And it's time again for Storycorps, the traveling oral history project that is recording stories all across the country. We hear them each Friday on Morning Edition.
When people stepping into a StoryCorps booth, some of their most vivid memories can be inspired by simple gestures. That was the case for Mary Fischer and Walt Shaffner. They are brother and sister who came into a StoryCorps booth in Sarasota, Florida. Walt Shaffner, who is a middle school principal shared this story about their father.
Dad was a real fan of that principal in that movie. That was "Lean on Me". The principal used to walk the halls with a baseball bat, a bullhorn. When I got the promotion to assistant principal, I got this box. There was this tiny megaphone, little toy thing, you know a tiny toy baseball bat. He sent a note with it.
It says: Dear Walt, Many more happy ones. When you get your next promotion to principal, I will make it real, bullhorn and ball bat, love dad.
So I had that thing. I stuck it in the window, and you see it's kind of faded and then of course just a few years later, Dad passed away, very unexpectedly. It was a quick thing. I did get a principalship just before dad passed away. And if you remember, there were all of us re-assembled in church and then we came back from the church. And Mom made us all sit down in the living room, and then she brings out this box and a note card. And it was a real baseball bat and a real bullhorn.
This note says: Congratulations. I'm proud of you, Walt. You've earned the real thing. Love, dad.
It was a hard thing to speak at that time. Even now. Years later, I would move from school to school. In those moves I kind of lost the notes. I was upset about that. You know you pack things up and you move to another school. A few years ago, in unpacking my supplies at another school that I was at, I came across the notes. And as I took them out to look at them, I noticed something is strange. Their handwriting was different on the two notes. What I got out of that was the fact that mom was aware of the promise, the second note mom wrote.
I think the, the fact that mom had the wherewithal to sit down to write this. You know, as she was grieving for her husband, with her children. That was remarkable
That was kind of a powerful one for me. The power of a promise kept.
That's Walt Shaffner and Mary Fischer remembering their father Tent Shaffner. Walt Shaffner is currently principal of a middle school of Tampa. StoryCorps interviews are archived at the Library of Congress and you can learn how to participate by going to NPR.org.
Major funding for Storycorps comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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megaphone
扩音器
wherewithal
The necessary means, especially financial means:
didn't have the wherewithal to survive an economic downturn.
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