MARKS MY WORDS PERSONAL HISTORIES
MARK @MARKSMYWORDS.COM
719 339-7053
MARKS MY WORDS PERSONAL HISTORIES
MARK @MARKSMYWORDS.COM
719 339-7053
HOW THE PROCESS WORKS
FIRST, WE DISCUSS YOUR OBJECTIVES
FIRST, WE DISCUSS YOUR OBJECTIVES
FIRST, WE DISCUSS YOUR OBJECTIVES
- We meet, in person if possible. Clients may be outside the Colorado region.
- We discuss what you want documented.
- What I offer is spelled out and we come to an agreement on services.
- I'll describe my process of capturing your life stories.
- You'll know what you need to do and you'll know what I do.
- You'll get an estimate of how long the process will take and how much it will cost.
THEN WE GATHER THE STORY
FIRST, WE DISCUSS YOUR OBJECTIVES
FIRST, WE DISCUSS YOUR OBJECTIVES
- We'll start at your beginning unless you want to start at some other point in time.
- I'll send you a list of questions and give you an agreed upon time for us to begin our conversations.
- Then I'll begin interviewing you, recording your answers to my questions.
- From there, I'll take the recorded interviews and write your story.
- I'll send what I've written for your review for accuracy and approval.
THE GATHERING PROCESS
FIRST, WE DISCUSS YOUR OBJECTIVES
AS WE NEAR COMPLETION
- As I write your story, I'll research as needed for historical and informational context.
- I'll solicit friends, relatives and colleagues you provide for input.
- I'll send what I've written in their words back to these collaborators for their review.
- I'll work with you to include pictures that can be an important part of your story.
AS WE NEAR COMPLETION
AS WE NEAR COMPLETION
AS WE NEAR COMPLETION
- We'll work out the format for how you want your document preserved (Hardcover/softcover, Kindle).
- Would you like to illustrate your book? How do you want it to look? (I can work with illustrators).
- I've worked with two great editors who can add polish to your story.
- We can add updated volumes as time, and new events are added.
- I'll submit the final document to a publisher who will deliver a great looking book you'll be proud to share.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE?
AS WE NEAR COMPLETION
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE?
- It depends upon how detailed or concise you'd like your story to be.
- The interview sessions normally last around one hour, almost never more than 90 minutes.
- If you have a deadline, I can work to ensure you meet the time you'd like to have the project completed.
- I'll send questions before all interviews, and I'll never forget how valuable your time is so your resources are spent economically.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
AS WE NEAR COMPLETION
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE?
- I charge based on an hourly rate for my labor (broken into quarter-hour segments).
- A well-defined story may not take long to complete or cost very much.
- Regular bills will be sent for review. Any additional, out of scope work will not be started without your approval.
- All costs will be spelled out in the agreement for services which I will submit to you before we start.
I was born in Kansas. Colorado has been home for 30 years. I'm a husband, father, and grandfather. I love sports, music, hiking, and traveling. I'm a retired defense contractor and Air Force officer. I try to serve God. I marvel at the beauty I see and the stories I hear every day.
SAMPLES OF WORK
From "The Fry Guy, The Life and Times of Don Boodel"
Last fall, I completed “The Fry Guy, The Life and Times of Don Boodel.” It was my sixth biography, and it was my most fully-developed project, and it was an incredible story. Don owned eleven McDonald’s restaurants and used the power he earned with that position to do many great things. Perhaps his greatest contribution was establishing the nation’s third Ronald McDonald House in Denver.
Here’s an excerpt from his biography, “The Fry Guy,” that details that beginning. In Don Boodle’s words, here’s what he did:
One of the best things I ever did was to take a leadership role in establishing the Ronald McDonald Houses in Denver.
In the late 1970s, I attended a McDonald’s Operators convention, and there was a presentation about a new charity McDonald’s had recently begun supporting. As I listened, I clearly understood the need that was being described and the unique help we could provide if we worked together.
Here’s how Ronald McDonald House began:
Fred Hill was a tight end for the Philadelphia Eagles in the early 1970s. In 1971, his young daughter, Kim, was diagnosed with leukemia. For an unsettling period of time, Fred and his wife, Fran, spent days in waiting rooms at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia.
As the Hills waited, they met many other families who, like them, were heartsick with worry over children with conditions similar to Kim’s.
The waiting rooms were uncomfortable. The chairs and benches weren’t suited for the long hours the Hills, and their compatriots had to endure. They had to depend on vending machines and hospital cafeterias for food. The treatment costs were enormous, too. Besides the staggering medical bills, many families could not afford to pay lodging costs for the long stays they faced.
It was time to rethink this entire situation.
Fred recognized this as a need and believed he could help these families. What if a house could be purchased and dedicated to sheltering families with children in the hospital?
He went to his Eagles teammates, explained the problem he’d seen, and got their support. He also made his pitch to Eagles' owner Leonard Tose and Eagles’ general manager Jim Murray. Tose and Murray threw their support behind Hill’s plan.
