I
’m kneeling on the floor of a
cheap roadside motel some-
where in western Tennessee.
Next to me, leading me in
prayer, is a large middle-aged
man with cerebral palsy named
Ronnie Simonsen.
He says, “Bless my mother, my
brothers and sisters, and my pastor
back home in New Hampshire. God,
bless Bob Hope and Cher ... and all
three of Charlie’s Angels. Especially
Jaclyn Smith.”
And then Ronnie says, “And Lord,
please help us get to California quickly,
where I know I’m going to meet my
spiritual brother, Mr. Chad Everett, the
star of CBS’s drama Medical Center.”
And here, I interrupt Ron. I say,
“Ron, you know, we might not meet
Chad Everett. We’re not sure that’s
going to happen.”
He says, “Yeah, yeah, I know, but
keep praying. Keep praying.”
I first met Ronnie about eight years
before that. I was working at a sum-
mer camp for people with disabilities.
I was a counselor there, and I had
brought along a video camera because
I was also interested in making films.
Ronnie came right up to me and
wanted to talk about movies and TV.
He had cerebral palsy in his legs, but
he also had a combination of autism
and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
It manifested itself in this fascination
with television and movie stars from
the 1970s, which is when he was a kid.
He spent most of his childhood inhospitals, and he became particularly
obsessed with the people who played
doctors on television. He took comfort
in their calm voices.
There was one man, above all,
whom he held as sort of like a god, and
that was Chad Everett, who played Dr.
Joe Gannon on CBS’s Medical Center.
I really liked Ron. He was fun. He
was great on camera—he loved to be
on camera. We made lots of videos to-
gether at the camp.
Some of the most popular videos
were these newscasts we would do.
(We made our own news show.) Ron-
nie was fantastic at that, especially
when we could go downtown and he
would interview people on the street.
He was this large man, and when
he would talk to people, he couldn’t
stand up for too long, so he would
lean on them for balance while he was
asking them questions. And he wouldRONNIE goes on the road to track down
his TV idol—as if his sweatshirt didn’t
make that clear.88 june 2019
all^ images^ of^ ronnie^ simonsen:courtesyarthurbradfordReader’s Digest