Who are Your Heroes?

Mulcogi,

Quite an array. In addition to the importance of family heroes, I'm learning a lot about the multiciplicity of heroes who impact our lives.

Sam

Sam

Thing is in a small community like ours we are almost all related in some way shape or form. At least it seemed that way when I was a kid. Didn't have to go back a lot of generations to find a connection.

beat

Being one of the only female writers here, it is a little different for me to express who my "heroine" was. She was my Mother In Law. She raised five boys while suffering from polio. After she came home from the hospital spending time in an iron lung, she ended up pregnant with my sister in law. She was never able to walk again after she got polio, travelled around a large old house going up and down the stairs on her backside. She did her own laundry, cooking, cleaning and mothering. When one of her son's was 21 he was in a car accident which left him paralyzed from the neck down. She spent weeks and months going in and out of the hospital with my father in law visiting him. The first time I saw him after his accident, I was 19 years old and he was in a stryker frame. I thought I would die. but she just kept on being the wonderful mother that she was and eventually they took him home to live with them. Not having a ton of money, they still put their large house up for sale and bought a house with a bedroom on the first floor for him. They both took such good care of him, my husband was discharged from the Air Force to help them out (Thanks to Ted Kennedy), and then tragically my Father In Law died at 48. She still chugged on.

A few years later she buried a son at 36 and a son at 38, her twin sister,
and my husband had a major heart attack. She just accepted things as they were and lived life as if tomorrow could be the last day.

I will forever be encouraged by her will to live and yet her acceptance of
death when it came to her. She was such an inspiration to her whole family. How many of us could say we could live through so much and still keep on living and laughing. God made one special lady when he made her.
So, she has helped me through some of the toughest times of my life, even when she wasn't even trying.

If I were to pick a sports figure, I probably would pick John Havlicek, he has lived his life as though he will be here forever. He is an inspiration to me and always has been, as has Ray Allen. (I think you all know that about me)

So, enough said by the female entry to this topic! Good one to get everyone going Sam!!!

Wonderful recollection Rosalie. One can only hope that all the heroes and heroines discussed in this thread have had occasion to know how much they are or were appreciated. Sometimes we can take a lot of things for granted until it's too late, and it's really important to express appreciation without embarrassment whenever we can.

Sam

Rosalie,

Your Mother-in-law/heroine may have set a standard for "tough".

Thanks for sharing her inspirational story.

Regards

I have the utmost regard for Cynthia Cooper the current women's coach at Prarie View and former WNBA legend. She deserves as much respect as any male player ever. In 1999, she had to care for her Mom who was dying of cancer, and teammate Kim Perrot who was the point guard for the Comets first 2 championship teams. Coop would have to look after nieces and nephews she was raising for syblings undergoing drug and personal problems that precluded their responsibilities in those areas. She would fly off to be with Kim as she got treatment outside the U.S., come home in time to get the children off to school, go to practice, or play in league games playing at a Finals MVP level while leading Houston to its' 3rd WNBA title. Cynthia won an ESPY that year as Female Basketball (should have been athlete) Player of the year. With all that was on her plate, I doubt any man could have coped with all those obligations, all done out of family love and Christian respect. Cynthia and her husband Bryan Dyke are proud parents of twins Bryan & Cian, now 6 yrs old. Bryan is Kenyan Martin's agent! Cynthia Cooper guaranteed to Raise the Roof!

MD,

I think many of us (myself included) have found it far too easy to give short shrift to women's basketball. Cynthia is obviously an example of why the distaff side of the sport must be taken very seriously; and Cynthia herself is an inspiration to anybody.

Thanks for submitting this.

Sam

Roberto Clemente in the Sports genre.

Debbie Reynolds in the Entertainment field....a gracious Lady indeed.

Jerry Brown in the Political arena.

We can never have enough heroes !

Jerry,

Good choices. Clemente, in particular, flies far below the radar than he ought to as a humanitarian and role model.

I started this thread because I realize that much of my life has been molded by heroes. Unfortunately, most of them are not still around; but that doesn't make them any less inspirational to this day as far as I'm concerned.

And the cool thing is that virtually all of them were selected for their humanistic qualities rather than simply for success in their given fields.

Sam