Posted by:
memikeyounot
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Date: February 25, 2017 11:43PM
One of my favorite TV shows of my era is The Dick Van Dyke Show. It's on Netflix currently and I've watched so many of them, more than once.
The original show was on Wednesdays at 9pm when I was in Jr. High. I had to make sure I got home early enough to see it since that was Mutual night. We lived sort of close to the church so I made it most of the times.
On Facebook, I belong to a group "The Official Dick Van Dyke Show Book" which is just I think the author talking about this book and going into detail about Dick and the cast.
He's posted a story tonight about a young woman in Encino, CA who was a big fan and was dying. I've posted the story here.
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For your Sunday reflection – the sincere and caring Dick Van Dyke: 1965
The Los Angeles Times
Monday, April 19, 1965
page 67
Dick Van Dyke Vs. Cancer
-- His Greatest Performance
by Margaret Harford
Times Staff Writer
The last days of a pretty teen-age girl, a victim of cancer, were made happier by the weekly visits of actor Dick Van Dyke who met her only a few months before her death last week at the UCLA Medical Center.
Van Dyke heard about Carolyn Mastro's terminal illness from a Tarzana neighbor, Brother Gordon Hawkins of the Mormon Church in Encino.
The actor began dropping in on the 17-year-old Carolyn to cheer her up. He left his scrap book and photo album with her. He posed for a picture sitting on the edge of Carolyn's hospital bed.
The stricken girl had the picture framed and proudly displayed it on her dresser. She died too soon to see a 17mm film of "Mary Poppins" which Dick asked Walt Disney to make for showing in her bedroom.
After Carolyn's death, her uncle, Dick Mastro, 6324 Fair Ave., North Hollywood, wrote the Times:
"With all the sham and hypocrisy in the entertainment world, it's wonderful to see a genuine act of kindness by a star."
"It is one thing to attend a charity function or visit a hospital at the urging of a press agent, but quite another to quietly perform a great kindness without fanfare. Carolyn's family will always be grateful to Dick Van Dyke."
Early Diploma
Carolyn, who lived with her mother, Mrs. Alonzo Munroe, 18316 Hatteras St., Tarzana, was a senior at Encino High School.
When it became known her life was ebbing away, the school gave Carolyn her June diploma last February.
Carolyn also leaves her father, Earl Mastro, a featherweight boxer of the 1930's and former athletic director at the Disney studios, and two sisters, Mrs. George Rudkin of Sacramento and Mrs. Larry Czubiak of Hidden Hills.
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Valley News
Van Nuys, California
Tuesday, April 13, 1965
page 3
Carolyn Mastro Dies:
Services Scheduled Here
Services will be held tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Encino Ward, Latter-day Saints Chapel, 5538 White Oak Ave., Encino, for Carolyn Mastro, daughter of Earl Mastro of 15125 Victory Blvd., Van Nuys, and Mrs. Alonzo Munroe of 18136 Hatteras St., Tarzana.
Interment will be at Oakwood Memorial Park, 22601 Lassen St. Chatsworth.
Miss Mastro, who was 17 years old, died Saturday at UCLA following a lengthy illness.
Survivors are her father and mother, step-father and two sisters. The sisters are Mrs. George Rudkin of Sacramento and Mrs. Larry Czubiak of Hidden Hills.
Miss Mastro had been a student at Reseda High School until December of last year. Scheduled to graduate in June, the school awarded her diploma prematurely while she was ill.
Actor Dick Van Dyke will deliver the eulogy and members of her Sunday School class will be pallbearers.