Called "The Poet of the People" for his heartwarming, down-to-earth writing, Edgar Albert Guest (1881–1959) was born on this day in Birmingham, England and settled with his family in Detroit, Michigan when he was nearly 12.

“It takes a heap o' livin' in a house t' make it home,” he once wrote.

The creator of over twenty volumes of poetry, including Just Folks (1917) and Heap O' Livin! (1916), Guest wrote over 11,000 poems. Syndicated in over 300 U.S. newspapers, he also hosted a weekly NBC radio program (1931–1942) and his own television show, A Guest in Your Home, in 1951.

He explained, “I just take simple everyday things that happen to me and figure that they probably happen to a lot of other people and I make simple rhymes out of 'em and people seem to like 'em.”

An optimist who celebrated life's passionate colors, Guest wrote about ordinary people and experiences. A friend of inventors Henry Ford and Charles Kettering, Guest believed, “Life is a gift to be used every day, not to be smothered and hidden away.”

His poems continue to shine with simple truths and hopeful rhythms. Guest believed in the quiet power of kindness, and his verses still offer gentle encouragement in uncertain times. "Be a friend," he wrote. "You don't need money; Just a disposition sunny."