Yesterday, one of my paralegals came to me with a story about a client she had just signed up, who knew and worked with my father years ago. Her story is as follows…
“I met with a client yesterday, and when I got to the part of the sign-up where I asked how she heard about our firm, she told me there is an old story behind it. She went on to tell me that she was the only black student admitted to the radiology program at Lakeland Regional back in 1969. She did well and graduated and went on to pass her state boards, all while having a small child at home.
After she passed her boards she was excited and eager to use the skills she had. She began applying for positions all over Lakeland and Winter Haven. She said, however, she quickly realized her efforts to obtain employment as a radiology tech were going to be more difficult than she had imagined, as she couldn’t get a call back. One doctor even told her point blank that they did not hire blacks for their radiology department, but he would be happy to get her into housekeeping.
She then began working at Florida Tile in Lakeland. She was responsible for supporting her mother and daughter; she had to take what she could. She worked as a factory worker until one day she got a call from an office in Winter Haven. They wanted to interview her! She was finally hired! She said she cried every day for weeks afterwards with thankfulness and appreciation. She went on to tell me that it was Beach Brooks, Sr., MD that gave her that chance, and it was his medical practice that she was so thankful for.
She said they never treated her any different and she will always be grateful for his ability to see past her skin color, judging her only on her abilities. Needless to say, I was in tears after she told this story…. This woman thought to come to our office because of something that happened 45 years ago! This is an amazing example of how the actions we take and how we treat people can have a lifelong affect. When she was leaving I thanked her for thinking of us and her response was, ‘Y’all thought of me a very long time ago.’”
She associated us with what our father, Beach Brooks, Sr., MD had done for her. I can truly say my dad lives on!
