The ability to read is a real blessing. As I think back over the years, I can’t remember when I wasn’t able to read. My mother must have read to me a lot when I was little. She piqued my interest in all kinds of things every month when we’d do a quiz on current events and general trivia in Parents Magazine.

That must have been how I knew about Will Rogers. I was only five years old when I went out to the mail box on a hot, dry, windy August 1935 day on my aunt’s farm in Clark County, S.D. The only mail was a day-old copy of the Sioux Falls newspaper.

The major headline told of the deaths of Will Rogers and Wiley Post in an airplane crash near Point Barrow, Alaska Territory. I trudged back to the house to report the sad news. I was only five, but I knew who Will Rogers was – and I felt really bad. He was one of my heroes – and still is. His insight and humor had a timeless quality. I’ve told about some of them before, but here are a few more examples:

• Never miss a good chance to shut up.

• There are two theories to arguing with a woman — neither works.

• If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.

• The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back in your pocket.

• Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

• If you’re ridin’ ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it’s still there.

• Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier’n puttin’ it back.

• Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lyin’ about your age and start braggin’ about it.

• The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waitin’ in line for.

• Long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today it’s called golf.

• Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me, I want people to know “why” I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way and some of the roads weren’t paved.

• When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.

• If you don’t learn to laugh at trouble, you won’t have anything to laugh at when you’re old.

You’ll find books about Will Rogers in the North Lake County Public Library in Polson, which this year observes its 100th anniversary.