Retired Judge Rewards a Town for Kindness 60 Years after ! #kindness #people #live #yearsold #swim #oldest #person #from #alcatraz #swimming #california

    “NEVER FORGET A KINDNESS.”

Not many people live to be 87 years old. Not many people can swim. Few people can swim when they are 87 years old. The oldest person to swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco (in the USA) and complete it successfully is an 87 year old man. 

As if that is not amazing, how about that same person swimming the Golden Gate swim the following day to become the oldest person to complete that swim! It is described as “an incredible swim from the Golden Gate to the Bay Bridge.”  

The advertisement for the Bridge to Bridge swim for November 2021 says, in part: “The swim is about 6.2 miles but we time it with the tide so swimmers will have a strong current in their favor throughout the swim and many will finish in one to two hours. Strong swimmers only!” Now you have an idea of what it is about!

Who is the person who did all that swimming?

He is retired Judge Robert Beach, one of the founders of the Master’s Swimming Program. “Keeping in good health and active has been his goal,” we read in Debbie Troyer’s article in the Deming Headlight newspaper, March 10, 2021.

His swimming accomplishments are amazing and inspiring but that is not what this article is about.

Let us go back to 1954 and meet 24 year old Robert Beach in Tampa, Florida, USA.  He needs to get somewhere, but it’s far away – to Los Angeles, California, on the other side of the continent. The only way he can get there is by hitchhiking.

Everything went well on his journey until “his rides stalled one chilly night in Deming, NM.”

The young man was “tired, hungry and cold.” He needed a place to sleep - somewhere warm, and he also needed something to eat. But he had no money. He was so cold and desperate that he pleaded with some police officers to take him to a jail where he could at least feel warm. No way! the policemen said. 

The young man wandered through the unfamiliar town until he found a sheltered business doorway. He stopped there, pushed himself against the wall and fell asleep.

As morning broke he heard footsteps. He looked up to see “an Asian man” coming towards him. The man asked Robert how he might help him “and then proceeded to hand him a bag of doughnuts.”

That was the turning point. 

Robert found his way to California. Years passed. He became a successful lawyer and served as a judge for 50 years. As Judge Beach he became one of the founders of the Masters Swimming Program.

After a full and rewarding professional life he retired. But he had never forgotten the kindness of “the Asian man” who had given him food when he was so very hungry back in 1954. He believed that he had survived because of the delicious doughnuts he had given him.

The desire to say thank you to “the Asian man” who had shown him kindness was so strong that Robert, now 90 years old, contacted Debbie Troyer, Deming-Luna Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, for help.

They tried to find the person, but their efforts were in vain.” The Honorable Judge Beach had hoped to personally thank the bakery owner for his kindness, but the bakery no longer exists.” Troyer wrote.

Did Judge Beach simply give up on what he had planned to do? 

No, not at all!

In early February of this year (2021) Judge Beach sent a generous cheque to a local homeless shelter “Silver Linings and Camp Silver” that provides temporary camping in tents, meals, personal hygiene supplies and resources to help the homeless people in Deming and Luna County. 

The non-for-profit organization is supplemented by the operation of a thrift store that takes in donations of gently-used clothing and wares.

The Chamber of Commerce graciously responded: “The Chamber would like to thank Judge Robert Beach for bringing Deming together in their search for the mysterious baker.”

Troyer was greatly impressed and uplifted by the conversations she had with Judge Beach. “Such a kind and interesting man,” she said. 

Confucius, the Chinese philosopher who lived in the 6th Century BCE said, “Forget injuries, never forget a kindness.”

Indeed.

#kindness #people #live  #yearsold #swim #oldest #person #from #alcatraz #swimming #california