Relay for Life Benefit at Intuition Ale Works

[Gonzo]

On May 14th, from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM, the Springfield Brew Crew, will be holding a benefit event for the Springfield Relay for Life. The benefit will be held at Intuition Ale Works in Riverside. For every beer sold during the party Intuition has generously agreed to donate $1 to the Relay for Life.

I have very personal reasons for wanting this benefit to do well; the party is a birthday celebration for me and a remembrance for my father who shared the same birthday. Below is a story of the kind of man he was.

When I was 19 years old -- 30 years ago -- my father passed away after a long battle with cancer. The last four months of his life were spent confined to a hospital room in St. Louis overlooking Forest Park. I visited him often and we talked for long hours. I will always recall one of the last things he said to me, “Marc, look out that window and tell me what you see.”

I looked out and replied, “I see trees, dad.”

He looked at me, closed his eyes and said, “I see leaves, each one different, each one special. One day they will fall from the tree and die. But, while they are alive and still on the tree they are like family, they help the whole survive. They work hard, stay together, and in doing so, create beauty.” He opened his eyes and looked at me with hope and pride, “If you are the man I think you are, the man I hope I have made of you, you will do the same, you will be like the leaves.”

He died not long after he told me that. My father was an uneducated man, having dropped out of high school at 16, but he was highly intelligent. He was a working class man, a firefighter who put his life on the line every day for strangers. He was dedicated to and loved his family intensely, providing everything we needed regardless of the sacrifices he had to make. He was deeply moved and affected by a great appreciation for the arts. And he lived his life fully every day. My father made me the man I am today; I hope that I am living up to his lofty example.

I truly hope that you will attend and help me remember this great man by working to find a cure for his killer.

Sincerely,

Marc Wisdom

[Gonzo]

I promised to share information about my father as a lead up to the May Springfield Brew Crew event. The event is to be a birthday celebration for me and a remembrance for my father who shared the same birthday with me. It will take place Saturday, May 14 from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM at Inuition Ale Works, 720 King Street.

Gregory H. Wisdom, my father, was taken from us in August of 1981. His killer’s name was lymphoma, a form of cancer that attacks the body’s immune system.

My father was a firefighter in Hazelwood, Missouri, the small-town suburb of St. Louis where I grew up. He was an extremely dedicated man and worked hard to improve himself and his skills as a firefighter, a man, and a father. His dedication inspired me to seek adventure, never accept mediocrity, and continuously improve myself. He was a hard-working man working 24 hour shifts at the fire department and, on his days off, working long days as a paint and wallpaper contractor. He was not, however, an educated man. In high school he became bored and restless. History and geography lessons fueled his restlessness and stoked his desire for adventure. So, at the age of 16, he dropped out of one of the best prep schools in St. Louis to join the Coast Guard.

He had a zest for life that was unstoppable. The adventures he found in the service of our nation led him from the Caribbean Sea to remote lighthouses miles off the coast of Maine. He had a way of throwing himself headlong into his work, pushing himself to be the best. His was not book knowledge; he possessed knowledge of how the world worked through the school of hard knocks. He learned that a man who was willing to work hard could prosper.

My father worked hard at his two jobs to make sure we had everything we needed. He approached his role as the head of household and provider very seriously. Often he worked long into the night painting houses to get the extra money needed to take us on fantastic vacations. As children we visited the Grand Canyon, San Francisco, Monument Valley, Williamsburg, Virginia, and Washington D.C. among other places. He arranged with our teachers for these trips to provide educational opportunities, and our teachers provided him with lessons and activities for us to complete for school credit. He was dedicated to providing us with quality educational experiences as well as the material needs of a growing family.

But, in the spring of 1981, he visited me during my fraternity’s parents’ weekend and broke the news to me that he was being admitted to the hospital with cancer. He was hopeful that he could beat the monster known as lymphoma again â€" he had had it before and fought it to remission. But, the doctors were not so sure.

In the end, his fight was valiant, but unsuccessful. At the age of 44, he succumbed to his attacker and slipped away from us.

I ask that you come and celebrate his life with me at Intuition Ale Works, Saturday, May 14th from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM. The wonderful friends I have at Intuition have made a very generous offer to donate $1 from every beer sold that evening to the Springfield Relay for Life which benefits the American Cancer Society. Help us put an end to the scourge that took my father from us and come have a few pints to remember the man that he was.

