Roy Temple's blog

James W. Temple, my father, died tonight of heart and lung issues.  He was 84.

In many ways, my dad was a simple man.  He was a husband, father and grandfather, small businessman, and a veteran. 

He did what he was supposed to do, when he was supposed to do it, and expected others to do the same.

He had a strong sense of right and wrong, and always rooted for the underdog.

In many ways he was a shy man, but between his smile, his piercing blue eyes, and his sense of humor, he could light up a room.

He served in the elite 10th Mountain Division in World War II.  The men of the 10th Mountain Division were light infantry ski troops that fought the Germans in the rugged conditions of the Apennine Mountains of Italy.

My father always said others had it rougher.  Historians say the 10th Mountain boys had it plenty rough. 

For his service, he was awarded the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster.

Because of a mild stroke in early 1993, Dad was unable to attend the inauguration in Jefferson City.  He took great pride in the fact that the first phone call Governor Mel Carnahan made from the Governor's desk after his swearing in ceremony was to Dad to say that he had been missed.

He is survived by Ruth Temple, his wife of 51 years.  He is also survived by 3 daughters, Debbie Mueller of St. Louis, Kathy Scott of Puxico, and Michelle Thomason, also of Puxico.  He has 8 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.

He died in Dexter Memorial Hospital, where he spent his last week surrounded by his wife and four children. 

He was cracking jokes until the medicine would no longer permit it.

Arrangements will be through Watkins and Sons Funeral Home in Puxico. 

­Tony Viessman made the trek to the Democratic Convention to promote "Rednecks for Obama."  It's a play on "Rednecks for Carnahan" from Mel Carnahan's 1992 campaign for Governor.  He hit paydirt with this bit on the CBS News website:

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Watch CBS Videos Online

Here's some video from this morning's delegation breakfast.

Yes, it's a shaky photo snapped quickly with an iPhone, but it is nevertheless a photo of former GOP Prez hopeful and Matt Blunt ally Mitt Romney:

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Here's a quick shot of Al Franken chatting with Missourians Rep. Rachel Storch, Phil Wright, and off-camera, Leonard Cervantes.

Franken was also accompanied by Franni, his wife of 30+ years.  He wandered by just moments after fellow Minnesotan former Vice President Walter Mondale stopped to chat for a few moments.

Here are some clips from Senator Claire McCaskill's speech to the Missouri Delegation breakfast today.  She talks about her speech tonight, and the fact that she is nervous for her kids, who will be introducing her tonight.

Here is Richard Martin, Senator Claire McCaskill's former campaign manager, discussing her role at the convention.

Check out this clip from Julie Gibson, a long time Missouri political operative, on last night's concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater.

A little while back Fired Up Missouri was selected by the good people who run the Democratic National Committee Convention to serve as the Missouri representative to the state blogger corps at next week's big nominating event in Denver.  Fired Up will be providing gavel to gavel coverage (and then some!) from in and around the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field as Barack Obama officially receives his party's nomination for President of the United States.  

That's a big job, and since most of Fired Up's regular contributors will continue blogging from their various undisclosed locations in Missouri, we've compiled a top-notch team of folks who will be attending the festivities in Denver to contribute to our coverage.  Those contributors include...

DNC Chairman Howard Dean today announced the selection of the Blogger Corps for the Democratic National Convention.  Fired Up Missouri was chosen to represent the Show Me State.

As part of the Democratic National Convention Committee's (DNCC)
commitment to engaging a broad spectrum of audiences in the 2008
Democratic National Convention experience using new technology and
other creative means, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman
Howard Dean today announced the blogs selected to participate in the
DemConvention State Blogger Corps during the four-day event in August. 
Governor Dean notified the blogs selected via an online video message
available at www.DemConvention.com.

Fired Up is pleased to participate in this exciting endeavor.

If you have ideas about how Fired Up can make the coverage of the convention the most interesting for our readers, share them via the tipline.