Published: April 24, 2009 11:34 pm      

DAY: Leaving a legacy

While at a funeral of a member of our family, a nice couple came up to me and asked if I was the one who wrote columns for the Tribune. I told the gentleman, yes, and he said he reads all of them, and that made me feel good.

While talking with him, he said he never looks at the outside of a person but instead sees the beauty from within. He said he has never seen an ugly person, and he can tell about a person just by listening to them talk.

Here was a man about my age, with a beautiful wife, who was instrumental in me writing this particular column.

There are a lot of people who only see the outside of a person and never have the chance to see what’s inside a person’s heart and soul. I liked this man and woman as soon as they came up to me, because I saw two people who really care about others.

Sometimes you have to sit down and talk together to find out that you have very similar views. And that’s what I will venture on today.

Take your father and mother, for example. In them you found love, and you found experience of life that prepared you for today and tomorrow. I have known in my space of time many people who left an imprint on my soul. Many of them have gone Home. But what they left as their legacy still leaves a mark in the happenings of today.

Grandpa Harrington, who lived past 100 years of age, was very sincere in his thoughts that we need to do what is right and never do what is wrong. He was a small man in stature, but he had a heart of gold. Whenever you talked with him, you came away with good thoughts.

Lee Walters was my principal at Willard School. Here was a man dedicated to making sure the children of his school were taught with all the resources available. And he was respected by all his teachers and students.

Heber Parks was another one of those men who lived after his 100th birthday. I only knew him a little while, but he was a man who only spoke with a sincere message to all – and that was to make as much out of life as you can and to live a clean life. His son, Gene, was one of my teachers.

Of course there was Joe Platt, who was our basketball coach, as well as in other sports. Joe was my health teacher, gym teacher, and I wish I had been good enough to play for him. When Mr. Platt talked, he wanted you to remember everything he said.

I remember one day when in class, he said to not forget a thing because a test was coming up and the more we remembered, the faster that test would go. And when Joe was in the gym showing his team what he wanted them to do, the players knew that the test was going to be out there on the floor with another team.

Many times, the fans could look over at the bench and Joe’s head was down. He caught some flak from that, but you had to understand the man. He expected those players on the floor to take charge and represent the whole coaching staff on the bench.

All of these fine gentlemen, while they were here on this earth, played a very vital part in leaving a legacy for those who followed them. We have many men and women still living who are doing their part to carry on that legacy. What they do today leaves a legacy for those who follow. I hope that what I do today plays a part in the next generation, and I hope that you out there do too.

Wouldn’t it be nice to know that you left your mark in history? You wonder how you can, and that is to live your life with a purpose and with sincerity.

Ray “Uncle Ray” Day is a weekly contributor to the Kokomo Tribune. Contact him at (765) 457-3819 or uncleray@earthlink.net.