Daily Almanac for Monday March 17, 2025

By StephanieLee Elliott

Popular actor Patrick Duffy, known as Bobby Ewing from Dallas, is 76 today. Seen here at the PaleyFest 2013 forum on the TV show Dallas. By iDominick – https www.flickr.com photos, CC BY-SA 2.0, https commons.wikimedia.org

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Patrick Duffy (born March 17, 1949) is an American actor and director widely known for his role as Bobby Ewing on the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas (1978–1991). Duffy returned to reprise his role as Bobby in a continuation of Dallas, which aired on TNT from 2012 to 2014. He is also well known for his role on the ABC sitcom Step by Step as Frank Lambert from 1991 to 1998, and for his role as Stephen Logan on the CBS daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful (2006–2011, 2022, 2023). Duffy played the lead character’s father in the 2014 NBC sitcom Welcome to Sweden.

Duffy married Carlyn Rosser, a professional ballerina 13 years his senior, in 1974. She danced with the First Chamber Dance Company of New York. Her nephew is former Major League Baseball pitcher Barry Zito. The Duffys lived near Eagle Point, Oregon, with their sons Padraic (b. 1974) and Conor (born c. 1980).

Introduced to Buddhism by his wife, Duffy converted to Nichiren Buddhism and began chanting Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō. He and his family are longtime members of the Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai International.

Duffy’s wife Carlyn Rosser died in 2017. In 2020, he entered into a relationship with actress Linda Purl.

Patrick Duffy’s nephew, Barry Zito throwing a pitch in 2006. By Jlaff at the English-language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https commons.wikimedia.org
Patrick Duffy’s wife, Linda Purl in 2010. By Rarmin, Public Domain, https commons.wikimedia.org

TODAY’S ALMANAC

St. Patrick was the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland who is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland.

Long before the shamrock became associated with St. Patrick’s Day (March 17), the four-leaf clover was regarded by ancient Celts as a charm against evil spirits.

In the early 1900s, O. H. Benson, an Iowa school superintendent, came up with the idea of using a clover as the emblem for a newly founded agricultural club for children in his area. In 1911, the four-leaf clover was chosen as the emblem for the national club program, later named 4-H.

If you’re inclined toward the legend, lore, and festivities of the saint and how the Irish honor him, check out this St. Patrick’s Day site where you’ll find everything from parades to recipes.

On March 26, 1776, a British fleet of 125 transports and warships left Boston Harbor bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia. Aboard were General William Howe, some 9,000 officers and men, and more than 1,000 Loyalists and their families. For nine months, the British had been unable to venture beyond the city of Boston, which was surrounded by colonial troops. The Continental Army had recently taken Dorchester Heights overlooking the harbor, which they fortified with cannons and mortars captured at Fort Ticonderoga, New York. However, in return for a promise by General Howe that Boston would not be burned, the British fleet left the harbor unmolested. The anniversary of this date is conveniently celebrated by the Irish American (and other) residents of Boston and Suffolk County on March 17.

Question of the Day

In regard to wind velocity, how long must it be sustained until it is no longer called a gust?

Gust is rather vague; winds can “gust” up to 40 miles an hour. However, according to the Beaufort scale of wind speeds, a “strong breeze” is 25 to 31 statute mph, a “moderate gale” 32 to 38 mph, a “fresh gale” 39 to 46 mph, a “whole gale” 55 to 63 mph, a “storm” 64 to 72 mph, and a “hurricane” greater than 72 mph.

Advice of the Day

Never put your hand out farther than you can draw it back again. —Irish proverb

Home Hint of the Day

Plywood is graded A, B, C, or D based on the defects in the wood surface. Grades C and D have knotholes, but the knots are larger in D. In A and B, knotholes are patched and the surface of the sheet is sanded. Only an occasional patch will appear in grade A.

Word of the Day

Solar Cycle

A period of 28 years in the Julian calendar, at the end of which the days of the month return to the same days of the week.

Puzzle of the Day

What confections were carried on Noah’s ark?

Preserved pears (pairs)

Born

  • Anders Dahl (botanist; dahlia named for him) – 
  • Robert B. Taney (Supreme Court justice) – 
  • Ella Winter (Australian-born journalist) – 
  • Bobby Jones (American golfer) – 
  • Nat “King” Cole (entertainer) – 
  • James Irwin (astronaut) – 
  • Rudolfh Nureyev (ballet dancer) – 
  • John Sebastian (singer) – 
  • Patrick Duffy (actor) – 
  • Kurt Russell (actor) – 
  • Gary Sinise (actor) – 
  • Rob Lowe (actor) – 
  • Bill Mueller (baseball player) – 
  • Mia Hamm (soccer player, Olympic gold medalist) – 

Died

  • Helen Hayes (actress) – 
  • J. J. Jackson (one of the five original MTV video jockeys) – 
  • Andre Norton (science fiction/fantasy writer) – 
  • Oleg Cassini (fashion designer who created the Jackie look, the signature wardrobe created for First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in the early 1960s) – 

Events

  • On this day, St. Patrick died. As a boy, Patrick was captured and carried off from Britain to Ireland tend sheep. After six years, he escaped. Later, he to Ireland and spread the word of Christianity. – 
  • The Transylvania Land Company bought what became the state of Kentucky for $50,000, from a Cherokee Indian chief – 
  • British Army evacuated Boston – 
  • The rubber band was patented by Stephen Perry – 
  • John Phillip Holland launched first modern submarine off Staten Island, NY – 
  • Anna Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt were married – 
  • Camp Fire Girls established – 
  • The National Gallery of Art was dedicated in Washington, D.C. – 
  • Gen. MacArthur arrived in Australia to assume supreme command of the Allied forces (WW II) – 
  • Battle of Iwo Jima ended with U.S. victory (WW II) – 
  • The University of California (Berkeley) announced the development of californium, a new element with the atomic number 98 – 
  • Vanguard I spacecraft launched by U.S. at Cape Canaveral – 
  • USS Skate first submarine to surface at North Pole – 
  • UN conference of the Law of the Sea opened at Geneva, Switzerland – 
  • Paroxysmal eruption of Mt. Agung in Bali – 
  • A Milwaukee, Wisconsin, high school teacher, Golda Meir, took office as Israel’s 4th Prime Minister – 
  • One of the worst oil spills in history occured when supertanker Amoco Cadiz broke in two off the Brittany coast in France, dumping more than 223,000 tons of crude oil into the sea – 
  • Julie Croteau first woman to play NCAA baseball – 
  • 1,263 people dressed as leprechauns (in Bandon, Ireland), setting a world record – 

Weather

  • Snowstorm central and SW Tennessee; Memphis got 18.5 inches – 
  • Fifty degrees below zero F, Snake River, Wyoming – 

 

COURTESY www.almanac.com

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