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    2010

  Watsonian

A shared thank you - from Larry Sparks

It was a rare event in Washington D. C., a 23 inch snow fall, in a city that is normally paralyzed by 1 to 2 inches. All Federal offices were closed as were many of the streets. There was nothing to do but relax and wait for the sun. But I didn't count on two things; one my older and much shorter neighbor and friend, Tony Scardaci, and his absolute compulsion to go to work, and second, my own unhealthy need to be there when my Atlanta lifeline, Elvin Hilyer, would inevitably call my office. I knew he would call with a request and the call would start out with an innocent comment -"Oh, it snowed there?" followed by " Well, here is what we need." 

I was thinking about calling Atlanta from home when Tony called and said he would be trying to get to the Parklawn Bldg. and would I want a ride to the train station. I'm not sure why I found myself saying yes, although I knew he had that old ugly yellow Mercury that might be heavy enough to make it. 

Many of you may remember Tony's car and it's black speckled vinyl roof. The reason I think you might remember it is that when it was beyond dead, he sold it to his friend Windell Bradford. The amazing part was that although the car only lasted six months, Windell somehow still considered Tony a friend. All went as planned and there I was, maybe one of 10 people in the Humphrey Bldg., most of whom were guards. The call came from Elvin as predicted, but the request was a little different. It seems that Dr. Sewer had just called Atlanta from the Justice Department where he was being deposed by an army of lawyers on the Swine Flu program and he needed some documents. After getting them by fax, I set off to the Department of Justice. It was a strange but beautiful trip with no traffic and the only place to walk was in the middle of the street. I was a little apprehensive about walking into the large paneled conference room full of more three piece suits than I had seen outside of a funeral home. It was a formal legal proceeding and I didn't want to be disruptive so I simply found Dr. Sencer, quietly handed him the documents, and retreated to the door. Before I got there he said to the room at large..." and that is a Public Health Advisor."

It was a most unexpected compliment and one I've always wanted to share. I'm sure he wasn't thanking me just for that piece of paper or for that matter just me. He was thanking all those Public Health Advisors who worked their hearts out on Swine Flu and many other programs during his leadership. So, I'm passing his compliment on to all of you who clearly earned it and thanking you for that moment.

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