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10.  Have you been witness to any

special acts of kindness or heroism?

Tracey Magrann:  My mother was always a source of unconditional love to me.  She was a stay-at-home Mom, and was always there when I got home from school.  She was supportive of all my activities.  Every holiday was memorable.  The house was decorated everywhere you look with knick knacks for each holiday.  She gave us all birthday parties, made Christmas a great memory, Halloween costumes, and Fourth of July barbeque pool parties.  She would always get us new outfits (and a homemade coat for me) for Easter, with help in coloring eggs before the annual back yard Easter egg hunts.  She gave me lots of arts and craft supplies, and whenever I would draw a picture, she would praise it and put it up on the refrigerator and tell me what an artist I was.   When I wanted to take up piano playing or ballet, she took me for lessons.  When I wanted to take up archery, she helped me get the equipment with my allowance, and drove me to the archery range.  When I wanted to play guitar, she found one on sale that I could afford by myself.  No matter what I wanted to try, she was supportive, and told me how good I was at it.  I grew up feeling like I could be whatever I wanted to be. 

I took all this for granted while I was growing up, but as an adult, I’ve seen a lot of other people suffering various emotional traumas from having mothers who didn’t show their love.  I am very grateful to have been raised by parents who stayed together happily for their entire lives. 

Thomas Joseph Magrann II (II)

When I was growing up, whenever someone knocked on our door asking for some money to buy a cup of coffee, my father would take them in, and not only give them some coffee, but he would also make them pancakes or eggs himself!  Then he would offer them a cigar, and he would talk to them for two hours or so.  It never mattered what color a person was, or what their circumstances.  Everyone was treated as a brother.  When I got up in the morning, I never knew who I would find sleeping on the couch.  My parents always left the front door unlocked, and they didn't mind if a stranger came by during the night to rest from their travels.