In my lifetime so far, I have come across a lot of people who have made an impression on me. In my early school days at Kokomo High School, I like many others, were able to meet and learn from a teacher, coach, and friend by the name of  Joe Platt.  Mr Platt was the coach of the Kokomo Wildkats and he did the job well. He was a man who did his teaching in the practice gym and then he watched and graded his players while they did thier job on the floor. Mr. Platt was a very sensitive man with compassion for all those around him. I met his wife the other day in the doctor's office, and we were able to talk for a few minutes about her late husband. I told her that Joe was a credit to the game of basketball and a great person all around. Mr. Joe Platt was and still is an inspiration to me.

Another man who made an impression on me, was Don Trobaugh. He had an insurance office across from Central School and he was a fine man who loved his fellow man and he was and still is a fine person to know. Don never knew an enemy that I know of, and at one time he owned just about the whole block where his home still is and where the Post Office stands now. To the left of his home there used to be the Packard dealership, which is gone now but still in my and others memories. Many times we sat on the steps of his home and office while waiting for the school bell to ring. He is up there in the nineties, but still very aware of everything going on around him. I am very proud to call him an inspiration as well as a friend.
 
A man known all over Kokomo for his dedication to youth baseball was Wesley Byars, known to most of us as "Circus John" Here was a man who had nothing but still had a lot. His love for the youth and for baseball was overwhelming, and a lot of fine men in this county played under the watchfull eye of "Circus John". "Old Circ" knew what it took to wake the youth up and to get them to do something with thier lives. He was a honest man who wasn't afraid to ask for donations to further the education of his players. There were many business men in this city that took the call of "Circus John" and helped the progress of the youth of the day. I really feel that knowing this man helped me as well as many of our leaders of today.

There are many more people that I could name that impressed me in my younger days in Kokomo, but when we moved out to New London in 1953, I was able to meet more people that have left an interlasting impression on me. I started at Western High School and that is where I met a man who to this day has impressed me, and that my friends, is Mr Richard R Rea. He was the principal there and he was a  man of dedication, compassion, authority, and love for his fellow man. There were times while I was there that he sat me down and told me what he expected out of me and out of all the students under him. Here was a man that you learned to love , respect and follow. We still see Mr. Rea at our class dinners and he is an author of a book about his days at Western and in Howard County.

And so as I speak and write about those fine men , who along with my parents, made a lasting impression on me, I think back to the other day when I met and talked to a man who has no home, and no way of getting around because he has no car, only the clothes on his back and in a battered suitcase. He asked for a handout and I gave him a couple of dollars, and he said that was enough to get him by until his next stop . I asked him where he was from and where he was going and his answer to both was that he didn't know. He said that a few years ago he was working and everything was fine with his wife and kids, but suddenly everything started falling apart. He drank himself out of a job and his wife divorced him and left with the kids and he hasn't heard from them since. He said that he was tired of being only a number in the system and he gave up on life and started walking to where-ever his legs and feet will take him.

I asked him if he tried to find help and he said the Missions in the towns that he went through always had thier doors open and they gave him a bed and warm food. He said that he did not want to stay in any one place too long, because he didn't want to burden anyone , and he didn't want anyone to try and change him. He told me that people like myself are willing to help with a few dollars, and not ask too many questions. I told him that I don't usually give to people that don't deserve it but that something told me that this poor man had a reason for being there at that particular spot, and that I was happy that he took the time to talk with me. I gave him my card and I told that someday he will wake up to a bright sunny day and he will be ready to walk a different road. He thanked me and he walked away. He never told me his name and I didn't ask for it. Will I ever see this man again? I probaly won't, but,  something in my heart says that this man will suddenly turn his life around and he will find his family and he will find peace in this land. That , my friends is what I call faith in my fellow man. Also the other day, while working in the store, I was talking to a friend that had cancer and he was saying that he was going to have some radiation done and I told him to keep a positive outlook and he will be fine. I then went to the next customer and said that I was just talking to a man about his cancer. It turned out that the customer also was going through a bout with cancer and that the doctors told him that God was looking out for him. I feel that The Great Father sent both of these men to me not only to help them but to help myself. Both of these men are in my prayers each night to get well and be able to go on with an abundant life.

No river is too deep to swim, no mountain is too high to climb, and no cause is too great to further. You have got to find those people that will make an impression on you so great that it will cause you to go that one more step in life so that you can impress someone else. It is a shame that things happen to people that changes the road they are traveling on, but it is a bigger shame for that person not to try and continue on his original path. To meet a detour only means that you either move it or go around it . To stop because something is holding you back, is to say that it wasn't worthwhile in the first place.

So to end our little visit today, let us start with this as our beginning, and nothing as our ending. In other words there is always a beginning to anything. Whether we want an ending depends on us alone. There are many paths for us to travel on , and there always will be something or someone who will try to change our path, but it is only up to us to decide which path to follow. Walk aside me and we will talk. Walk behind me and I will lead. Walk in front of me and I will follow, but only if it is the path that I want to travel. It was nice to once again visit with all of you. Continue to pray for me to give me strength and wisdom to write these articles of love. Take care my friends and look for my next writing.