|
SPECIAL NOTE FROM
GREG:
As I share this
piece of entertainment that my former mentor has provided to us all, I feel the
need to share something else about Mr. Bell. The case can easily be made that I
would not be anywhere the person I am (whomever or whatever that may be) if it
were not for the personal sacrifice Joe made to a group of seven young adults
some 20+ years ago. As the class loudmouth, I was chosen to give the class
speech at the graduation ceremony, which included a Paramedic class and an LPN
class. Although no written or audio transcript of that speech exists, I would
like to share with you, to the best of my recollection, the words I spoke to the
crowd of 300 or so people on that night in December of 1981. I hope you enjoy
reading it as much as I enjoyed recalling it.
“Thank you Mrs. Rea, thank you ladies and gentlemen. My name is Greg Wray, and I
was chosen to give this speech not because I was the best liked person in the
class, nor was it because I had the best grades in the class. I was selected to
speak to you all because I have the only voice loud enough to make it to the
back of the room. Anyway, when I was asked to make this speech, I first
considered a diary of our year together, but I was afraid that it would only be
of interest to the seven of us. I then considered telling a “funny” story about
each member of the class, but I decided I didn’t want to lose the 1 or 2 friends
I had left. So I decided I would talk to you all about how it was we came to be
here tonight.”
“When we started out in this program, we were under the guidance of Sister
Esther Nickel. We all liked Sister Esther, and she was doing a wonderful job of
teaching us. Then suddenly, without warning, she announced to us that she had
resigned, for reasons that remain unclear to us to this day.”
“So there we were, a program without an instructor. Needless to say, we
were all worried. There was even talk of shutting down the program. But the fine
people seated behind me here, President Gillespie and Mrs. Rae, beat the
pavement to try and find a worthy substitute to Sister Esther. Who they came up
with is the man seated to my right, Mr. Joseph Bell. Joe took over and, at least
in my opinion, not only did as good a job as Sister Esther, but exceeded her in
every way.”
“I will never forget how Joe came and rescued us, not knowing if this job would
last for any more than nine months. In fact, the program has now been shut down
due to lack of funding, and Joe will be going to Colorado for his next job. So I
want to take this final opportunity to say, in front of all of you behind me,
and all of you out there, THANK YOU, Joe Bell.”
These words mean
as much to me today as they did 20 years ago.
Joe, I owe you a
debt that I can never possibly repay. Thanks, you’re best.
Greg |
