busconews.com

by Bob Smith

Hi there.

I got sick of the back pain, and decided to have my back fixed - so I took time off from writing gardening stuff.  Then my operation - but not the pain -was postponed until this week.  Last week I spoke to the "Pheresis” (a Greek word, meaning taking from the blood) donors, at the annual dinner given by the Fort Wayne Red Cross, to about 580 donors annually, and I prepared and gave this, which I would like to share with you. The winner of the Crocus bulbs, which have not been delivered to me yet, was decided to be Bob Egolf, of EGOLF'S I.G.A. store, whom most of you know, respect, and appreciate.

Good Afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen,

My name is Bob Smith, although my favorite nurse at Parkview Whitley calls me “LOUD BOB.” I grew up in Pennsylvania, on a small family farm. We didn’t have electricity delivered to our house until the mid 1930’s. My mother had met my father when they were both students, attending Cornell.  She was a nurse.  My Dad loved, and was good at, farming, with a team of horses and horse drawn tools. We didn’t have electricity delivered to our house until the mid 1930’s.

His father’s last name was Dunshee, and he was born in Scotland, but when Dad’s parents died in New York State, he was raised by his grandparents, and Dad changed his last name to theirs to honor them. I remember riding to town and then back in the early 1930’s, in our wagon, pulled by our own team of horses,  to buy a new walking plow, that cost $6.00 – less than a good garden hoe costs, today.

He was proud of his Scotch ancestry, as am I, and always tried to help neighbors and church members who needed help.  When Judy came into my life, she had already donated about a barrel of blood to the Red Cross in Michigan, and we soon started donating blood at a church in Columbia City.  One day Alice Stiffner, one of the most caring people we know, and who many of you know, came to the church, informing about, and recruiting, Pheresis donors.  When we learned we could donate more frequently, almost certainly helping more people, we started donating platelets, and we think it is a grand service to perform, and a great gift to give.

I was, and still am, big for my age.  When I graduated from high school, I was valedictorian of my class, but I must also tell you that it was a small school, and I was the only graduate that year.  I graduated from Cornell, have been a government economist, and a professional wrestler.  Before one match, in Minot, North Dakota, I was sharing a dressing room with another wrestler, from Turkey, who spoke English with a strong accent.  He said, “Dey tol’ me you work guvmint!  Dat true, you work guvmint?”  I said, “Yes, I do, I am an agricultural economist.”

He said, “Vot choo make, work govmint?”  I said, “$5,265”.  He said, “A MONTH? Dat not BAD”!  That ended our conversation.

I have been a Marine – I was too big to enlist as a 17- year-old, but the recruiter told me I could go up three long flights of stairs in the Wichita Post Office, go into the Draft Board, tell them I was 18 today and volunteer to be drafted, and he would see that I got into the Marines. I did as he said, but when the Draft Board lady asked when I was born, all I could answer, was “18 years ago today!” And it worked - I was drafted, bussed to Fort Leavenworth, went through several examination lines, until one doctor, while measuring me, said, “Are you that kid that wants to get into the Marines?” I said, “Sir, I am no kid – I have been drafted, but I do want to be a Marine!”

Fortunately, the Marine infantry management did not like big guys in tight combat positions, because they are too easy a target to shoot at, and too difficult, if shot, to get to a hospital! So I spent my time cooking and driving ambulances, and never killed, fired a shot at, nor even drove over, an enemy. After World War II, I completed my Cornell days, then failed at many jobs, finally declaring, “If you want me to be a failure, I will become the biggest failure that ever lived.” But I even failed at that, as well!  Judy has a much higher platelet count than I, and I have only one good vein in my left arm, so she usually donates double or triple donations to my one single, and I only get one band aid and one elastic arm wrap!  But we enjoy donating, the Red Cross Staff Members, and the many other donors.

I have enjoyed my life, and donating platelets is one of the things both Judy and I enjoy a lot.  Since I am both Scotch and an economist, I would like to point out to you, in case you don’t realize, REMEMBER!! – we are treated like royalty, welcomed warmly, given food and drink after donating, given a banquet like this annually, with great entertainment – all without paying a cent – and not even having to leave a tip!

I hope you will all share the pleasures you get from donating platelets with your friends, and maybe arrange their first donation with your next one, and offer them a ride with you to your next, and - their first donation.