Introducing...*drumroll*... Bob Stanley!
Your average joe who has well spent his life!
I was lucky enough to get a personal session learning from Mr. Stanley, a pro photog. He once got to spend two days photographing Brett Favre.
(I'm a Bears fan, but I admire Favre.)
Favre's words to everyone were, "This guy works fast so everyone do what he says." Favre and Stanley respected each other and worked well together.
Stanley came to a retreat here and noticed me taking pictures. He told me I was holding my camera wrong.
When I sat down to hear what he had to say, he was off to the races! He's 80-years-old or so and doesn't often get opportunities to tell his story so I was his audience. He returned upon request several weeks later for a one-day tutoring session. We talked about composition and camera settings, lighting and landscapes, and his life.
He told me how sixty years ago he married his wife, Ella Jane, and they went to Europe. He wanted to bring pictures home to show his friends so he bought his first camera,
a Polaroid, I think.
...and the professional photographer was born!
He would go on to be...
a pro photog,
a professor,
and a hobbyist.
He would start several photography clubs
and spend time giving personal sessions to budding photogs. (like me)
But his story that sunk down deep was one he told about a chance meeting.
And Kalamazoo, MI has no clue what part he played or what they owe him.
A wealthy couple invited him and his wife to dinner. At the meal, he was concerned about knowing how to act at a formal dinner. His wife, Ella Jane, had told him, "Just do what I do." But when they were seated, he was placed beside the hostess and his wife was further down the table. The sympathetic hostess noticed his dilemma and told him, "Stanley, just go ahead and use whichever silverware you like. Did you see the pile of newspapers near the front door? We leave those there so people will feel comfortable when they come to our home."
As the meal progressed, he told the hostess about the school their church was building. The newspaper had recently done an article on the Christian highschool's construction compared to the public highschool's new construction. The hostess asked how the church board could pay so little for a nice building. The public school costs were much higher. He answered, "We can only spend what we have." She admired the board's attitude and remarked how she wished the city would see things that way.
Some time after the dinner, Stanley received a phone call. It was the hostess and she wanted to get in touch with the board. One thing led to another and she sponsored the construction of several softball fields and, a year later, several tennis courts. She paid to have them built on the condition that the town would be free to use them for community leagues in the summer when the school wasn't using them. The town would also provide the maintenance of the grounds...which they have done to this day!
He finished his story by saying, "To this day nobody would ever guess that those courts were a result of that fancy dinner when I didn't know which fork to use."
NOBODY would ever know...
Nobody would ever know...
Nobody...
Your life is touching people all around you. Although you can't determine the current, you can decide what boats of character to launch, and you never know where the results may end up.
*Names have been changed for the privacy of individuals and their families.