Murray went to Ed Rensi, the regional manager of McDonald’s restaurants in the Philadelphia area. Rensi believed it was a great idea and got Don Tuckerman, who ran the advertising agency responsible for McDonald’s in the Philadelphia area, to become involved.
McDonald’s stores in the Philadelphia area began promoting a green milkshake leading up to St. Patrick’s Day with proceeds going to the new house for families with sick children. These shakes were soon known as McShamrock Shakes and became very successful.
The first home for these families with hospitalized children opened in 1974. McDonald’s became a partner in the project and continued to raise funds in a variety of ways.
Many of these families with sick children came from far away. Being able to have a home away from home was an enormous relief to them, both financially and emotionally.
From this financial commitment, the Philadelphia location became known as Ronald McDonald House (RMH). It was a great name. Children loved Ronald, and realizing that they and their families could stay at Ronald’s House during their time of greatest trouble and worry was powerful medicine.
The character of Ronald McDonald had been created in the early 1960s by 25-year-old Willard Scott for a children’s program in Washington, D.C. Scott’s clown was so successful that the McDonald’s restaurants in the Capital area saw a dramatic increase in sales.
Corporate McDonald’s recognized the clown’s success and took Ronald nationwide. Scott auditioned but didn’t get the national part, which greatly disappointed him. However, brighter days were forecasted because he wound up as the morning weatherman for NBC’s Today Show for many years.
The Ronald McDonald campaign had a huge appeal to children, so it was logical to name these homes for him.
The idea spread, and the Chicago area McDonald’s franchises sponsored a home in the Chicagoland area. These were the only two houses that were operating when I first heard the presentation.
Because our son, Chris, had special needs, I clearly understood the need. I could relate to what these families faced. What I heard at the Operators’ convention led me to believe we could provide for the needs of families in the Rocky Mountain region.
There were three Denver operators that expressed interest in establishing a Ronald McDonald House in Denver: Carl Reed, Mike Morris, and Bob Charles. We had general support from other area operators, but we were the primary driving forces.
We knew we would need a place large enough to house a number of families. Such a facility would be expensive and would take specific remodeling to make it functional for our purposes.
In 1977, we found an old mansion at 16th and Ogden, just east of downtown Denver and near the old children’s hospital. Size-wise, it met our requirements. However, it would take extensive remodeling to serve the needs we were hoping to meet.
The mansion was owned by a California order of the Catholic Church and was being used as a home and a place of reintegration into stateside life for priests returning from overseas missions.
Morris, Charles, and I dealt with Father Graham, who ran the house. He had been a missionary in Africa, and as he was giving us a tour, we noticed a safe in one of the upstairs bedrooms.
I couldn’t help but ask him about it. “Father, you’ve taken a vow of poverty. Forgive my asking, but why would you need a safe?”
He smiled and then quietly said, “It’s for me Scotch, m’boy”
With those words, I was struck with the possibility that I might have a negotiating tool in our efforts to purchase the home.
At this time, I was in the initial stages of getting two stores off the ground. My schedule was full, but I clearly understood that this was a unique opportunity to do good.
“Can I speak with you privately after I finish my work for the day?” I asked. “Would 10 p.m. be an agreeable time for us to meet?”
Father Graham said that I would be welcome at that time. So I returned at the stroke of 10, carrying a half-gallon of 12-year-old Johnny Walker Black Label Scotch. Although I was a very serious drinker and could handle almost any liquor, Scotch was one of the only liquors I did not like. For this night, however, I would make an exception.
“Are we gonna be drinkin’ some of that?” the Father asked.
I told him yes, that was my intention. I said,“I think we should make a good dent in this bottle tonight.”
We sat down at the kitchen table with a couple of on-the-rocks glasses.
“Now, my lad,” the Father continued, pointing to the glasses. “How do we do this?”
“If you don’t mind, we’ll just drink it straight up,” I answered.
“I like how you do this, m’boy” was his response.
We began our discussions with a toast to the work he’d committed his life to and what we planned to accomplish with this proposed endeavor.
I asked if he understood what we intended to do with this mansion. It was somewhat of an ambitious question, as what we were doing wasn’t yet clearly formulated. No master plans had even been drawn up.
Neither of the only two Ronald McDonald houses I’ve mentioned had been open and operating very long. I’d only been told what was happening in those locations and was pitching an idea of all the good that could be realized if we were able to convert this property into our vision.
As I spoke, Father Graham began to understand. As I was conveying my vision, he almost began to weep. I acknowledged his understanding. I told him we should drink to that vision. He agreed.
If I recall correctly, the asking price for the property was approximately $200,000. Quite a bit more than we could afford and certainly quite a bit more than I was prepared to offer.
“Father, we can’t pay the asking price,” I said. “I’m prepared, perhaps, to offer around $175,000,” I continued. He sighed. Then we continued to visit and to establish a relationship.
I learned he was a baseball fan. His favorite team was the Yankees.
We drank to the great players of the past. Our discussion then ventured into the hypothetical. Who were the best players by position? Who would you want at bat in clutch situations? If you could pick only two pitchers, a right-hander and a lefty to pitch do-or-die games, who would they be?
