Heroes get remembered---- Leaders never die
A few months ago I spent the night in a local hospital following a surgery. As they wheeled me into my room I met my roommate Euffer Bradford. Euffer was a delicate soul, kind in her words and gentle in her stories. Euffer however, had Alzheimer’s. Though she told us stories of her own that made our smiles reach over and touch hers, a few minutes later, her mind took a shorter route and forgot her stories, emotions, and her words. The next day Euffer was taken to the operating room for a minor surgery on her arm. A few hours later I noticed a nurse cleaning up Euffer’s bed and packing up her belongings. I asked the nurse if Ms. Bradford would be switching rooms. She stated “she actually passed away on the operating table and has no family or friends so I am collecting her things”. The feelings that overtook my mind could never be explained in words. I was the last person to share a smile, a laugh, and words with a woman who had such a powerful spirit that embraced life and people. I was the last one that would ever hear her stories, and then I began to wonder---how many other stories go untold? Over the next few days I religiously viewed the paper to find nothing, not even a one line obituary about Ms. Bradford. I was saddened that she was lost among the day, and just a number of the past. While I was in the hospital my Mother and I had written her name on a note card so that we could remember her in our thoughts and prayers that night. That note card now hangs on my refrigerator and when I walk past I remember, the struggles of Euffer in her fight with her memory, in her struggles of no family, and how she was a leader of her own kind inspiring others in her own way. For Euffer had inspired me---to tell others stories when they go unspoken. This is for you Ms. Euffer Bradford, may no story ever be untold.
A Story to be told-----------
Dr. Delorese Ambrose, a Pittsburgh native, and author of The Journey Inward passed away in December. Delorese lost a a two year battle to breast cancer. I would have written sooner but the news did not travel fast---as the 5 line obituary in an Atlanta paper was all I could round up in using 4 different keywords in my Google search. This woman was one step more than amazing, she was a woman with many stories that inspired Larry at the local barber shop, Joe at a Fortune 500 company, and even this smalltime gal in Pittsburgh. In her book the Journey Inward Delorese dissects the heart of the person, their journey into their own life, and how we must take what we are given and lead from where we are-no matter what class we stand in, what industry we work in, or what culture we came from. She sees leaders for who they are, from the struggling single mom of two, to the CEO of a bustling technology company, we all are amongst leaders. She holds a Doctor of Education degree from Columbia University and has authored two books: Leadership: The Journey Inward, and Healing the Downsized Organization. A dynamic motivational speaker, Delorese was named one of the City's 25 Most Powerful Women by Pittsburgh Magazine in 1995, and has been profiled in other industry and media publications, including Black Enterprise Magazine, the Pittsburgh Business Times and CNN Financial News. Among her many honors are the 1994 Athena Award for "women who attain and personify the highest level of professional excellence," and the 1993 ASTD Human Resources Development Excellence Award (International Professional Speakers Bureau, 2009). The Journey Inward touched many lives of those looking for a meaning or chance to lead in their own way. I am thankful that Carlow University’s Masters in Professional Leadership program required me to read this book; for I never imagined the effects it would have on me today. This requirement has now become a tool that I carry with me wherever I may go-home, school, work, and community. I suggest that you read it too, for your journey will remain forever touched, and those detours you have been traveling along will all fall into place. Though we have lost a friend, author, mentor, and a great contribution to this world, the Journey lives on. It lived in Delorese…It lived in Euffer, and it lives in me.
Leadership is tied to conviction. Leaders have a vision of a better future, they feel strongly about the need to go there.
Dr. Delorese Ambrose
Yours in change,
Tera McIntosh
Antioch University
Ph.D. In Leadership and Change
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