Thank You, Durwood, Wherever You Are!

When I came to the big company in 1969 it was still trying to digest a much larger company it had just purchased. That company was located in Shreveport, Louisiana, and the people there were certainly not excited about leaving that place for a growing metropolitan city in Texas. Because the company in Shreveport was much more advanced in the use of computing many of their data processing people became leaders in the merged operations. Many of the downline folks were given relocation assistance and transferred into the metro area.

One of these people was a computer operations shift leader by the name of Durwood. He was a native Louisianian and moved under protest but settled in and made the best of it. He and a few other guys used to car pool with me when they were available. I worked straight days and they rotated shifts so I got a new crew every few weeks. I’ll never forget the first time I met Durwood. The fellow introducing us told Durwood we should have something in common since I was from Louisiana also. Durwood asked me what town I was from. I told him Hornbeck. He said, “What’s that, a disease?”

Since most of us were young and had young families we used to park about ten blocks away from our workplace. It didn’t cost anything to park there but it was quite a jaunt to our building through some pretty rough neighborhoods. Most of the time we had a pretty good group so we had the safety that comes in numbers and the price was exactly what we needed to pay for parking. I did park in that same place more than once and worked until midnight and my walks to my car in the middle of the night produced a few memorable stories on their own. I’ll save those for another day.

I mentioned in an earlier blog about how I used to get myself all stirred up on my way into work anticipating the day’s schedule and events. The closer I got to our building it was the more focused I was on what I had to do that day. On more than one occasion I was preoccupied to the extent that I wasn’t watching where I was going and either fell because I stepped into a hole or ran into an unsuspecting soul. These were bad enough but it could have been worse, much worse. One very bad habit I had was whenever we would come to a traffic signal and I would be in deep thought and when the signal turned green, I would dart out into the street. While that sounds okay, it’s not if the signal turned green was the wrong light for through traffic instead of for you to walk. I did this more than once and was fortunate to only have people blow their horns at me.

One day several of us were walking from our parking area. I was doing my thinking deal and probably beginning to be mesmerized by all I had to do that day whenever we came to a major intersection. I am sure I was still moving as we waited and I anticipated the green light and when it changed I took off. Suddenly, a bus anticipating the same light which was his light, not mine, accelerated and brushed my tie and stomach as it whizzed by. I had been jerked back from sure death by Durwood. I’ve been in a number of accidents where I could have died. I’ve been injured a time or two. But, this is the one and only time where I knew for sure that a particular individual saved my life. That day my legs went weak and I nearly fainted. I was probably more careful after that, at least for a while.

About six months later Durwood was in a horrible accident on his way home from work. A driver in the middle of the night ran through an intersection and broadsided Durwood at over 80 miles per hour. Durwood was mangled. He survived and made what many said was a miraculous recovery. His accident left him permanently damaged, his anatomy completely rearranged, and with health issues that would be with him forever. Our company found a spot for Durwood in a technical support area and he came back and the last I knew many years ago he was still chugging along.

Thirty five years later I still think about Durwood. He didn’t want to come to the big city but he did. He didn’t want to live in an apartment until he could find a house but he did. He didn’t want to park 10 blocks away when before he was able to park near the entrance door in Shreveport. God had a plan for Durwood’s life and on a very eventful day his life touched mine in a split second early one morning. I’m thankful that Durwood was there that day to reach out and grab me and pull me back. Thank God, and thank you Durwood, wherever you are. More later……………..