We gathered at the parking lot of the church center where one of our own, Dave Obergfell, is based. Our mission was to paint the joint parking lot of the Brady Center and St. Edward's Church, in inner-city Dallas. Workers present were Dan Susie, Chris Bird, Mike Gregory, Ray LaDriere, and Deacon Dave Obergfell. First order of business: ut on our Wabash Day caps. Then, Obergfell passed out the assembled tools of the trade; we immediately got to work on the lot, and quickly realized there were no Michelangelo's in this group of Bash alums.
We did the job well, with the spirit we all know of Wabash men. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera. The one image that will remain in our minds is that of Mike Gregory's white tennis shoes. At the end of our work, one shoe was still pristine white; the other was soaked in yellow paint. Hard to imagine how Mike did that, until, upon inspection, we saw the puddle of spilled paint in the corner of the parking lot. Rumor has it that Gregory's cell phone even got painted; how does a guy do that?
After the job was done, all hands crammed into Obergfell's new hybrid car, and enjoyed a meal together at the local grill, telling stories of days gone by. Susie updated everyone on the Wabash campus, based on his trip to Homecoming the prior weekend. In the end, we did feel a spirit of just helping out, and joining with others. As we dispersed, we proudly wore our Wabash Day caps, feeling like this Saturday, we had been part of something.