By Bob Ray Sanders
bobray@star-telegram.com
Now that Christmas Day is over, I want to introduce you to someone who has represented the spirit of that holiday for decades, and not just at Christmastime.
First, though, let me tell you about a 44-year-old woman who cleans houses for a living. I met her after one of her employers called the newspaper wanting to know how she could submit a "Jeer" for our Cheers and Jeers column.
I returned that call and learned that a woman's apartment had been burglarized Dec. 10. The thieves took almost everything of value -- jewelry, television and computer as well as tax returns with her Social Security number.
The woman who was victimized told me that even before the burglary she was looking for another place to live, larger than her one-bedroom apartment, because the Friday after Thanksgiving she had taken in three family members: her daughter, who was fleeing an abusive husband, and her two young children. This grandmother was robbed while she was taking those 6- and 7-year-old grandchildren to school.
I later found out that the stolen computer was her connection to a 22-year-old son recently deployed to Afghanistan.
"They wiped me out," she said. "To be honest, I feel like I've been raped."
Her story came at a good time because I was able to give $350 cash to her -- certainly not enough to provide for all her needs, but perhaps enough to pay the deposit on the electricity and gas for the house she was moving into, help buy a used refrigerator or buy Christmas gifts for those young grandchildren.
Lest you think I'm bragging about something I did, the money was not mine. It was from a man who just a few weeks earlier had summoned me to his west-side business and asked me to help him identify a few people or organizations that "could use a little money." He had allocated $1,500 to be given away at my discretion.
This 83-year-old Fort Worth man and his late wife have always given to people they knew needed some assistance, he says, because there was always someone willing to help him when he was a boy and as a young married man who was struggling to make ends meet.
A few years ago, after I wrote about a teacher in need, he had called with an offer of financial aid and wanted me to make the delivery.
Among other recipients of cash donations this month from this generous man are two small Fort Worth churches that were helping people in their communities; a woman who needed money to bury her son; a single father who's also helping take care of a terminally ill brother and was behind on his rent; and a grandmother caring for kids whose father is in jail.
Everyone who received the unexpected money, whether $100 or $350, was most grateful and almost in disbelief that a stranger had blessed them so.
This obviously is a unique man whose story I'll tell in detail one day.
I can tell you he was raised in New York by his Italian immigrant grandfather after his father left the family. At age 12, he went to work as a caddy for 35 cents a day.
In 1947, he joined the Air Force, where he and a buddy from Dallas were assigned to the Weather Wing and chose to come to Carswell Air Force Base, where the friend would be close to home. Here he met his wife, who for years was involved in many civic activities and loved music and pink roses.
At 83, this gentleman still goes to the office every day, including Saturdays and Sundays.
There's one other thing he does every Sunday: For the 14 years since his wife's death, he drives to her grave on Sunday mornings, turns the music on in the car, places a dozen pink roses at the grave and talks to the love of his life.
Bob Ray Sanders' column appears Sundays and Wednesdays.817-390-7775Twitter: @BobRaySanders
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