I said, “As a left-hander, I’d choose Whitey Ford.”
“Over Koufax?” he replied, somewhat surprised.
We were off and running.
I explained myself. “Yes, I’d choose Ford, because of his skill as a craftsman and his proven record in the biggest, most consequential games.”
Father Graham smiled. “For his ability as a craftsman,” he said. “I understand your thinkin’, m’boy.”
As we went along, I interspersed our conjectures about all sorts of subjects with remarks about the good I believed could be accomplished if we were able to purchase this home for a fair price. I kept emphasizing how we could serve families facing frightening and difficult times.
After several hours, when our heartfelt discussion was over, we’d knocked $35,000-$40,000 off the asking price. Thanks in part to Johnny Walker, it was a bargain we could all feel proud that we’d reached.
Mike, Bob, and I needed to gain commitment from the other Denver operators. Eventually, we did. At the start, eight Denver operators signed on.
The eight of us can claim to be the co-founders of the Denver Ronald McDonald Houses.
Not every Denver operator participated from the start, but 80-90% did. Some said what does this house have to do with selling hamburgers? What happens if we can’t make the mortgage?
Without question, the mansion at 16th and Ogden was a significant financial undertaking.
Beyond the down payment and operating expenses, the biggest challenge we initially faced was to convert the house to serve our purposes.
I told our group I’d volunteer to supervise the needed remodeling work. You have to understand that, at this point, I didn’t know how to hold a hammer. But I did understand how to get groups of people to do things that needed to be done on time. I was also driven by my belief this completed project would be extremely valuable to an untold number of families.
Initially, I spent 20-30 hours a week on it. I met with construction crews when they began work. I answered questions from the foremen. I helped assign tasks and then worked to make sure they were completed.
We tried to figure every way we could to work as economically as possible.
In the late ‘70s, Denver radio was dominated by the Hal and Charley radio program on KHOW. We got Hal and Charley to enthusiastically support the idea of our Ronald McDonald House. They asked their listeners to support us with supplies as well as with other ways to help our build. We got lots of supplies through their help. I remember once picking up a whole truck bed full of heavy sewer pipe. We got raw materials from all sorts of people. The key was to make them understand our mission. Once they did, the floodgates opened.
I knew Buz Yoakum, who was responsible for Vo-Tech night school educational programs at Red Rocks Community College. This school was training folks with day jobs, but these same folks wanted to become plumbers, electricians, and skilled construction professionals. I asked if he would be interested in having his students get some hands-on training in our remodeling project.
“God, yes!” was his reply. “We’d love nothing more than to help with this project.”
Instead of entering into a brief bit of work on a three-bedroom home, this was a huge, long-term, ongoing project. It was a win-win all around. I know this is hard to believe, but over time, 900 Red Rocks Community College students were involved in helping us with this complete renovation. The labor cost savings were substantial.
One of the biggest issues that needed to be addressed was the placement of bathrooms. For comfort reasons, we wanted to provide as many as we could. Eventually, a half dozen were installed.
We placed donation containers near our cash registers and asked customers if they would care to donate to Ronald McDonald House. It became the way we funded everything associated with RMH.
Carl Reed, who owned the original territorial rights to McDonald’s franchises in Denver, had eight stores. He was involved in our fund-raising efforts and had the containers at his restaurants so people could contribute to RMHC. Still, my two stores collected more money than all eight of his combined.
Obviously, we were seeking to make Ronald McDonald House the best possible fit for the families we were going to serve. To that end, we partnered with the medical staff at Denver’s Children’s Hospital. We worked closely with Dr. David Turbergen, a child oncology authority. He was enormously helpful with our designs.
Dr. Turbergen is now leading childhood oncology treatment at MD Anderson Hospital in Houston. He helped us intensively consider what families of children with cancer would need in our facilities. This doctor’s advice proved to be invaluable as we designed our rooms and our house.
Another person who played an enormous role in getting Ronald McDonald House up and running in Denver was Mary Hart. She had tremendous energy and was blessed with great organizational skills. As we took this project from idea to reality, she served as the go-between for everything.
When we first opened, there were eleven rooms for families. We tried to provide shared, common areas to facilitate families meeting and, as a result, sharing and supporting each other.
When our house at 16th and Ogden opened in 1979, we joined Philadelphia and Chicago as the nation’s third Ronald McDonald house.
Over time, Ronald McDonald Houses began opening all over America. There are now over 350 facilities opened worldwide, with 7,200 rooms available each night for families in need. Two more much larger homes have been established in Denver, with nearly 200 rooms that are filled to near-capacity nearly every night.
What we did in Denver was used as a model for other cities. I was frequently called upon to consult with other localities as they began to build. I helped operators in Houston and Los Angeles by answering their questions regarding how I dealt with problems that arose in the process.
As all this was happening, the McDonald’s organization was beginning to see the power of what Ronald McDonald Houses could accomplish. It was a great cause and cast a wonderful reflection on our restaurants.
More samples from other biographies will be coming soon.