All Kinds of Heroes

There are remarkable people who walk among us. Many of us do a lot of talking, but there are some who do more than that: they "do". My son Brendan who does two tours overseas and except for occasional periods of boredom does so without complaint. He has hinted at some of the things he has seen and I know it works on him, but he keeps quiet and gives the shoulder shrug and says its no big deal.
Another is Pat Johnson who I worked with at the Mary Davis Home for 27 years and took the early retirement when I did. She is surrounded by her two daughters, and 4 grand kids, lives in a nice nice newer house in Knoxville and could slip into a pretty fine comfortable lifestyle. But without fanfare, this 60+ year old little lady signs up for disaster relief and spent quite a long time helping after Katrina hit in Louisiana, and signed up again for Hurricane Ike. She is presently in Texas working at a shelter and doing whatever needs done to help the victims.

She has more guts, fortitude, and courage than I, and I salute her this morning. Good luck, and best wishes, hero.

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Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless. Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001. It was one of those things that can generate crime: two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job. Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things. Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold. But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find. His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead. He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds. He will be paralyzed for life. None of this is pleasant. Reading the f...

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

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The Mary Davis Home - Part 2

None of these pictures were taken by me, they came right from the MDH website. I am posting these so that friends who have never seen inside where I worked can gain access. After 27 years I have many stories, tales and acquaintances. But, I wouldn't know how to express them appropriately in a few paragraphs. I enjoyed 98% of my stay there and hope I made a difference in the lives of a fraction of the kids who entered. The original MDH at this site was just the front part. The large red-roofed area in back was added on in the 90's. This is the Jerry Carlton library. It was unofficially named after one of the counselors who truly loved the place. He passed away around 2002, I think. Mr. Farber looks like he is explaining a few things to a client. The classroom. Activity area with the gym behind the windows. Another shot of the classroom. It was a little different area to teach since we had 2 classes and 2 teachers i...

Existing In BFE

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