By BUD KENNEDY
bud@star-telegram.com
The family of Mary Ann Morgan Gracey gathered last month to say goodbye to a sister and mother, gone at 81 after a lifetime of working with children as a teacher and language therapist in Fort Worth.
Along the way, her relatives found a boy — a complete stranger — who reminded them why we find hope in every child.
Mike Elsey, 11, was out for a bike ride that day.
Like every day, he was riding to his grandparents’ house in the Westcliff neighborhood.
He saw the Gracey and Morgan families getting into funeral home limousines to go to the funeral. So he stopped his bike and stood at attention until the limousines pulled away.
That’s not all.
"I got to my grandparents’ house and was thinking about that family," Mike Elsey said Friday. "They waved at me. I just wanted to let them know somebody cared."
When the families returned from the cemetery, they found a note under the doormat.
"I am very sorry," it read in a sixth-grader’s scrawl. "I am shure" — his spelling — "that your family member is happy and at peace. Your friend Mike Elsey the bike rider."
Fort Worth stockbroker Cecil Morgan, 78, lost his sister.
He said the family was "astounded" to find the boy’s note.
"We read it aloud," he said. "It just touched everybody’s heart."
Mary Ann Gracey, the widow of Fort Worth attorney Joe Gracey, taught for 20 years as a language therapist at the Key School for children with learning disabilities.
Nobody in the family remembered anyone named Elsey. Nobody knew where to contact Mike.
Then, a few days ago, the
Star-Telegram happened to interview an Elsey family concerned about the run-down condition of Pecan Valley Park near Benbrook.
Sherie Elsey, the mother, mentioned that she couldn’t take her three children there anymore — including a boy named Mike Elsey.
Mike Elsey Sr. returned my phone call.
The news of his son’s note "was a complete surprise to us," he said. His son had never told him about seeing the funeral cars or leaving the note.
(Or about borrowing his dad’s bigger Trek bike.)
Mike Jr. goes to Christian Life Preparatory School in south Fort Worth. He said he wants to go to Texas Christian University and then become an FBI agent.
"I remember losing my great-grandfather and stuff," he said in the typical lingo of an 11-year-old. ("Almost 12!")
"I’ve gone to funerals," he said. "I understood how it felt."
Cecil Morgan said the family was thrilled not only to read the note but also to see that Mike Elsey would stand at attention for a sister, mother and teacher he never knew.
"It warmed our hearts to see a young person show such respect," he said.
Mike’s dad said it’s OK if he borrows the bike.
Bud Kennedy’s column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 817-390-7538 Twitter @budkennedy
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