Charles Shiflett Column April 10, 2005

Random Acts Of Kindness

I wouldn't have known him if we had passed each other on the sidewalk. I had never even
seen a picture of him, yet he was my friend. I only knew his voice, and the intellect and
humor he displayed with his comments.

It's possible that many of you knew him too, though like me, you probably had never met
him in person either. His name was Hugh Thurman, and until his death last week, I didn't
even know his last name or his background. He was just Hugh… good-natured Hugh.

A fixture on radio stations WYXC and WBHF; Hugh was a regular caller to local talk shows.
Hugh had some health problems, which gave him plenty of time to read, listen to, and
watch the news. He was a very informed radio caller and was entertaining in his own right.

I got to know Hugh over the past three years as I occasionally filled-in for Chip Rogers on
his former morning talk show at WYXC. We hit it off immediately and I always welcomed
Hugh's calls. Part of my radio shtick was to play obscure comedy and novelty songs as
bumper music when coming back from commercial breaks. Soon I discovered that Hugh
also shared a love of my offbeat musical selections, so I had to work hard to come up with
songs he'd never heard before.

One morning on the air, Hugh asked if I had a particular two CD comedy set. It turned out
that I didn't own that one, which surprised him. We finished our conversation and I
continued to comment on the events of the day and take other calls.

About twenty minutes later a woman I didn't know walked into the studio with that CD boxed
set in hand. She was Hugh's neighbor and told me off air during a break that Hugh thought a
lot of me and wanted me to have his copy.

Needless to say I was very touched by Hugh's generosity and was a little choked up as I
went back on the air. Since that day, every time I play one of my weird songs I think of
Hugh. It's been several months since I last hosted the show and spoke with Hugh, but I
continued to hear him pontificate on local radio. His voice had become noticeably weaker
over the past few weeks and I worried that his health might be failing.

Someone called WYXC last week to let us know of Hugh's passing. His voice may no
longer grace local airwaves, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Hugh is still listening…
and probably giving someone his opinion.

Thankfully this old planet has a lot of Hugh Thurmans… people who make the world a little
nicer through random acts of kindness. While many of these individuals may never receive
proper recognition for their good deeds, I thought Hugh deserved his moment in the
spotlight.

So here's to my pal Hugh Thurman… a man who had many more friends around Bartow
County than he realized. If you listened to local radio over the past few years, then Hugh
was probably your friend too.