Today is Ruination Day, but still we celebrate the birthday
… of Loretta Lynn. The coal miner’s daughter was born in Butcher Holler, Kentucky, 75 years ago.
Loretta Webb was born in a one-room log cabin and was the second of eight children. At thirteen she attended a pie social, bringing a pie she had baked using salt instead of sugar. The highest bidder not only won the pie but also got to meet the girl who had baked the pie. Mooney Lynn had just returned home after having served in the army. A month after they had first met, still three months short of her fourteenth birthday, Loretta and Mooney married.
… of four-time Oscar nominee for best actress Julie Christie. She’s 70. Miss Christie won the Oscar for Darling but be sure to see the film Away from Her from 2007.
… of Pete Rose. You can bet that Pete is 69 today.
… of Brad Garrett, 50. Garrett is 6-8½.
… of Greg Maddux, 44. A friend has a grandson named, Maddux.
… of Adrien Brody. The Oscar winner (best actor for The Pianist) is 37.
… of Sarah Michelle Gellar. Buffy is 33.
… of Abigail Breslin. The Oscar-nominated actress is 14. That means she was born in 1996.
Three time Oscar-nominated actor Rod Steiger was born on this date in 1925. Steiger won for Best Actor for his portrayal of the sheriff in the movie In the Heat of the Night. He was nominated for best actor for The Pawnbroker and for best supporting actor for On the Waterfront. The Pawnbroker (1964) was one of the first films to deal with the emotional aftermath of the Nazi concentration camps. Steiger died in 2002.
Helen Keller’s teacher Anne Sullivan Macy was born on April 14 in 1866.
James Cash Penney opened his first retail store, called the Golden Rule Store, in the mining town of Kemmerer, Wyoming, on this date in 1902. In 1913, the chain incorporated as J.C. Penney Company, Inc.
The first store, as seen in 1904.
RMS Titanic hit an iceberg at 11:40 PM (Titanic time) on this date in 1912. She was at 41° 46′ north latitude , 50° 14′ west longitude in the Atlantic. The ship went under at 2:20 AM on the 15th.
Noah Webster published his American Dictionary of the English Language on April 14, 1828. The Writer’s Almanac with Garrison Keillor has some of the story.