For his Halloween costume the young man dressed like Terry Forcht

Remember the saying, “Be like Mike,” referring to Michael Jordan? Well, a young man who dressed up for Halloween chose to “Be like Terry.”

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

When our boss, Terry Forcht, attended church this Sunday he met the young man who dressed like him and had his picture taken with him. Terry got a kick out of it.

You can’t blame the young man for wanting to be like Terry. He is one of Kentucky’s foremost entrepreneurs. No doubt the young man has noticed how Terry dresses.

I have worked for Terry for about 35 years and I have never seen him without him wearing a coat and tie.

He and I were discussing how times have changed since we were young. Even though most of the men employed by the Forcht Group wear a coat and tie today, generally the way men dress in many places today has changed, or may I say gone down hill.
Even at church you see less and less attention given to dress. Growing up I wore a coat and tie to church each Sunday and so did my friends. No, we didn’t have a lot of money, but we made dressing our best for church a priority.

I don’t know but I may have been the last area advertising salesman to wear a coat and tie. But when I was doing that I had a system. If I was going to a place where dress was required, I wore the coat and tie.

But when I went to a more casual place where mostly men worked and I thought a coat and tie was out of place for that location, I would shed the tie. There were days that I had the tie on and off several times.

I would think the young man was dressing like Terry for more than his sharp outfits alone, but that would be good enough reason. I have complimented Terry many times on his selection of clothing.

• Last week I mentioned Dr. John Dunaway in my column. I have a short story about a situation that startled me concerning him.

Just over seven years ago my wife and I had gone to Henderson, Ky. to visit our daughter Amber and grandchildren. On the way home my wife informed me that Amber was going to have a baby. She already had two children, four and two year old girls.

I exclaimed to my wife, “How is she and her husband going to take care of all those little ones with both of them working? Here is where the heart does the talking rather than the mind.

As soon as I got home I opened my computer for real estate in Henderson. The first picture that came up was across the street and three houses down from Amber. It read Just Listed!

I called the realtor and inquired about it. Then I made an offer that was $30,000 less than what was asked. He said he would call me back when he contacted the seller, which was a holding company.

After I hung up the phone I asked myself, “What have I done?” My wife called Amber and asked her to go look at the house. She called back and said we would like it.

But still there was money involved that I had not planned for. The realtor called me back and said the company would accept my offer. I didn’t know what to do. I got cold feet so I said they would have to come down another $15,000. He said he would check and call me the next day.

When he called back he said they would meet me half way. My heart was still doing the talking and I said I would send them holding money. I had bought a house that I had not seen.

So about six weeks go by while an inspection and painting was done and my wife and I went to see the house.

We were upstairs in the master bedroom when I noticed another room. I asked the realtor, what is this room? He answered,

“This was Dr. Dunaway’s study.” I said who? He said, Dr. John Dunaway,” the former pastor of First Baptist Church in Corbin.

We were getting ready to move to a house that Dr. Dunaway had built. He had lived there and only moved a year before.

We loved that house and sent pictures to Mrs. Dunaway when the beautiful flowers she had planted bloomed

After a couple of years we returned to Corbin along with our daughter and grandchildren, but it was hard leaving that beautiful house that the Dunaways had built.