Who is your HERO?

According to Webster's Dictionary, the definition of hero is a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. Gilbert's Assistant Principal, Brad Hayes challenged the faculty and students to ponder the question, "Who is your hero and why?"

Mrs. Thurman (K Teacher) and Cordell Kingsley

My Hero by Kaye Thurman

I have thought a long time about who my Hero might be. I was lucky to have great parents and grandparents, any of whom could be called a hero in my eyes. First I looked up the meaning of Hero in the dictionary and this is what I found, “ a person who is admired for outstanding courage”. I have chosen as my hero, Mrs. Cindy Kingsley. It was my privilege to have her son Cordell in my class, at a time when she was having treatments for cancer. Through all the treatments and I am sure great pain she was always there, for her family. She came for conferences and parties, even when I could see the pain she was in at the time. She has endured so much, chemo-therapy, tragic car accidents, deaths of close relatives, all this and more. It is so wonderful to see her zest for life and her care and love for her family. She has overcome so much and now with a teen- age daughter, fifth grade son, and husband to care for. She is going to school to become a nurse so that she can care for others as they cared for her. Hats off to Mrs. Cindy Kingsley.

Mrs. Troutman (4th Grade Teacher) pictured with some of her students
Kason Warren, Aexis Woodard (standing), Austin Camp and Melanie McGill in front.

My grandmother was my hero. As a little girl I wished so much that I could be just like her. She was quiet, sweet, good, loving, kind, all of the things that I wasn’t, and she knew God.

She had lost so many loved ones in her life that I didn’t know how she could make it, but she did. She loved the Lord and knew that He loved her, in spite of all that she had been through.

Her husband had died when my Mom was 15, and a year later her youngest son was killed in World War II. Then when I was 9 her mother, her youngest daughter and her precious 5 year old granddaughter all died within 1 year. I did not know how 1 person could bear so much pain. She was a woman of great strength, courage and love for her Lord.

I stayed with my Grandmother for 3 weeks the summer after all these loved ones had passed away. I thought my Mom had sent me there to cheer her up and keep her company, but maybe they hoped she could straighten me out, because I was always in trouble and doing things that I shouldn’t.

My Grandmother just loved me, enjoyed me, and taught me about the Lord. I accepted Him as my Savior when I was with her that summer.

My grandmother sent me 3 books over the next few years after I stayed with her. They were all books about heros. The first was a Bible, full of stories about heros who stood for what was right and trusted God: Abraham, Joseph, Noah, David, Daniel and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The second book was The Cross and the Switchblade about a man who went into New York City to preach to gang members and drug dealers about the Lord and helped them get their lives straightened out.

The third book was God’s Smuggler about Brother Andrew who smuggled Bibles into Russia when it was illegal to bring Bibles into that country. He had to be a man of great courage and faith to risk his life to do that.

I’m very thankful for my hero, my Grandmother, and for the 3 books about heros that she sent to me and how they influenced my life for good when I read them.

~Densie Troutman

Special thanks to Mrs. Thurman and Mrs. Troutman for sharing their stories.

Students' Hero Stories Coming Soon!