By Steve Flairty
NKyTribune columnist
I liked to watch old movies on TV while I was growing up in the 1960s, many of them showing in black and white. Some of my views were made for children, many were not. One of the actors’ names I recall was that of Tyrone Power, definitely a star of the era. He played in such films as The Mark of Zorro, Nightmare Alley, Witness for the Prosecution, and The Black Swan.
Therein lies a story with a Northern Kentucky twist, as I discovered perusing The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky.
Helen Emma Reaume was born in Indianapolis in 1882, but her family moved to Covington in the early 1890s. The Reaumes became well known for the dramatic arts schools they operated. Helen appeared in local Covington theatre, including the Covington Auditorium and at the Colonial Theatre, at 425 Madison Avenue.
In 1910, Helen acted in a play in Cincinnati with noted actor Frederick Tyrone Edmund Power. She would marry him in 1912, with Northern Kentucky newspapers following the wedding. The couple began acting together in Shakespearean plays and she adopted the stage name of Patia Power.
Helen, now Patia, gave birth to a future Hollywood heartthrob, Tyrone Edmund Power, on May 5, 1914. A little over a year later, she gave birth to a daughter, Anne Power. Ironically, the family decided to move to San Diego because of son Tyrone’s poor health. However, Patia divorced her husband and remarried, and the second marriage failed also. She moved her family back to Cincinnati in 1923.
With a fresh start, Patia became the assistant dean at Cincinnati’s Shuster-Martin School of Drama at Peebles Corner in Walnut Hills. She would later teach at Villa Madonna Academy in Park Hills and became affectionately known to her students as “Madame Patia.”
Patia not only inspired her many students but was also a positive influence on son Tyrone’s subsequent success in Hollywood, and he was quick to mention it to the public. Among his acting recognition was the 1946 International Sound Research Institute’s Award for diction. He debuted on the Broadway stage in 1935 in Romeo and Juliet and signed a contract with 20th Century Fox in 1936. That same year, he made his screen debut in Lloyd’s of London, launching him into stardom and by the late 1930s, he became one of Hollywood’s biggest box-office draws. He was nicknamed “Mr. Debonair” by the movie industry.
He would serve his country as a U.S. Marine, enlisting in 1942 and reaching the rank of First Lieutenant and flying cargo planes in the South Pacific. After his World War II stint, he returned to acting and appeared, altogether, in 50 films, including Solomon and Sheba, his last, in 1959. That movie was released after his death from a massive heart attack that killed Power as he was filming a duel scene with George Sanders. Power was only 44.
Patia had returned to California after her son had become a noted actor and lived there for several years. However, she died the year after her son passed in 1958 while living with her daughter in New Hampshire.
Congratulations to Dr. Nathan Vanderford, UK College of Medicine professor and researcher, for being named a “2025 Healthy Kentucky Champion” by the Friend for Life Cancer Support Network. He created the Appalachian Career Training in Oncology (ACTION) in 2016, a program which “recruits students from across Eastern Kentucky and prepares them for careers in cancer research, medicine, and public health.”
I previously wrote about ACTION in this column in 2021.
ACTION has recently released the second volume of Cancer in Appalachia: A Collection of Youth-Told Stories. Dr. Vanderford and Holly Burke edited the work. The book includes “fictional stories and poems by high school and undergraduate students from Appalachian Kentucky who participate in ACTION.”
Also emphasizing needs of Appalachian Kentucky is Jacqueline Hamilton’s 240-page A Pencil Grows in Kentucky. The offering “weaves together creative writing lessons, Appalachian history, and powerful poetry to celebrate the voices of young people from Kentucky.” All proceeds from sales support Hamilton’s Why We Write, Inc. non-profit, which is “helping writers of all ages find their creative spark” through Inkspire Writing Camps in Winchester and Lexington, held during the summer months.
Basketball season is starting, and Susan Mills has released another of her fun, dinosaur-centric children’s books, this one inspired by her husband, former UK hoops star, Cameron Mills. It’s called Cameron, the Confident, and Colorful Carnotaurus. According to Susan, Cameron “discovers that having a busy brain can also be a great thing. When Cameron stumbles upon a new friend in trouble, Cameron leaps into action and learns that he has the power to solve big problems. A busy brain can create big solutions.” Visit rainbowsparrowbooks.com to learn more about the author’s popular series.
All three of the above-mentioned books can be purchased on Amazon.
