I am sorry to report that Don LaFontaine, master voiceover artist, has passed away on Labor Day. He was 68.
I never met Don in person, but I had the opportunity to work with him on some TV spots, and I know his wife, Anita, well. (She’s from my hometown of Shreveport, LA, and my Dad wrote the arrangement she used of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” to go to the Miss American paegant, as Miss Louisiana.)
By all accounts, everyone that knew Don called him a great guy. My cousin (who visited Don and Anita in California a bunch) tells me he was witty, with a wicked sense of humor, and not at all pompous or distant in the way that celebrities can be. I can attest personally to the fact that he was generous to a fault, and was willing to “put his money where his mouth is” when it comes to causes he would support.
It’s hard for me to think about Don in the past tense. While there are other voiceover artists that mimic’d Don’s style and delivery, there will never be another Don LaFontaine. My heart and prayers go out to Anita and their kids in what must be a very difficult time. Please keep them in your prayers.
In a world of advertising, where too few voiceover artists have the ability to create a distinctive sound, Don LaFontaine will be missed.
Just got back from my annual sojourn to the upper portion of the Texas Panhandle, for a dove hunt. Now, I’m not a big hunter, mind you. It’s something that I like, but I’ve never really had the opportunity, I guess, to do a lot of it. I think I’ve been hunting, oh, maybe four or five times in my life. But this time was special. I had the opportunity to go hunting with a bunch of guys from my church, including the Vicar of our church and one of our Bishops. (If you’re curious, I bagged four doves…well…really 3 1/2, as with one I shared with one of the other hunters, as we shot it at the same time.) The experience left me tired, but also relaxed and happy. While (most of) the men of the church went a-hunting, the women of the church stayed home, and had a pool party. On the way home I pondered why men like hunting, and (most) women do not. 
In the world in which we live, it’s actually pretty easy to forget that nature trumps technology. For all our computers, machines, and other man-made paraphernalia, we still can’t control Mother Nature to any great extent. (Which, of course, is one of the things that makes me a hard-core skeptic over the man-made global warming thing – but that’s a topic for another time.) 
Tomorrow is the first day of school for thousands of kids across Amarillo, my daughter included. While the exact day children go back to school may vary from district to district, there is one undeniable fact – the school year is longer than it was when I was a kid.