FW: Kelly Ward

[A440A@aol.com]

Kent writes: 
>Kelly Ward, a past president of the PTG, and a Golden Hammer honoree passed
>away this morning. 

Greetings all, 
Liz and Dale, our thoughts are with you. 
  
      A sad day, yes.  America is losing its heros and Kelly Ward is 
certainly one of them. 57 years ago he was flying an airplane through hostile 
fire helping Marines overcome the enemy on Iwo Jima.  This resonates with me, 
as my father was one of those leathernecks on the beach.  There are debts 
there we can never repay, but we can certainly honor the memory of those that 
had the grit to do what needed to be done.

      I am a piano man today because of Kelly, in that he made it possible 
for me to be accepted to the North Bennett school.  As a starving student on 
the GI bill,(1974) I was not able to afford the trip there for an interview, 
but was allowed in on the strength of a letter of recommendation from him.  
Such power in his integrity made a hell of an impression on me at the time 
and since then, while being in the trade, I have kept it in mind, hoping one 
day to have attained it myself.  We learn more from our predecessors than 
just the technical aspects of our work.   
     In my first visit with him, as I laid out my plans to enter the trade, 
Kelly told me, "Now, understand, that we are all square pegs".  He said he 
was amazed sometimes that so many odd characters could actually get together 
in one group and make it work.  I agree, but now understand how it could come 
about.    
      Many Guild members are too young to have known Kelly, as his Guild 
leadership and contributions occurred earlier.  While we go about our modern, 
amazing, lives of instant communication and rapid dispersal of ideas, it is 
easy to overlook the groundwork upon which our organization relies.  The 
channels of communication and the expectation of cooperation are in place, 
even if "outsiders" can't see them.  However, these are the beams and timbers 
the Guild is built of and as a two-time president of the Guild, Kelly Ward 
can only be described as "stalwart" in his participation. The spirit of 
cooperation, the willingness to look forward,(Kelly once told me of his 
forays into non-equal temperaments, IN THE '60's !!), and the structure of 
the Guild's ethic were hammered out long ago by techs willing to spend the 
long hours on the typewriter, the phone, and in the face to face meetings 
that were required to to build it. 
     Kelly represented the "old Guard", which I think all of us hope to be 
one day ourselves.  It wasn't glorious or well-paid work,  just necessary to 
make a piece of the world better, and those that undertook it did so in the 
faith that they were making a difference.   Today, all of us can enjoy the 
benefits of that investment, and it behooves us to take a moment to 
appreciate the effort put forth by those who did the necessary,  whether 
facing machine gun fire, piles of paperwork, or endless meeting with 
disparate crowds of square pegs.  Kelly did this, and more.
   
     So I salute Kelly Ward;  a warrior, a father, a man of integrity, and a 
guiding light to others.  May we all be so fortunate as to carry his spirit 
forward.  

Sadly, 
Ed Foote RPT