Continuing A Legacy
Date: November 22, 2004

For more years than I can remember, I’ve known to expect
a telephone call from Stanley Payne this time of year.

I say a phone call; I should say many phone calls.

The Christmas Spirit usually hit Stanley early in November and evidently sat on his shoulder for the next two months, making him as anxious as a sprinter at the start line. His calls were always the same. He wanted names of needy families because he wanted to match them to departments at Floyd who wanted to help them.

Stanley would always push me and say, “I need them tomorrow. I need them tomorrow.” I would say, “Stanley, I don’t even have them yet,” but he couldn’t wait to get started.

Lord only knows how many people were helped, how much money was spent or how many toys were wrapped over the years, but I feel safe in saying thousands of dollars were spent on hundreds of families over those years.

I could tell you a hundred stories about Stanley’s generosity. There was the year he heard about a family out in Coosa that didn’t have any heat. It was real cold, and Stanley got some people together. It was about midnight, but he got those people heat.

You know, Stanley would not buy his family anything for Christmas until Christmas Eve. That is when he would do all his shopping. He and I talked a good bit during the Christmas season, and I would say, “Stanley, I can’t believe you wait until Christmas Eve to do all your shopping.” He’d say, “ Man, that’s when I love it. That’s when I get the most enjoyment out of it.”

Stanley died in October. So, this year, I didn’t get a telephone call from Stanley, but I did get one from Bill Fortenberry in the Public Relations Department at Floyd.

He said departments were calling his department to ask about helping families, that he knew Stanley got his list of names from me, and he wondered if I could help the Public Relations Department out.

I told him I could, just as I worked with Stanley for so many years.

It wasn’t Stanley’s job to do this. He didn’t have to take on the responsibility, but he did. I’m just proud to know that the folks at Floyd want to help and that your Public Relations Department has stepped up to the plate.

It’s good to know that Stanley’s legacy of helping people in our community will continue, and that’s something I’ll be giving thanks for this Thanksgiving.

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