Well, Janet and I finally got away for a little break. After my last post about writing 2,000 articles, I thought about taking a sabbatical until we get back home, but my friends were correct that I would undoubtedly run across stuff to write about. Yesterday, I did! We traveled east and are going to spend a few days shipboard around Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Newport, a number of other short stops and Providence, where we landed yesterday. But the post tonight is not really about where we went as much as it is about United Airlines.
I don’t fly United often but back in the day, when Janet and I bought our home in Inverness, IL, we happened to move across the street from Andrew and Pauline DeVoursney. We were fortunate that we could move into the neighborhood which was largely inhabited by older and more successful executives. I was still starting out although we had enjoyed some success to date. Nobody really knew what everyone else did until one day, Andy was out at his mailbox putting bright stripes on it – blue, orange and pink.
I asked my next door neighbor what was going on and he let me know that Andy had been the EVP of United Airlines. I still didn’t connect the dots until my neighbor informed me that the first letter bomb had been delivered the day before and was placed in the mailbox of the President of United. Andy wanted to make sure that if he was the next target, the perpetrator would be smart enough to recognize the new United colors on the mailbox and place the bomb in his box – and not ours. Andy was just that kind of guy – always thinking about others. He was an intelligent, quiet, wonderful, dapper gentleman who looked like he could grace the cover of a Brooks Brothers catalogue.
Andy took me under his wing. He would walk over with his dog, Strider, named after a character in Lord of the Rings, and ask me to go for a walk with him. He taught me about social responsibility and how we, as executives, had to keep abreast of current events, even if they weren’t of interest to us. It was a necessary thing to do in order to advance in the corporate world. Here is this man who had reached the pinnacle of American business taking time to teach a mid-twenties guy the ropes.
Pauline, Andy’s wife, was cut from the same cloth. She would ask me to trim the bushes in front of our home and decorate them with lights each Christmas. Of course, I obliged her. You just couldn’t say “no” to either of them. Then, Pauline would always offer me hot chocolate and thank me profusely for “making” her Christmas. She struck me as the perfect corporate wife in her heyday. It was clear to me that they were made for each other.
Andy was winding down his career and worked in the yard from time to time, mainly cutting his grass. And I got used to seeing Corvettes pull up in the driveway and astronauts seek his advice and visit with him in the driveway. Yes, those astronauts… people who had been to the moon and had been a big part of the entire space program.
I never realized how important a role that United played in the development of space. This was still in the day when executives could sit in the cockpit with the pilots and Andy must have travelled to Hawaii more than 30 times, just talking to pilots about their jobs at United. He would leave on a Friday and return several days later – like a long weekend. It just seemed to fit his style – talking to the people on the front lines to see what was really going on. He was one of the most humble people I ever met.
So, as I said earlier, every time I fly United I think of my friendship with Andy. He’s long gone now, as is Pauline, but the lessons he taught me have served me well my entire career. I still wonder from time to time what Andy would do in a given situation.
Yesterday, the senior flight attendant announced that a new person was joining the onboard team – this was to be her first flight! Although the new employee was embarrassed and trying to do her best, it must have been awkward for her. Perhaps sensing this, the entire jet exploded in applause welcoming her to the “friendly skies” of United. How typical of something that Andy would have done – sitting there smiling at the start of another person signing on with United. What a loyal bunch of patrons!
Our verse tonight is an obscure verse from the prophet Isaiah. He reminds us about taking care of others and tells us, in Isaiah 58:10-11, “and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”
That reminds me so much of Andy – pouring himself into others. My encouragement this evening is that opportunities to help others are all around us – all the time. My prayer is that we will all have an Andy in our lives. An influence so strong that even now, 45 years later, I can’t get on a United flight without remembering and being thankful for God placing Andy in my life – especially since my own father had died the year before. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…