Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 4, 1993 TAG: 9311040057
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: from wire reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I don't know how much time I have," the 70-year-old recently told a group of bankers' spouses in New Orleans. "But I told my doctor I refuse to go until they find a cure for this thing."
The first mother's words to live by: "You stay busy to get your mind off your problems. If you keep busy, you won't have so much time to think about them."
Ailing entertainer Martha Raye has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her "great courage, kindness and patriotism," the White House announced Tuesday. President Clinton, in a statement, saluted the 77-year-old for entertaining troops from World War II through the Vietnam War.
Raye has suffered several strokes, and last week her left leg was amputated below the knee.
After shunning the stage for nearly a quarter-century, Barbra Streisand has been signed for two New Year's performances at a new resort opening in Las Vegas next month.
The concerts are scheduled for New Year's Eve and New Year's night in the new 15,000-seat MGM Grand Garden, according to Tuesday's joint announcement by MGM Grand and Marty Erlichman, Streisand's representative.
Oprah Winfrey has big plans for the future. "I want to expand myself in all ways - except the physical," the 39-year-old TV talk-show host tells Chicago magazine.
And what about tying the knot with steady Stedman Graham? "I can't always be there for him," she says. "I work a lot. . . . I love him. He loves me. When you have that, marriage doesn't seem as important."
Winfrey recently donated $1 million to Providence Mel High School in one of Chicago's roughest neighborhoods, which for years has maintained a 100 percent college acceptance rate for its seniors. Graham is on the school's board.
by CNB