight soccer balls; Peggy Greathouse and family donated six basketballs; and Judy Magee-Windle gave eight balls “in honor of my four grandsons who I adore.”

Stephanie and John Orr gave four soccer balls; Marty Rouse gave two balls; and Anna and Tom McBreen donated one basketball.

Sue Hughes gave two each basketballs, soccer balls, and footballs; and Draza Mrvichin gave the same mix of six, noting: “I love this opportunity to share.”

Nita and Nick Perkins donated 10 balls “in memory of our Dads.”

Dave Stancliff gave 10 basketballs in honor of his two youngest grandchildren, Johnny and Rosalie and added: “It warms my heart to know children will get something free in this terrible economy. I hope you exceed last year’s donations.”

One dozen basketballs were given anonymously “in honor of good Samaritan Rhiannon Potkey and her nonprofit Goods4Greatness.” Other anonymous givers donated one basketball; two footballs; and four soccer balls.

The women of VISA (Ventura Independent Soccer Association) kicked in five soccer balls, noting: “We hope these balls spark a lifelong love of soccer that we all still have to this day.”

Nadine Herron pitched in a dozen balls “in honor of my late brother, Jerry Herron, who played professional baseball” and Howard Reich gave half a dozen assorted balls.

Kathy and Alan and Hammerand gave four soccer balls, three basketballs, three footballs and said: “It is always fun to see your column advising that it is time for your annual Ball Drive – it means that the holiday season is approaching. I feel like the need may be even greater than normal this year, so we hope the response is great!”

In the Introduction to a collection of his “Editor’s Notebook” columns published in 1988, Julius Gius, legendary chief editor of The Star, wrote: “I have had a rich and rewarding life. Everything has come up roses for me. I count my blessings every day and wish them for everyone.”

If you similarly have been blessed, I encourage you to follow Gius’ example by dropping off new sports balls (no batteries required!) at a Boys & Girls Club, YMCA, Toys For Tots, or similar program.

Also, through Dec. 8, you can hand off your bouncing gifts at Sanbell (formerly Jensen Design & Survey) at 1672 Donlon St., Ventura CA 93003 (weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) – or have online orders shipped to the same address – and I will see that they wind up in deserving young hands.

And please email me about your gifts at woodywriter@gmail.com so I can add your generosity to this year’s ball tally as well as acknowledge you in a future column.

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Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn

Woody’s new novel “The Butterfly Tree” is now available in paperback and eBook at Amazon (click here), other online bookstores, and is orderable at all bookshops.

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Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn.

Sweet Treat After Halloween

by Woody

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“Woody’s Holiday Ball Drive” is underway! New sports balls can be dropped off through Dec. 8, or online orders delivered to, Sanbell at 1672 Donlon St. in Ventura, 93003. Please email me about your gifts at woodywriter@gmail.com so I can add your generosity to this year’s tally and acknowledge you in a future column.

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This column from my archives five years ago gave me a smile anew and I hope it will you as well…

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Out of precaution, but with small expectation, my wife bought a single bag of candy bars in case any trick-or-treaters came by Halloween evening. In years past we have handed out upwards of 20 bags.

But coronavirus kept our doorbell silent as a tombstone all night.

It is easy to jokingly snicker, “Great! I’ll just have to eat all these Snickers myself.” Truth is, instead, I felt empty because autumn’s annual parade of kids singing “Trick or treat!” as their goodie sacks and plastic pumpkin buckets fill up, fills my heart.

Imagine, long after turning off your porch light, unexpectedly hearing a knock on your door and being greeted by the cutest costumed child of the evening. That’s kind of what happened to me. In this case, it was a day after Halloween and two young girls were dressed up as themselves – as the most adorable siblings imaginable.

Their ages were 3 and 5, and they were at a local park with their parents enjoying a late-afternoon picnic. Meanwhile, I was on my daily run and seeing them time and again as I circled past put a smile on my face and helium in my stride.

I wish you could have seen them. The girls played catch with their dad, then tag with their mom; played by themselves while their parents snuggled on the spread-out blanket; joined mom and dad for a snack, and a hug, before racing off to pet a passing dog on a leash; and on and on went their fun.

