Doug Miller and Willis "Pillsie" Moore

 

Ordinary people rarely get any long-term recognition after they are forever gone. They are usually forgotten in short order by everyone but their families and friends. A few years back a guy died who I worked with for 20 years. His name was Doug Miller. He was an ordinary nice guy. There was talk about honoring him by putting his name on a bench outside the building. This was never going to be a granite statue in his honor. It was going to be just a simple brass plate with his name on it screwed to a bench. Still, it never happened. Those in charge of the project never got around to doing it. Now a few years later, there is a percentage of new employees that have never even heard of Doug Miller. I’m not mad about it. It’s just the way it is. People come and go, making way for yet another in an endless parade of generations. 

Recently my companion and I traveled to a corn festival in Strasburg, Ohio, located in a distant part of the state. We've been going to the same small town festival every year for nearly 20 years. A couple of times while en route we have taken a brief side trip for ice cream in the remote village of West Lafayette, Ohio. There on the property of the Dari Hut is a modest brick memorial to Willis “Pillsie” Moore. Part of the memorial is a showcase with photos of Willis and his wife, and a miniature, six inch baseball bat, just like the ones Willis would carve for kids.

See, Willis “Pillsie” Moore was the school custodian at the village elementary school from 1921 to 1956. He befriended many of the students. In his spare time he would carve the little baseball bats and give them away. But he gave other things away too, most notably; kindness. He would occasionally fix a broken bicycle, glue the binding of an old book, and generally lend a helping hand wherever he could.

Willis retired in 1956 but he remained in the village and died there in 1982. Through the years the citizens of West Lafayette did not forget the kindly school custodian. In 1993 they decided to erect a simple but proud monument next to the Dari Hut, the monument dedicated to Willis. It is on the site of the old elementary school. In 2003 Willis “Pillsie” Moore was voted into the town’s Hall of Fame, voted in for “humanitarian service” along with long-time area politicians and local athletes.

I like to visit the little memorial. It’s somehow reassuring that a person can be remembered for simply being a thoughtful, unselfish person. No earth-shaking political speech required, no great invention needed. 

It certainly isn't a brass plague on a bench, but Doug Miller did get mentioned in my silly blog. He deserves higher recogniton. Maybe a lot of us do.