“Heroes” Here are some of mine!

People admire and worship people for many different reasons.  Some people’s heroes are fictional and others real life.  Some from the past and some present day. 

Most of my heroes are local.  It makes it easy to respect them and help them do what they do in life.  One definition from Wikipedia that applies for my definition of a hero is as follows…

A hero is often simply an ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances, who, despite the odds being stacked against him or her, typically prevails in the end.  And I may add, perhaps not!

I admire tenacity and focus as well as persistence and clarity.  An example would be Melodie Walenius, a mother that The Noblemen helped many years ago on one of our Trolley Rides.  To this day she continues her efforts to fight the fight for her daughter Zoe and others fighting OMS, a debilitating disease that affects the immune system.  She never gives up and inspires me daily!

I had the privilege of meeting a retired Army Colonel that offers his body to science in order to learn more about the chemical agents that devastated him in while he was defending our country.

What did he want from me?  Simply to help him help our local favorite surfer, Pete Smith, another one of my heroes that continues to be “stoked” on surfing to this day!

Mike Worrell spent hours with me prior to his death working on bringing back the Worrell 1000, probably the coolest contest for small catamarans in the world.  Mike shared with me his life of building cool local hang out spots from the Tiki to Worrell Brothers in Virginia Beach.  He had real passion for a lot of things and I will miss him being a part of our community.

Bill and Kathy Magee that founded Operation Smile are two more of my favorites.   Imagine possessing the ability to lift a bag off of the head of a small child and give them a life not encumbered with a severe facial deformity.  All for a donation of a little over $200, amazing!

Who are your heroes?  What do you think qualifies? 

I like it much better when I can simply go visit my heroes and let them know what a great job they are doing while they inspire others to do the same!

NobleOne