Just as Halloween is a time machine transporting us back to our own childhoods, these two children sent my mind racing in reverse a quarter century to when my daughter and son were about their ages.

Instead of on a blanket in a park, our young family of four was on vacation having dinner at a charming Italian restaurant. After the spaghetti and meatballs disappeared, and scoops of ice cream too, our waiter vanished. The kids grew antsy as we waited for the check. Ten minutes became thirty and my wife and I became increasingly impatient as well.

“Where’s the check?” I grumbled softly.

“Where’s our waiter?” my wife mumbled.

“Can we go yet?” the kids pleaded.

Our waiter remained AWOL. Eventually, finally, at long last, I caught the attention of a different server and asked if he could please have our check.

No, we could not.

Instead, our original waiter brought us a heartwarming explanation: Two elderly gentlemen at a table across the room had surreptitiously paid for our dinner, but requested the waiter not let us know until after they left – hence the long delay.

The Samaritan pair had seen a happy young family, our server shared with a smile, and simply wanted to anonymously do a random act of kindness. Now and again since, I have tried to repay those benevolent men when I see happy young families in restaurants.

I wished I could have paid the dinner check for the two girls and their parents at the park. Instead, all I could think to do was stop by before leaving and tell them something they already knew – what a lovely family they are!

This led to a brief social-distanced visit where I learned the sisters are inseparable, even sharing a bed by choice, and a third sibling is on the way.

As I jogged away into the early arriving darkness, the two girls sang out in sweet harmony: “Have a nice day!”

“Thank you!” I shouted, turning back. “You, too!”

Thanks to them, mine already had been.

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Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn

Woody’s new novel “The Butterfly Tree” is now available in paperback and eBook at Amazon (click here), other online bookstores, and is orderable at all bookshops.

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Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn.

Earlier Deadline For “Holiday Ball Drive”

by Woody

Woody’s award-winning novel “The Butterfly Tree” is available at Amazon (click here), other online retailers, and orderable at all bookshops.

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“You can’t live a perfect day,” John Wooden believed, “without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.”

He taught this lesson by deed. One such occasion remains as vivid to me as if it happened last week, not three decades ago. Actually, it is a quilt of numerous remembrances stitched together from each time I visited Coach in his Encino home.

In my mind’s eye I can still see the plastic postal bins, approximately the size of a laundry basket, filled with outgoing fan mail: photographs, trading cards, magazine covers, even basketballs and UCLA jerseys that people sent Coach to autograph. Requests for a signed Pyramid of Success were also common.

A surprisingly sizeable number of these fans failed to enclose return postage. No matter. Coach trekked to the Post Office weekly and footed the bill himself.

Once again, we all have a chance to emulate Coach Wooden’s benevolent example and live a perfect day by helping others who can never repay us through “Woody’s Holiday Ball Drive” which kicks off today.

To the kindhearted souls, and there are legions of you, who have made this effort part of your family’s holiday traditions, this year’s early start instead of right after Thanksgiving Day will come as a surprise but is necessary because the deadline to give has also leapfrogged sooner to December 8.

The inspiration for this annual endeavor occurred about 30 years ago at a youth basketball clinic when former Ventura College and NBA star Cedric Ceballos awarded autographed basketballs to handful of lucky attendees. Leaving the gym afterward, I happened upon a 10-year-old boy who had won one of the prized keepsakes…

…which he was now dribbling on a blacktop outdoor court, and shooting baskets with, all while perhaps imagining he was Ceballos with the game clock ticking down to the final buzzer.

Meanwhile, the real Ceballos’ Sharpie signature was quickly wearing off.

Curious as to why the boy had not protectively taken the trophy basketball home to keep safely on a bookshelf, I interrupted his playing to ask.

“I’ve never had my own basketball,” he answered matter-of-factly between shots.

With visions of that boy – and other boys and girls who do not have their own basketball to shoot, soccer ball to kick, football to throw – dancing through my head, I asked you dear readers to help brighten the holidays by donating new sports balls for disadvantaged kids. You responded like champions then and have continued to ever since.

