A Little News

The members of Flower Hill Primitive Baptist Church honored Oquilla Clay with a 100th birthday celebration Sunday, December 28 at the church in Hillsboro. Family members from all across the country along with many former pastors of the church returned to honor the Hillsboro resident. Clay sits and prays during the service Sunday. Photo by Gary Cosby Jr. 12/28/08

I plan to do one of these posts from time to time and it is especially for you who are in journalism or for those hoping to get into journalism.  Not that it won’t help the rest of your guys, it is just that our business is in a bit of a tight spot right now and becoming more valuable to your company is a good way to remain employed.  There are many ways to do this and today’s post is only one of those many ways.

I was given an assignment on a recent Sunday afternoon to shoot a birthday portrait of a lady turning 100.  Our newspaper publishes the photo of anyone under five or over ninety on their birthday and we shoot many of these.  Obviously, there are a bunch more five and unders than there are in the over ninety crowd.  These assignments are traditionally a thumb nail size photo with a bio for the babies and a bit larger one column by three inch photo with bio for the elders.  My job order said the church where this lady attended was having a special celebration honoring her so they might run a little bit larger photo if the situation merited it.

Knowing I was going to an all African American church, I wasn’t too worried about being exactly on time.  I have been in several serivces in black churches and the clock tends to be irrelevant.  I arrived just about 2:15 with an assigned time of anywhere from 2:00 to 2:3o thinking I might have to wait a few minutes to make the photo.  Upon arrival I found a church full of people and the honoree sitting in a special chair right up front.  One of the lady’s relatives escorted me down front and I realized quickly that it was going to be more than a few minutes before this service ended.  The man speaking was in the middle of a full tribute to the birthday girl and there were several others waiting to speak.

The atmosphere was relaxed so I could move about a little bit without disturbing anyone so I found a place next to the church organ and knelt down and began shooting.  As the tribute continued I realized that this needed to be way more than a birthday portrait.  The little lady in the chair had influenced several generations of family, friends and church leaders and they were singing her praises, one guy literally singing to her.  The longer I stayed the more happy I was to have the photo assignment.  Sometimes you are around great people who are famous like actors or politicians or pro athletes.  This day I realized I was around a great person whom no one knew about outside of her small community.

I shot for almost an hour before the service ended and the tributes stopped.  When I got back to the office I went immediately to the assigning editor and told them about the experience and how I felt the lady’s story needed to be told.  A week later we ran a Living centerpiece on her and it would never have happened had I only gone there and shot my portrait and left.  I was able to add value to our photo assignment and hopefully contribute to this wonderful woman’s legacy by being a little more patient than normal and by shooting a lot more than my actual assignment required.

Yeah, that is a little thing but let me tell you about little things.  Even a big building is made up of little pieces and each piece contributes to the strength and stability and even the beauty of the whole.  When you are known for contributing a lot of little things that add value to your publication you are actually making your job more and more secure and your career more and more successful.  Everyone is always looking for the big thing.  Be the guy who nails the big things but don’t ever ignore doing that little bit extra every day.

Photos copyright Gary Cosby Jr., The Decatur Daily.  The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.

Reece and Coach Stallings

Gene Stallings would be special in the state of Alabama even if he had never had a special needs son.  After all, Coach won a national championship while head coach of the University of Alabama.  That wins you a special place in the hearts of Alabama fans everywhere.  More important than any football championship though is the fact that Coach Stallings had a very special son named John Mark, or Johnny as most folks knew him.  Johnny had Down Syndrome and Johnny had to fight for every moment of his life.  Johnny passed away just a couple of months ago at age 46.

When Johnny was born, most people referred to those with DS as mongoloids or retarded, made fun of them or just ignored them not knowing what else to do.  Coach and his with Ruth Ann raised Johnny in a time before there were practically any programs available for families with special needs children.  Their friends largely didn’t know how to deal with Johnny so they just pretended he wasn’t there.  Times have changed dramatically from what Coach and his wife went through.  There are all kinds of help for DS kids and their families and it is largely due to people like Gene and Ruth Ann Stallings.

Today, Coach Stallings was in town for the dedication of a new Special Need Accessible Playground in Hartselle where we live.  He told stories of raising Johnny and I laughed and cried all the way through it.  I am crying just thinking about it.  I am so grateful for Reece’s health after hearing stories about kids who have had to struggle so much.  Coach Stallings said today that if God gave him the chance to go back 46 years and have a son who was perfectly normal or have Johnny again, he said he would take Johnny every time.  You know, I feel the same way about my son and we have only just begun our journey.  I hope I have 46 years to enjoy my special son though I would have to get pretty old to do that.  In fact, Reece will probably outlive me which is great.

After Coach Stallings finished his remarks, the allowed all the special needs children and their families to come up and meet Coach and have pictures taken with him.  Normally this would not really appeal to me.  Just because someone is famous doesn’t automatically cause me to want an autograph or a picture with them but Coach is different.  I see in him the kind of integrity, faith and love that I want to present to all my children and especially to Reece.  When we walked up to have our turn, I was holding Reece.  When he saw Coach Stallings he just reached those little arms out to Coach and Coach Stallings took him into his arms and just loved him and it was for real.  This was not just some celebrity putting on an act.  Coach just said, “He knows, he knows,” as he took Reece to hold him.  And I think in some way Reece did know. We spent a couple of moments there with Coach Stallings while we had our pictures taken and then we moved away so the next family could come up.

Coach Stallings said if he did anything worthwhile at the University of Alabama it was that he was able to raise the awareness and acceptance of special needs children.  I can say now that I am the parent of a special needs child that I appreciate that far more than the football championship he won there.  So Coach and Mrs. Stallings, thank you for who you are and for what you have done for special needs families.  Most of all thank you for loving your son.

If you are interested, you can read the store of Johnny and the Stallings family in the book Another Season by Gene Stallings and Sally Cook.