It is with a sad and humble heart that I write this edition of Keil's Comments.
I found out last night through Facebook that a man I've come to admire here in Clinton for several years, Lanny Ross, passed away on Tuesday evening after a bout with cancer. He left for Eternity with Jesus with his wife and his children at his side.
I came to know Lanny through working with the Clinton Chamber of Commerce when Emily Stratton was the executive director. I would help get the word out about some events the Chamber was doing and one way was through a radio show that Lanny was hosting called "Coffee and Conversation". It also fueled my interest of working in radio which I got to do for 3 1/2 yrs in both Clinton and Weatherford.
Lanny was a showman's showman. Whenever there was a play or musical at Southwest Playhouse that looked like it would be fun to do, chances are you would find Lanny on stage playing whatever role he had to perfection. And if it wasn't at the Southwest Playhouse, chances were you'd see him at McLain Rogers Park Amphitheatre ("Oklahoma in the Park" or "Music Man") or at the Middle School Auditorium ("Red Clay Revue"). Not bad for a one-time mayor of Clinton and petroleum marketer.
He had about five great passions besides the theater. One was, as he so affectionately referred to her as "his first wife" Janet Sue. The other two were his children, Karie and her husband Dave and his son Jeff and the grandkids.
Another great passion he had was for the Clinton Red Tornadoes, whether it was being in the stands, calling the games on radio for a couple of seasons or writing for the Oklahoman he was proud of Coach Lee and the hometown boys and looked forward to seeing them contend for a state title every year.
But his main passion (besides for the family) was the Sooners. I'll never forget him whistling Boomer Sooner into his hands -- he was crazy about OU even during the lean years of Sooner Football (1995-99). You could see that when he got together with some of the former Sooner coaches when they would make a stop in Clinton.
I will miss hearing him do his "Lanny-isms" like describing our neck of the woods as the "fertile, fruited, forever functional plains of the shortgrass country of Western Oklahoma" or when he and Otto Ratke would bring out things like the "Sweat Meter" or the "Welldigger Meter" or, my all-time favorite on certain Fridays, "The Eagle flies today!!!"
My thoughts and prayers are with the Ross family during this time of loss Lanny will definitely missed among his long time radio fans, his friends in the theater and among the Red Tornado and Sooner Nations.
One last thing...I think this song is kind of appropriate.
