The Everyday Hero

What is an everyday hero?We all know one.Many of us are one.An everyday hero is one who acts nobly and charitably, unselfishly, every day, without regard to whether anyone will notice it or not.The everyday hero does this because it’s part of his/her character.They don’t expect praise or payment or even gratitude.They act out of true desire to do what is right.

Last week, while on a trip to the area where I lived for thirty years, I was watching the local news, or rather it was on in the background in the hotel room.The reporter was talking about a man missing in the San Bernardino Mountains, near Big Bear.I registered the headline just slightly then the reporter said the man’s name was Dean Christy and I gasped, my head jerking to see the picture on the TV.There he was.Dean Christy.A man I knew and admired and considered myself lucky to have known.I followed the story over the next week, hoping he would be found by the hundreds of searchers out looking for him.Ten days after he ventured into the snow to take an afternoon walk, the search was changed from an active one to a passive one; from one of rescue to one of recovery.

I cannot tell you how this has rocked my every day thoughts and life.This should not ever have happened.Yet it did.We won’t ever know why, but perhaps the best answer is that it happened so that Dean could teach us all just one more lesson.

Let me tell you about Dean Christy.I met him when my son was in first grade and Dean taught fifth grade at his school.He brought some wonderful ideas to the school, ideas that were adopted and are still used now, nearly twenty years later.Then many years later, I ran into him again, this time as a colleague when I started working at Edison Elementary School in Glendale, California.He was no longer in the classroom but instead was a teacher specialist, a job that was perfect for him.Dean was a man who loved to help people and aimed to do everything he could to give the rest of us teachers what we needed to do our job and students what they needed to do the learning they needed to do.He was always there with a friendly smile, an encouraging word, a humorous anecdote, a consoling shoulder, or anything that was needed.He had a way of listening to everyone and filing it away for the future.When you least expected it, there was Dean with the answer to someone’s need or question.

I remember when I first started working at that school site.I didn’t have a desk.Apparently, there were none available at the school and the district said they could order one for me but it would take months to arrive.I was advised to either do without one or to buy my own and bring it to my classroom.I’m not good at using just a table top so I really needed a desk.I decided I would go out and buy one on the first weekend.A couple of days later, Dean came into the room and said he had searched every room in the school and had found a desk for me.He said it was an older one that no one seemed to want.Did I want it?Yes!I didn’t care what it looked like.I only care that it had drawers and a nice writing surface.In no time he lugged it into my room himself because the work order meant it wouldn’t be done for another couple of weeks.

Textbooks appeared out of no where because Dean had searched every nook and cranny in the school, even after everyone said there were none to be found.Chairs, maps, globes, computers, they all appeared out of no where, thanks to Dean’s persistence to get us what we needed.It wasn’t strange to see Dean bring in things he had paid for out of his own pocket because we needed them and the district would not provide them (or would but not in a timely manner).Dean was the man to see when anything was needed.No request was too big or un-doable for Dean.

When we had bridal or baby showers, it was not uncommon to see Dean as the only male sitting with all the women, drinking punch out of a dainty flowery cup or dabbing at his moustache with a pink napkin!Always a smile on his face, a twinkle in his eye, and a bounce to his step, Dean made our day brighter by being there and rooting for every teacher and every student.And I mean EVERY.

One of the things I remember was how much he missed being in the classroom.From time to time, he’d come in and substitute for me when I had to run to a conference or a meeting.He always captivated the students’ imaginations and minds, returning them to me in a much better state than when I had left them. When my third graders celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday, I invited some of the administrators and support staff to come read their favorite book to my class.Dean was the first to accept.He arrived, book in hand, with an ear to ear smile.He was tickled to have been invited to come share his favorite book and share he did!He read to them but more than that, he talked to them and engaged them in an animated conversation.When he left, he thanked me for inviting him.With wet eyes, he told me how much he missed being in the classroom daily and how he had been made to feel a part of my class that day.I won’t forget that.

Dean was an adventurer.He lived life.As a young man, he went off to fight in Viet Nam, returned to his native southern California and began his teaching career of over thirty years.Aside from teaching, he loved the outdoors and hiking and camping.He loved teaching others to hike and leading scout and student groups into the mountains.

Dean was an everyday hero to many people.One of the things that set him apart was that he did things willingly and, often, of his own volition, without being asked to do them.

What lesson has Dean taught me and others through his final walk in the lakeside mountains that he loved?I think the lesson is to go out and do what you want and what you love to do.There is always danger in everything we do if we choose to see it that way, but if we choose, we can overlook the dangers and go out and enjoy life, regardless of what it has in store for us.If that means hiking in the mountains, so be it.If that means doing what we can for others, so be it.If that means being a model citizen, friend, and mentor, all the better!

So today, instead of staying in bed thinking about the loss the world has suffered, I choose to get up and get out and live my life.I will remember Dean and I will think of him many times today and on many other days.I will honor his memory and his life by smiling at strangers, trying to make life easy for those I meet and living my life as best I can.

Dean, thank you for being a part of my life and for teaching me as you taught so many others. You will not be forgotten.

Photo of Dean at a family reunion in 2005. Taken by a Christy family member.