Are you up to the challenge once more? If so, drop off new balls (no batteries required!) at a local Boys & Girls Club, YMCA, Toys For Tots, or similar organization.

Or bring them (weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Dec. 8) to Sanbell (formerly Jensen Design & Survey) at 1672 Donlon St., near Target, on Telephone Road in Ventura – online orders can be shipped to this same address – and I will see that your gifts wind up in deserving young hands.

While the early deadline cannot be helped, I fear it may result in fewer balls – and, thus, fewer kids’ smiles – than in years past, and that would be heartbreaking. I beseech you all to please prove my worries unfounded.

Please, also, email me at woodywriter@gmail.com about your donations so I can add your generosity to this year’s tally and thank you by name (unless you request anonymity) in a future column.

Individually we can each take a step towards living a perfect day by collectively making the holidays happier for a whole lot of kids.

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Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn

Woody’s new novel “The Butterfly Tree” is now available in paperback and eBook at Amazon (click here), other online bookstores, and is orderable at all bookshops.

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Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn.

Century of Linked Hands

by Woody

Woody’s award-winning novel “The Butterfly Tree” is available at Amazon (click here), other online retailers, and orderable at all bookshops.

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When it comes to anniversary parties, Nostalgia always RSVPs “Will Attend” and a celebration earlier this month to commemorate the Ventura County Star’s 100th year in print was no exception.

Familiar faces reaching back to the 1970s, and every decade since, were on hand and familiar bylines who have become names in obituaries were on our lips as we shared stories about colleagues and friends, which is redundant, really, for they are one and the same.

One old memory of mine struck me with new meaning on this venerated occasion. It involves Julius Gius, chief editor of the Star-Free Press as the paper was called during his stewardship in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. Mr. Gius is arguably the brightest star the Star has ever been graced with and for good reason is in the California Newspaper Hall of Fame.

I joined the S-FP’s sports staff in September of 1987 and before Mr. Gius retired two months later – hopefully the former did not spur the latter – he shared the following story with me.

It happened in a small farming town in Ohio, in a big wheat field, where a young girl wandered from home and became lost in the crop that had grown taller than she. Her parents called out her name, with growing urgency, while searching frantically.

Her three older siblings joined the hunt, then neighbors too.

But as daylight dimmed and disappeared, hopes did likewise. By now seemingly half the townspeople were hectically racing through the wheat field trying to find the little girl, with no success – the flourishing grainland was simply too vast.

Night fell and with it the temperature. If the little girl was not found very soon she would surely perish from hypothermia. Abruptly, her father called everyone in from the maze of wheat.

No, he had not given up on finding his dear daughter. Rather, he suddenly had an idea. He gathered the volunteers and asked them join hands to form a long human chain. More accurately, they formed a giant human comb.

They now all walked together, side by side by side, combing through the tall amber waves of grain. In this manner they no longer missed areas, as was the case when they searched willy-nilly separately.

Within ten minutes, the search party of more than one hundred individuals, now united as one, found the little girl curled up on the ground, stone still as a grave marker.

They were too late.

No, wait – she was shivering, slightly, alive after all!

Metaphorically, this is how a newspaper is put out each day with all available hands: writers and photographers; copyeditors and section editors; advertising and sales reps; paste-up women men armed in the olden days with X-ACTO knives and glue or wax, today graphic artists with computers; newsboys selling papers on the streets long ago, paperboys and girls on bikes later on, and now adult delivery drivers in cars; and more hands, on and on, linked together.

More specifically, and more personally, it seems to me the wheat field represents the Ventura County Star because from its historic premier printing published on June 15, 1925, with Roy Pinkerton as top editor, it has taken eight more chiefs, including Stacie Galang currently leading the charge; plus every other employee who has ever helped put an edition of our beloved paper to bed; and, also, each reader for without them a newspaper is as silent as a tree falling in a lonely forest – all holding hands across the ages for The Star to find its way to a centennial celebration.

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Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn

Woody’s new novel “The Butterfly Tree” is now available in paperback and eBook at Amazon (click here), other online bookstores, and is orderable at all bookshops.

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Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn.