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Foreword by David Dick
Foreword by Bill Goodman
Kentucky's Everyday Heroes may be
purchased from your local bookstore, on-line vendors such as Amazon
or Barnes & Noble, or directly from the publisher.
Kentucky's Everyday Heroes (2008), 170 pages
ISBN 978-1-893239-75-3, $15.00
Wind Publications
600 Overbrook Dr
Nicholasville, KY 40356
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From the foreword --
Steve Flairty, author of Kentucky ’s Everyday Heroes: Ordinary
People Doing Extraordinary Things has captured the essence of what
it means to be a Kentuckian with a heart and a soul.
In this collection of portraits ... you’ll
meet Billy Edwards, a native of Henderson , who counters cerebral palsy
with a religious column for The Gleaner. Flairty includes him in
Kentucky’s Heroes, because Billy "speaks eloquently and
inspirationally with the printed word."
Jamie Vaught of Middlesboro: After
finding out that their infant son, Jamie, was nearly deaf, it quickly
became a family project to provide all the support necessary for his
optimal development. Jamie learned to lip read and studied hard in
school. Today, Jamie Vaught is a college professor and a successful
writer, authoring four popular books on Kentucky Wildcats’ basketball
and writing columns for several periodicals. He was also instrumental in
the establishment of closed captioning TV viewing on Kentucky
Educational TV.
Then there’s Bennie Doggett of
Covington: This dynamic social worker, trained with ‘life
experiences’ rather than formal college instruction, has no fear in
fighting for better lives for her clients, who are often poor, often
with addictions, and often uneducated. She recently came out of
retirement to serve voluntarily at the Oasis Outreach Center in
Covington, a creation of her home church. A Kentucky Post editor called
her 'a sort of untrained social worker, lawyer and
ombudswoman/problem solver for poor people … a gem, a fighter and
stubborn. Steve Flairty’s style is spare and clear as it is
strong, making a solid reading experience for those who understand that
there are countless Kentucky heroes living unselfish lives for the
benefit of all.
In the words of Jim Lyon, Sr. of
Greenup County: "My mother used to say ‘My baby doesn’t have
any hands and doesn’t have any leg, but he has a mind,’ and that
always sat well with me …. I never dwell on the negatives."
Steve Flairty has dwelt on the positives.
They ring true, and Kentuckians are all the richer for it—"celebrating
the human spirit of compassion."
--- David Dick, author of Kentucky: A
State of Mind,
Rivers of Kentucky, and The View from Plum
Lick.
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