Marc Wisdom
Fearful Leader
Springfield Brew Crew

[Gonzo]

It was 4:00 a.m. in the tiny Midwestern suburb, the air was cool and still outside when a siren pierced the silence. The young boy woke to the sound of the siren wailing. During his short life he had learned to tell the difference between a police siren and a fire truck siren. The siren he heard that night definitely came from a fire truck. The boy knew his father was on duty that night and on his way to another fire or accident. He knew that that meant his father was in danger again.

I was that young boy over 40 years ago. I was the son of a firefighter. Last week I told you about how my father was a very deep man; a man who held out hope that the family he was leaving would carry on. Today I want to tell you about the hero that he was.

There are still nights when I am awakened by the sound of a distant siren and reminded of how I felt as the son of a firefighter. Often, as a child, I would lie awake after hearing that siren and wonder if my father would walk through the door in the morning when his shift ended. Horrible scenarios would run through my mind of my father trapped in a burning building, his crew desperately trying to get to him before the roof collapsed. Or my mind would insist that an explosion had occurred and my father was caught in the debris field, forever lost in a rain of sharp metal and burning cinders. I was plagued by images more terrifying than any child should have to imagine of Hell-like landscapes, my father in the center of them. But, every morning at 6:15 my father would walk through the front door as I prepared for school, sometimes still sooty from a fire the evening before. He’d smile at me and tousle my hair before kissing my mother and heading for a shower.

He took his work seriously. In his 20-year career as a firefighter he saved countless lives, helped deliver babies, fought merciless infernos, and even saved a cat or two. He left home every morning with full knowledge that it could be his last seeing his family, that any day any day on the job could bring an end to him. He understood and accepted the risks of his job because he existed to serve his fellow man. He was selfless, dedicated, and courageous. He saw no distinctions between color, age, social status, or political affiliation. If you were in danger or need, he would risk his life to help you.

My father never backed-down from a fire, never wavered in his resolve to preserve life and property from the ravenous beast that a fire can be. He plunged headlong into his job always believing he was making a difference, that the life he saved that day would enrich the world in some way. In the end, by doing what he did, he enriched the world. But, even this heroic man could not defeat the horrendous monster that took him. He deserved better.

I am the son of a fallen hero. He was a firefighter, a husband, and a father. He was violently taken from us 30 years ago by a foe even he could not fight: cancer. He was, and is, my personal hero.

This Saturday, May 14th from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM you have an opportunity to revere the memory of this man with me. Intuition Ale Works is generously donating $1 from every beer sold at the May Springfield Brew Crew event to the Relay for Life to benefit the American Cancer Society. The event will be a celebration of my birthday which I shared with my father. We will laugh, drink great beer, enjoy each other’s fellowship and friendship, and remember.

I hope you will join us at:

Intuition Ale Works
720 King Street
Jacksonville, FL 32204

If you cannot make the event, I hope you will consider making a donation to the Relay for Life. You may do so at the Springfield Brew Crew website â€" www.sprbrewcrew.com-- just click the donation link on the home page.

[Gonzo]

For several weeks now I have been writing about my father who lost a battle with cancer 30 years ago. I told you about how he was a man of deep philosophical thoughts, how he was a man who beleived in and took care of his family, and how he was a true American hero.

Today I am simply going to ask you to remember this man and all of the other men and women who have been taken from us. How many of these people do we have to lose before we all act to put an end to cancer?

This Saturday, May 14th from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM you have an opportunity to revere the memory of my father and the countless others that have been succombed to cancer with me at Intuition Ale Works. Intuition Ale Works is generously donating $1 from every beer sold at the May Springfield Brew Crew event to the Relay for Life to benefit the American Cancer Society. The event will be a celebration of my birthday which I shared with my father. We will laugh, drink great beer, enjoy each other’s fellowship and friendship, and remember.

I hope you will join us at:

Intuition Ale Works
720 King Street
Jacksonville, FL 32204

If you cannot make the event, I hope you will consider making a donation to the Relay for Life. You may do so at the Springfield Brew Crew website â€" www.sprbrewcrew.com-- just click the donation link on the home page.