The Greatest Man I Ever Knew posted 5/30/2007 3:55:20 PM | 3 kudos what's this?     report abuse

graywolf

I do not know what made me decide to sit down and write about this but it is something I feel compelled to do. I met this man in church one day many years ago and he was several years older than me and seemed to be very down to earth and just a "good old boy", yes I am from the south so that is a term used often in this part of the country.

Well over the next several months I had the chance to spend time talking with this man and got to know him fairly well and the one thing I came quickly to realize was that children of all ages were immediately drawn to him. He loved beiing with them and they also loved being with him. On many Sundays after church he would load up his truck or his family car with kids and head out to the farm so the kids could play with the animals or just visit with some of them. During all of this time I just came to know him as Glenn and as I said he was just a regular fellow.

Well it was not many months after I got to know Glenn that our church lost our Pastor/Teacher and we began a search for a replacement. While we were without a teacher we still met on Sunday but usually had one of our members speak or teach whichever they chose. Well one Sunday Glenn was asked to speak and while I did like him was wondering what he might talk about. Little did I know.

Glenn began his talk by opening with a general prayer and then began to tell us a little bit about a young man he had known in his past. It was now that I learned that Glenn had owned and operated a Youth Ranch in Kansas for many years who dealt with troubled youth. He went on to tell us about a time when his ranch was full and he had no room for any other kids and was approached by a mother from Kansas City, Mo. She had a 14yr old son who had been in much trouble and was now in trouble with the law. Glenn was sorry and told her he would love to help but he just did not have any room to take the boy in. She called him and visited him several times over the next few months in the hopes that room would become available for her son. Finally one day she called Glenn and said she was going to have her son committed to the state as they had declared that the boy was "untrainable" and hopeless that he would ever get any better. Glenn immediaitely told the Mother to load up her son and bring him to the ranch that he would find room somewhere for this youngster. She brought him that weekend and he lived with Glenn and his family until he was full grown and went out on his own.

The reason that Glenn was telling us that story was that he had gotten a letter from the young man the previous week telling him what had been going on in his life. Well this young man who was declared to be "untrainable" had just graduated from Medical School and was to begin his residency the following month. When Glenn was telling this story you could see the tears in his eyes and also the love for this young man. I guess I should mention that Glenn raised many troubled children over the years but he also had 12 natural born children and over the years of knowing Glenn and his family I learned that he treated them all the same and that was with lots of love and strong discipline.

I also learned that Glenn had a Youth Ranch here in Arkansas and I became involved as a supporter and later on a member of the BOD. Glenn was the type of person who would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it or even if you just wanted it. I could tell stories about him all day both from personall ezperience and those that I heard from his family and some of the young men he raised.

It was not until I had know Glenn for over a year that I learned that he was Dr. Glenn Cunningham and even late when I learned that was a famous olympic runner, he ran with Jesse Owens in Germany in the 1930's. It was even later that I learned one day from his wife that Glenn had been badly burned as a young man and was told that he would never walk again. He was determined that he would and against all odds he became one of the fastest men in the world.

Well enough for now but if you would like to know more about this great man let me know or find the book titled "Never Quit" which is his life story. There have also been articles about him in Readers Digest and the last one that I remember was titled "The Man Who Raised 10,000 Children" and that is no typo it was 10,000 and more. Something else about Glenn was he never accepted a penny of support from any government organization. He did it on his own and with the support of family and friends.

As I said in the title Glenn Cunningham was the greatest man I have ever know and I am proud that I can say that he was my friend.

Copy & paste to friend: (Click inside box; Ctrl + C to copy; Ctrl + V to paste)

Blogs by graywolf: A bit of Fathers Day trivia Guess Your Age By How Many Times You Eat Out Something for the Canadians The Living Bible WHY DO I LOVE HER written BY John Mitchum better known as JOHN WAYNE Serious Words From One of the Funniest Men To Ever Live Forgiving and Forgetting A Lesson For All of Us Important Questions - Might be rated XX so Enter With Caution Okay You Did Not Seem To Like The Last Joke so How About These!!!!!!!!!! You Are Being Watched Another Saturday Night Can You Read This The Greatest Man I Ever Knew The Things they carried Let us not forget on this day of reflection. I am Your Flag Should we Laugh or Cry Immigration after 100 years. HAPPY NEW YEARS to all at MD The Final Inspection A Soldiers Christmas Christmas Prayers HO - HO - HO The Rest of The Story Merry Chirstmas Around The World