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In Memoriam: Freda Wright-Sorce

It's odd how incidents cross paths in our great big universe, incidents that, otherwise, would never meet, coming or going. Such is the case with the interview I did with Freda Sorce many years ago. (copyright 2005)

As a freelance writer focusing on folks in the entertainment industry, I've interviewed many interesting people. Most often, I've worked not on assignment but on personal taste - if someone intrigued me, I've made contact and requested an interview. Most have graciously agreed to talk with me.

The Don and Mike radio show has been a talk show staple in the Washington, DC area for many, many years. In the not-so-distant past, it has gone pseudo-national, and people across the country have tuned in, in mass numbers, to listen to the sometimes outrageous, sometimes offensive, almost always entertaining antics of the key players, Don Geronimo (real name: Mike Sorce), Mike O'Meara, and newsman, Buzz Burbank.

I must admit: I've been one of those people, off and on, for more years than I can count anymore. For me, though, the most fascinating facet hasn't really been any one of the 3 already mentioned. Don, the head honcho, upon whose life most of the material has been based (or, at very least, his tastes have taken the lead in the creation of their shtick), is and always has been somewhat abrasive on-air, only barely skirting the edge of propriety, and often falling off that edge. He's clever, bawdily funny, and usually makes every effort to be offensive by knocking the weaknesses of other people. He has a special take on females.

So what could possibly be redeeming about such a person?

His love for his wife, Freda. The general consensus, seemingly reached by many people (mostly women) at many different moments, independent of the others, is that Don must be a kinder, gentler person off the air. Why? Otherwise, someone like Freda would not have stayed married to him all these years.

Though she may not have been on the show every day, it was Freda's voice that the public heard when Don needed a sounding board. It was Freda who lent an air of common sense, by way of calling in to the show, when Don went too far with a bit, especially if it pertained to women and their place in the world.

Freda has been a part of the Don and Mike show for just about all the years the show's been aired.

Until now.

On the afternoon of Sunday, July 10, 2005, Freda Sorce's voice was silenced forever in a car accident in Ocean City, Maryland. State police

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