A Stranger Helps To Honor A Late Husband
Wednesday - March 10, 2010
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Del.icio.usAloha,
Pamela, It was so nice of this gentleman who came to my assistance at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl when I needed help.
For many years, I have gone up there weekly visiting and laying flowers for my husband, where he is laid to rest. As time marches on, it is getting harder for me to visit my husband, being handicapped. My husband is a distance away from the roadway and there is an incline up a slope.
Mr. Earl Root, a security officer at Punchbowl, noticed I was in trouble. I couldn’t bend down well, so he came to help me, making sure I had water to fill the vase, and he carried away the old, dried flowers for dumping into the rubbish container, which was pretty far away. I am most grateful for all the help he gave me. That’s the aloha spirit in him. Mahalo nui loa, Mr. Root. We certainly need more individuals like you.
Lehua McColgan
Kaimuki
Dear Lehua,
Earl Root works for Hana Security, a private company contracted for security at Punchbowl. “We have a good rapport with this company, especially because they hire mostly veterans,” says Gene Castagnetti, director of the National Cemetery of the Pacific. “In the performance of their duties, these employees have shown a compassion in their work, putting veterans first. And that translates to assisting the widows or family members whose loved ones are interred in this national shrine. We appreciate the visitors who come here. The national cemetery is for the living. The abundance of visitors we have, who come to celebrate and pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of our servicemen and women, speaks volumes of our national character.”
Dear Pamela,
I had a flat tire and struggled to change the tire on my own. Then, like an angel, a teenager named Chung appeared across the street. Even though he was dressed in his school clothes and ready to go to school, he asked me if I needed help. In an embarrassed tone of voice, I answered “Yes.” He jacked up the car. Then my friend Lenny showed up with a hand pump in hopes of inflating the tire. Even though it did not work, I was gratified to have him there. Chung’s father showed up, took off the tire and reached for the spare tire, which was also flat. At that time, a lady named Cheryl Price showed up offering to take the spare tire home and inflate it with her husband’s compressor. When she and her husband returned with the inflated spare tire, Mr. Chung installed it so that I could get home. Then Mr. Price took the flat tire to his shop in Wahiawa to fix it. The Prices own Fastlube shops in Wahiawa, Waipio and Kapolei. It was evident that they do their job well and they are all about service. Later that morning, Mr. Price delivered and installed the fixed flat tire.
Never in my wildest dreams did I expect five such beautiful “angels” to come to my rescue, even though they were very busy with their own lives. To experience such generosity changes a man, and I am definitely a changed man. I plan to pay it forward to someone else.
Baldwin Miyake
Mililani
Dear Baldwin,
Chris Price of Fastlube Flagship says his wife, Cheryl, is responsible. “She has done this several times. She’ll run across someone who needs assistance, calls me and asks, ‘How can we help?‘She was dropping off our daughter at school when she saw Mr. Miyake. This is what service is all about.”
(If you know someone who deserves some Applause, send your letters to Pamela Young, MidWeek Applause, KITV, 801 S. King St., Honolulu, HI, 96813 or e-mail pyoung@kitv.com. Include your name, phone number and, if possible, the phone number of your “applaudee” so we can contact him or her.)
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