Monday, August 26th, 2013

Have you left fingerprints lately??

My family recently gathered to celebrate the life of a man who left a dynamic fingerprint within our community.  After finishing a career at IBM, my uncle and his wife moved back home to Balsam Grove, NC.   Since his move home, Uncle Cleamon steadily and quietly served to make our community a better place to live.  He and his wife invested countless hours in visioning, funding, building, and overseeing our local Community Center Building, a gathering place for people from all walks of life.

One of its signature events happens every third Saturday of the month when musicians from the area gather for the Saturday night “Jam Session”.  Men, women, boys and girls regularly take the stage to make music with the strum of guitars, the twang of banjos, and a chorus of voices.  Uncle Cleamon was never one to be up on stage or stand out in front of a crowd in any way.  His leadership was always quiet, unassuming, and never the type to cry for attention.  He was most comfortable behind the scenes where he humbly and quietly modeled a selfless spirit of servant leadership.

Fingerprints of leadership are not always loud.  They don’t always make a big splash.  But they are distinct and lasting.  Uncle Cleamon’s fingerprints will play on in the music of Saturday night jam sessions.   His fingerprint will stand tall in the walls of a community center building set in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  And his fingerprint will live on through the lives of those he inspired through his own selfless service.

Thanks, Uncle Cleamon, for being a quiet leader, a role model, a faithful friend, and beloved uncle.  Thank you for leaving such beautiful fingerprints of leadership.

Angela

Filed under: Community Influence, Leadership, Servant Leadership