Today is the burial for Mr. Johnny Strand and I am sure those that knew him will be there to say their final goodbyes. I found the posting below in the Eastern Shore News in the Viewpoint section on Wednesday and I have thought about what I read many times since then. It is lengthy and I started to just post half but it's the whole story that makes this man. If you read nothing else for the rest of today please take time to read this. This man had all the qualifications of an angel.
In 36 years of writing stories on local people for this newspaper, no one was ever as grateful or appreciative as Johnny Strand, the popular Pizza Hut manager who was slain last weekend at his Melfa home.
I have received scores of notes and letters from people who I have profiled during my time here, but Johnny's thank you was the most memorable.
Not long after I wrote a profile on Johnny for the "Virginia's Eastern Shore" special section in 2007 -- ironically, that issue appears in today's paper -- Johnny came into the News office in Accomac and called a few employees he knew up front in the lobby, including me.
He then read a hand-written message he had penned on a thank you card. It read:
You wrote articles over the years
To make one happy or shed tears.
It's true what I've heard, you're one of a kind,
You gave Johnny Strand a chance to speak his mind.
With my voice, I spoke of my strife,
with your pen you wrote of my life.
Together, you and I have touched so many,
A smile restored, a broken spirit replenished.
So I thank you so much, for not taking away
From the spirit of a man who had a lot to say.
Thank you Mr. Sterling,
and the rest of the Eastern Shore News family,
Sincerely,
Mr. Johnny Strand
Since that day Johnny thanked me again every time I saw him. Just two weeks ago he was thanking me for the article as if I had written it the previous week.
The truth is Johnny never stopped hearing about the article with the power of the Internet. The story was picked up by the Associated Press and turned up in newspapers and websites all over the country. Johnny said he heard from strangers who just wanted to say they were inspired by his story.
And what a story it was. I knew when I walked away from that interview three years ago, Johnny's story sounded like a movie script that producers would reject because people just wouldn't believe it. But Johnny was the real deal.
The writing had little, if anything, to do with the powerful message Johnny delivered in that interview. Johnny gave me far too much credit in that card that I treasure even more today than when he presented it.
In 1990, Strand was walking along U.S. Route 13 as the Pizza Hut was being built in the Chesapeake Square shopping center in Onley. A man hailed Strand and asked if he wanted to earn some extra money by unloading a truckload of construction materials being used to build the restaurant.
Strand, who had no car and was unemployed at the time, because it was January and he usually worked on area farms, gladly accepted the offer.
The Pizza Hut manager who was checking on the progress of the construction took notice of how Strand hustled back and forth as he was unloading the truck. He called Strand aside and asked him if he wanted a job when the restaurant opened in a few weeks.
So on the first day Pizza Hut opened Strand was a dishwasher.
Strand said in that interview his mission was to be the best dishwasher possible. "I took control of my area. I'm like that. I wanted those dishes to be so clean you could see your face in them."
Strand was soon promoted to assistant cook and then lead cook. When the manager saw how friendly Strand was with people, he made Strand a server. Strand then became a shift manager and eventually assistant manager of the restaurant.
Strand worked for five other managers, and in 2002 when the position was again vacant Strand was asked by Pizza Hut officials to be the manager. He turned them down -- twice, in fact.
Gil Liberty, the district manager for Pizza Hut, came to Strand for a third time. Liberty was present at that 2007 interview because he wanted to impress upon the reporter just how he felt about Strand.
Liberty told Stand, "You are here 55 hours a week anyway. Everyone thinks you are the manager. Why don't you take this position and earn the benefits and the extra money that comes with it?"
Strand explained he was very busy with his church and was a member of a traveling gospel choir at Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church in Bayside, near Onancock.
Liberty promised Strand the job would not interfere with attending church. "I say that because I know you are the right person for the job," Liberty told Strand.
Liberty said at that 2007 interview, "Johnny is the face of Pizza Hut on the Eastern Shore. When you say Pizza Hut around here you think of Johnny Strand. When you say Johnny Strand, you think of Pizza Hut. He has such great people skills, both with the public and the employees. Everyone loves to work for him."
Strand was recognized by the community and Pizza Hut for his contributions. He worked with schools, youth groups, churches, the Foodbank, the DARE program and numerous other groups to help raise funds or provide pizzas as incentives for achievement. It seemed everyone knew Strand and his willingness to help others.
The walls of the restaurant are plastered with drawings from local students and photographs of athletes from every school on the Shore.
Many of his employees are area students, and he often sat down with them and asked about their grades. He told them he was far from a perfect student in high school, but mistakes today can have more impact than when he was at Onancock High School in the 1970s.
"I want to find the good in everyone," said Strand. "I go to the schools and tell students that if they work hard and do a good job, their self-esteem will rise and good things will happen to them," said Strand, who had at the time missed only one day of work in 17 years. He took a day off to go watch Nandua High School play for a state basketball title.
Strand might not have been perfect in high school, but Pizza Hut received rare perfect scores from the Health Department. Pizza Hut's reviews were usually rated "excelling."
Strand's love in high school was music. He was taught by his cousin, Jesse Poulson, also an active member of his church.
He was good enough that he was supposed to go to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and be a member of the college choir. But his mother had a leg amputated due to complications from diabetes two months before he was to graduate from high school in 1978. His father died one month later. As the youngest of 10 children and the only one still at home, it was up to Johnny to care for his mother at their home near White Rabbit.
"I missed a chance to go to college, but I wouldn't change a thing," said Strand, who wiped away a tear at that interview when talking about his mother.
Although he never married, Johnny said he had more than 50 nieces and nephews he followed closely.
His funeral will surely be attended many of the people he touched through the years. His tragic loss from a senseless crime will be felt throughout the community.
But although his life was cut short, the incomparable Johnny Strand will continue to inspire others to be their best, as he always tried to be.
www.easternshorenews.com
_20090124134459_640_480.jpg)
