When one lives in a border city with a population that is well over ninety percent Hispanic, one’s blonde, blue-eyed children tend to stand out in the community and at school. One day we were approached by a lady who had noticed our two grade school-aged daughters. She said that she ran an ad agency and had difficulty finding young Anglo models. We visited the agency, checked references, filled out a lot of forms and our two fair-haired girls began training to be models at a very young age.
For the next few years Tara and Jillian had a good experience and learned to dress, walk and pose with poise. As they got older, my number two son Shane obtained his driver license and began to drive the two girls to and from the ad agency. Shane was several inches over six feet tall and some said that he looked a lot like heart-throb Patrick Swayze of “Dirty Dancing” fame. It didn’t take long before the lady at the ad agency was salivating to recruit Shane into her world of modeling.
Shane appeared in a few local apparel ads and did some runway work modeling men’s clothing. After he graduated from high school, he went with a group from the agency to Mexico City where, among other things, he appeared in a couple of Mexican soap operas or “telenovelas.” “Luz y Sombra” and “Cuando Llega el Amor” are two of the most widely seen soap operas in the world. They are broadcast all over the Spanish-speaking world. In “Luz y Sombra” he played a brief role as an American Olympic Swimmer. Because he trained as a competitive swimmer during his high school years, he played the role especially well.
One day Shane returned to his hotel room from an Acapulco beach and was recognized by the maid who watched T.V. while she worked. “I think she recognized me,” said Shane, “because I was wearing a swimsuit.” There were other times, but the most notable was while he was serving as a Mormon missionary in Spain. “We knocked on a door wearing suits and ties and a little old lady responded. When she saw me, her eyes widened and she said in Spanish, ‘I know you! You were in my telenovela!’” Shane wrote to his parents, “I’m a movie star!” He went on to say that he was glad he had turned down several opportunities to advertise alcohol and tobacco products.
Once while he was in Mexico City a taxi driver said that he thought he had seen Shane somewhere before. When Shane asked him if he watched telenovelas the driver remembered where he had seen him and wanted to charge him extra, erroneously assuming that anyone appearing on a soap opera must have lots of money.
“In Guadalajara they asked me to play the role of a doctor who was billed as a quality control expert. When I saw the final product, I was introduced in the ad as a German scientist purportedly in Germany someplace promoting German-made light bulbs.”
Well, the notoriety and bright lights, the fancy duds, makeup and travel didn’t totally spoil my supermodel offspring. Fortunately for them and their parents, they had overriding priorities in their lives. None chose to go into modeling as a career. All three married. Tara has two children, Jillian has four and Shane has four. Their older brother, Derek, remains a bachelor. I’m not disappointed that the three “models” chose other fields of endeavor.
I recently met a man who had made some unfortunate choices in his life and ended up in prison because of them. He told me that he never “accidentally” ran afoul of the law. “I chose to break the law. Every time I did something wrong it was because I chose to do wrong. Don’t let anyone kid you when he blames his problems on someone else or on his circumstances. We choose to do what we do and we must each face the consequences.”
It is written, “Seek not for riches but for wisdom; and, behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then you shall be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich. (D&C 11:7)
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