Message from Gene and Carol Martin

Dear Classmates and Friends,

Carol and I want to thank each of you for your response to assisting David Tyson and his family.

As to date we have had a response of 15 classmates and $2,500 in medical support. Additionally, there have been numerous phone calls, e-mails and prayers. David is very appreciative of your assistance, thoughts and prayers. He continues to be in good spirits. Julie, his daughter, is being prepared as a donor in the event a cadaver donor is not forthcoming by October. As of today, 9/10/08, David has been advised that he is on-call; i.e., a match is pending for the transplant.

Should you like to make an additional or first donation, the 501-3(c) has changed to:
Charles Massegee Evangelistic Service
CMES, Inc.
P.O.Box 96
Ranger, TX 76470
Payable to David Tyson Fund

Many of you have commented how admirable of me to sponsor this effort on behald of David. There is an ulterior motive on my part. I have spent forty-five years rendering service and care to people I don't know. Therefore, it is no stretch to do so for a friend and classmate since the 4th grade.

Additionally, most of you are not aware that in 1947 while in 4th grade, I came down with rheumatic fever. As a gesture to assist me through many hours and days house and bed bound January thru July, Mrs. Tyson (David's mother), my Sunday school teacher and Mrs. Geraldine Mosley, my Sunday school teacher and grade school music teacher, took up a collection and bought me a TV. What a God-send until I was able to walk again and go out to run and play! So, you see, helping David was a way to repay the thoughtfulness and generosity of these two exceptional women.

As a result of my ordeal with rheumatic fever and helping Charles Ford when he had an asthma attack on the big slide at grammar school, I wanted to be a doctor. Well, I didn't become a doctor but did become the second best thing -- a respiratory therapist, assisting everything from a preemie no longer than the palm of your hand to heart attack patients, COPD patients and the terminally ill. What a ride!!! Now you know "the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey would say.

Thank you again, may God continue to bless you, and hope to see you at our next class reunion.

Gene and Carol Martin