Roy Exum
Every year at Christmas time, I am enthralled by the choices of "The Person of the Year." Time Magazine tells us it is Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve genius who may have kept us from bankruptcy. Sports Illustrated has just chosen Derek Jeter, the noble captain of the world-champion New York Yankees. As of Friday, Tiger Woods had appeared on 20 consecutive covers of the New York Post. The possibilities are seemingly endless.
But it wasn't until I went to church Sunday that I learned who is my personal recipient for this year's highest honor. After all I have seen and heard and read, my winner is Mike Grady, a 52-year-old accountant for Coca-Cola Company from Maitland, Fla. In yesterday's message Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church pastor Joe Novenson taught from Hebrews 2, warning that we should be wary of the undertow of a sinful life, that what lies beneath the waters can be lethal.
At the close of his notable sermon, he told the story of Mike Grady, who died after saving the life of his son in a North Carolina river. The vacationing family had stopped beside the Callasaja River between Franklin and Cashiers to play in the fast water and, because of the slick algae covering the rocks, the spot is known to the local people as "Bust Yer Butt Falls" (one fact the preacher didn't mention).
The oldest of Mike Grady's two sons, 12-year-old Austin, got his foot trapped between two V-shaped rocks deep beneath the surface in late June and, because of the incredible force of the river, was immediately in peril. That is when Mike instantly jumped in the icy current and, with what was later described as miraculous strength, held his son's head above the churning cauldron for the next 40 minutes.
Mike was able to get upstream, shielding Austin as best he could from the water's violent force, but in doing so most likely fell prey to hypothermia and his leg was trapped by rocks as well. He later died before a rescue team could free him.
Several others who tried to help were immediately swept downstream, along with three members of the rescue squad after it arrived. The water's intensity was estimated to be 400 pounds of pressure per square inch. But Mike Grady held his son's head high until the boy could be finally rescued by emergency personnel.
Mike Simmonds, an assistant football coach at the University of South Florida who once played for Tampa in the NFL, was the man who pulled Austin out of the water. "I just reached out and grabbed his left wrist. I pulled him so hard it pulled his shorts off.
Simmonds held the freezing child, telling him, "That's the way to fight, boy! I ain't never seen anybody fight like that. You made it!" But as the coach lay exhausted beside the river, he then saw his friend Mike Grady slip beneath the surface. "Mike is a true hero because he gave his life to save his son. I've never seen anything like it."
They said the same thing at the Asbury United Methodist Church at Mike's funeral. Because he had been a tireless youth coach and Scout leader, over 300 of the mourners were kids, all wearing uniforms from Little League baseball, Pop Warmer football, the Boy Scouts, you name it. "When you think about a family man, he epitomized that," close friend Manny del Valle said as he wept.
Scott, Mike Grady's 7-year-old, stood before the overflow crowd and read, "Daddy, you will always be a memory in all of our hearts. You were the kindest and smartest person I ever knew. You risked your life to save Austin ....I love you very much, and I will never forget you. You are my hero."
Brian Pikalow, the pastor at the funeral, looked at the Grady boys at one point and said, "Austin, if you ever struggle with guilt or any negative emotion about your father's death .... God wants you to know you were worth dying for. God wants to tell you today, boys, live life to the fullest. Make the most of every day."
Obviously, that is the way Mike Grady lived. His buddy, Mike Simmonds, said "the one consolation is that the way Mike was positioned in the water, I know he saw Austin get out. He knew he saved his son."
Who? Bernanke, Jeter, Obama, Woods, any others? No, my "2009 Person of the Year" is clearly Michael Barnes Grady, a consummate family man who did not die at age 52 until he had showed us how much he loved his sons.
And that is why, unlike any of the other most-worthy winners, I ask you to include his family in your Christmas Eve prayers.
royexum@aol.com