My friend Doris Hill passed away this week. Doris and I worked together at Kraft Food Ingredients where she was the Director of Human Resources. She was a good friend and a GIFTED LISTENER. Once after a particularly arduous business trip to Japan, I was in her office late one night complaining about the difficulty of doing business in Japan. I explained that the Japanese just don’t like us. Right off the plane from the US they give you a hard time. As you go through customs upon entry into Japan, there are 5 lanes for Japanese citizens and only one lane for everyone else. It so bad that they call us “Gaijin” which loosely translates into “White Devil”. Doris, an African American, chuckled and said: “Huh, that is the same thing we call you”.
Fast forward a few years when her mother passed away and I went to the viewing at her mothers church. Doris’s family members are pillars of the black community in Memphis and the church was packed with people from the community. Upon seeing me, Doris announces to the congregation with a smile in her voice:
Paul is here…My favorite white devil.
Even through the worst of times, Doris found ways to see the humor in life. Doris had struggles in her lifetime. Her husband was tragically murdered at an early age while they were on vacation in New Orleans. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Painfully, the trial of his murderer went on for years with the case being complicated by hurricane Katrina. Doris was a woman of powerful faith and that faith, enabled her to deal with all levels of challenges.
One of the most amazing accomplishments of Doris’s life was the creation of ESPN Academy of Memphis. The Education Scholarship Preparation Nurture academy gives needy children after school tutorial and support programs. She founded the academy in 2001 that has empowered children to achieve their maximum potential in school and in life. It is hard to think of something more beneficial than helping children meet their potential. Doris was a gift, and we can help keep her gift growing by contributing to her ESPN Academy.
After Doris retired, we would get together for lunch every January. Health issues were always a challenge for her. She never complained. She never asked: why me? We always enjoyed a laugh together and unfailingly, she reminded me that I was:
HER FAVORITE WHITE DEVIL
Doris lives on in our memory and by the continuing impact her ESPN Academy has on the children of Memphis. We were all lucky to have her in our lives.
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