Do you recognize this face?

If you grew up in the 60's and 70's then you probably know who this is without any hesitation whatsoever. If you are a child of the 80's or 90's, you might still easily recognize Tom Lester from all of the Green Acres reruns on Nick @ Night. Tom played the character of Eb; it was his most famous role although he made many, many appearances on other television shows and even some movies.


I got to meet Eb - I mean Tom; it was in 1977. I was a senior at Niceville High School in Florida. Back then Tom was heavily involved with Campus Crusade for Christ. That organization paid a visit to my school that year and put on a presentation. I just happen to be in the right spot at the right time and so I got to speak with the actor personally for a few minutes. I just knew he had to be from the south and so I asked him from what parts. He then told me that he was from Jackson, Mississippi. Shoot, his hometown was just a couple of hours drive from Niceville.

He told me that he liked Niceville and that he was familiar with the area because so many folks from Mississippi travel down to the gulf coast of Florida for vacation each year. We had a good visit and I never quite looked at Green Acres the same ever again - and I still don't.