By David Laurell

Suffering the recent loss of her husband, Harry Kullijian, actress Carol Channing is honoring his legacy by still glowin’, crowin’ and goin’ strong in support of art education.

Woody Allen is credited with saying, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.”

When it comes to planning issues of “Life After 50,” we operate, as most monthly periodicals, by adhering to an annual editorial calendar that serves as a road map for what we will be covering in each issue for a year. This means most of our feature stories are assigned months in advance, so interviews can be set up and conducted. So it was late last year, while planning this issue, we decided the story of the childhood crush and late-in-life reuniting and marriage of entertainer Carol Channing and her husband, Harry Kullijian, would make for a charming Valentine’s feature.

Everyone thought it was a great idea – except for the man upstairs – whose grand plan trumped ours shortly after we conducted the interview. After spending a quiet Christmas Day with Carol at their desert home, Harry suffered an aneurysm and was rushed to Rancho Mirage Hospital, where, in the words of the poet John Magee, Jr., he slipped the surly bonds of earth.

So we wondered, should we still run the story? The answer came from Carol herself. The singer and actress who turned 91 this past month was convincing in stating that while Harry is gone, the cause that meant so much to him remains.

“So much has happened since Harry passed that I have lost track of time,” said Carol. “It’s all become one big blur. I was so glad to be holding his hand when he passed. It somehow seemed odd that it was he who was comforting me at the time. He had no fear of what lay ahead for him. He was ready. His only concern was for me. I don't know what life without Harry will hold for me, but I hope what we accomplished together with regard to the need for children to experience and be exposed to the arts continues to blossom for future generations. What a great legacy that would be for both of us!”

That answered it. By running the story, we felt we could help continue the work Harry was so passionate about.

Their story was a true romantic oddity. Carol was just 12 and Harry was 13 when they met and became junior high sweethearts. But it was a love that was not to be – at least not then. Carol and Harry drifted apart – she to a glamorous world of fame and fortune on Broadway and the silver screen that led to Tony and Golden Globe wins and an Oscar nomination; he to service in Korea during World War II and the Korean War, followed by a life of running successful businesses and serving as a city councilman in Modesto, California.

In 2002, Harry’s wife of 60 years passed away. Shortly thereafter, having been informed that he had been mentioned in Carol’s autobiography, “Just Lucky I Guess” (Simon & Schuster, 2002), the two connected for the first time in 70 years. “He called me and we picked right up from our last conversation – when we were teenagers,” Carol said with a laugh. “We didn’t miss a beat.”

Ultimately reuniting in person, Carol and Harry married in 2003 and two years later established the Dr. Channing/Kullijian Foundation for the Arts to launch a nationwide awareness campaign heralding the benefits of bringing arts back into the curriculum of public schools, to provide musical instruments for low-income school districts, and to fund scholarships for students and teachers in the arts.

“I’m the organizer and Carol is the draw,” said Harry during his late-2011 conversation with “Life After 50.”

Joined by Carol, he spoke passionately about the wrong road he felt America’s politicians and education executives are on in cutting the arts out of public schools. “Sure the economy is bad,” he said. “But it was worse during the Great Depression when Carol and I were in school. Back then, educators and the politicians did just the opposite of what they are doing today – they knew the value of the arts being taught in public schools. President Roosevelt made sure of that. He encouraged the arts during that terrible economic downturn, and just think of all the classic murals that were created during that time and the creative people who came out of that era.”

Carol nodded in agreement. “Our goal is to bring the arts back into public schools,” she said. “Harry and I have spoken to superintendents and school board members and PTA presidents from California’s 58 school districts and finally came to the realization that it was worthless to talk to them. We realized we had to take the message to the public – to the parents – to let them know how important the arts are for young people and how the arts are the lowest priority for the school district executives – superintendents and school board members.”

Believing they needed to work from the bottom up, Harry and Carol launched the foundation to change what they perceived as being a prevailing attitude that the arts are not that important as a path to learning. “We’re not trying to save the arts just for the sake of the arts,” said Harry. “We’re trying to use the arts to save our children. The arts are the inspiration – the catalyst – the beginning of all learning. What was the first thing we all did when we went to school as a little child? We learned a song or created a drawing. We learned something and created something that made us feel like we were somebody – that we were an achiever. As a child, when you have achieved something, it brings about a feeling within you that you want to achieve more. It instills the desire for achievement in a child that nothing else can. We don’t see that in kids today and it will get worse. We’re going to be in sad shape 20 years from now if we don’t get art instruction back in our schools right away.”

Having just recently spoken to a group of kids who had dropped out of school and were involved with the Job Corps program, Carol said the message she brought to them was how important achievement is. “You know, not every kid achieves a high score on an IQ test or wants to be an engineer," she said. “The arts open up an entire world of achievement and individuality that show how each one of us is different in what we can create and achieve. Art brings out the uniqueness in each of us. Nothing else shows the difference between one child – one person – and another like by what they can create in their mind. By removing art instruction from our public schools, we are doing a devastating disservice to a large segment of children who have no foundation when it comes to their creativity – their individualism – their sense of achievement. Teaching art is not a superfluous luxury. It’s teaching the essence of life. Kids don’t get into trouble when they are creating and achieving something. Even Einstein knew that creativity – that creating something – was the most important thing a person could do.”

Pointing to a study of recruiters from some of the nation’s leading corporations, Harry backed up Carol’s statements by saying it is not purely high grades and IQs that companies are looking for in recruits. “They are looking for people with creativity, and yet that is the very first thing American educators drop from their curriculums when budgets are cut,” he said. “What are they thinking? The answer is they are not thinking. They have lost sight that this country was built on creativity. The future of America is now in the hands of children who are not learning the arts and creativity. If we don’t instill an understanding and appreciation of the arts in them, we will begin to see the arts and creativity disappear from our lives and our culture within the next generation.”

As much as Harry believed the arts were vitally important for a child’s development, he equally believed they played an important role in the lives of the elderly. “I was involved with a skilled nursing facility near San Francisco for many years,” he said. “I would go and play the organ or the accordion – sometimes going to people’s rooms because they weren’t able to attend an event in the community room. I saw how music and other arts programs could bring them to life. It completely changed their demeanor. It was beautiful.”

In what were to be his last words to “Life After 50,” Harry spoke of a recent fundraiser in which Carol performed. “She sang ‘Before the Parade Passes By’ from ‘Hello Dolly,’” he recalled. “The message of that song is to stay involved – stay an active part of the human race – don’t step away from living life. Just because we are older, that is no reason to walk away from living and enjoying life – from creating something and being involved in the things you love and care about.”

Harry did just that. He kept living and loving life and the people and things he was passionate about – right up till December 26, 2011 – the day before what would have been his 92nd birthday.

To learn more about the Dr. Channing/Kullijian Foundation for the Arts and support their work, click on www.channingarts.org