How many timeshave you been asked that age-oldholiday question:What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?
Given a global pandemic thats taken so many from their loved onesand left so much sadness in its wake, but has also brought out incredible acts of sacrifice and kindness, how would you replythis year?
FLORIDA TODAY posed that question tofour locals: ateenager who's spent his senior year in isolation with his family. AGen X'er who helps feed the hungry. Ababy boomer who, at61, recently met his birth father. And anoctogenarian, whose pink-tinted hair reveals justa hint of her outgoing nature.
Their answers assure us that while our walk through this life may be very different from that of someone else,we're all walking toward some of the same goals taking care of each other. Good health. Food on the table. Enjoying"normal" moments, like a beach walk and hugging a pet. Treasuring family.
Meet Wesley Smith, Jeannette Harrell, Gabe Cenker and Larry Goodijohn.
And from all of us: Happy Thanksgiving.
Wesley Smith knows too wellthe daily struggle andeconomic nightmares thatso many people in his community are living.
He can see it on their faces, hear it in their voices, as the kitchen manager at the Central Brevard Sharing Center in Cocoa, which serves up to 150 meals sixdays a week out of a small, busy kitchen.
In a year that's left many people seeking aid for the first time, battered by job losses and other pandemic-fueled indignities, he thinks the least he can dois seethey get a meal and a smile.
So smile this 53-year-olddoes, the hint of it coming from behind the mask he wears as he and his colleagues turn out meal after meal. On Thanksgiving, he'll be part of the meal service at the center.
And hefeels blessed. Blessed to have his children and mom near. Tobe surrounded by co-workers who "never let you down." Blessed to be part of a mission, on Thanksgiving and every day, to get food and glimmers of hope to those who need a boost.
"For me, this is my everything," Smithsaid. "If you're having a bad day, I want you to be out there on the road and think, 'I can pick up something good at the Sharing Center.' And pick up your spirits, too."
Wesley Smith, the kitchen manager for the Central Brevard Sharing Center, says his faith has helped him get through hard times and is thankful for the opportunity to help others in need.(Photo: MALCOLM DENEMARK/FLORIDA TODAY)
A Philadelphia native who at one time was the chef at Wuesthoff Hospital, he's had his own struggles, personal and physical. Afew years ago, Smithwas walking with what's called a "spastic gait" like a robot, he said. The Navy veteran learned at the Veterans Administration that he had a tumor on his spinal cord and post-surgery, faced therapy to walk again. The scar from that surgery is covered by long dreads, which he grew when he thought he might have cancer.
"I said, 'I'll put a positive spin on it. I'll grow it long so maybe when I have chemo, I'll have something left.' The doctor told me it doesn't work like that," Smithsaid, laughing."I didn't have cancer, but I let it keep growing."
That kind of upbeat attitude endears Smith to his work family.
"When I think of Wesley, I think of a kind, loving person, who's a bright light in our organization," said David Brubaker, Sharing Center president and CEO. "He's been through so much, where he was literally learning to walk again, and to use his arms. And yet, you can always see that smile, even behind his mask. It shows in his eyes."
Wesley Smith, the kitchen manager for the Central Brevard Sharing Center, says his faith has helped him get through hard times and is thankful for the opportunity to help others in need.(Photo: MALCOLM DENEMARK/FLORIDA TODAY)
Smith'sfaith has onlygrown through hardtimes, pushinghim to continue serving othersand, in a tough year, maintain a positive attitude.
"Once I chose Jesus, God chose me," Smithsaid. "That allows me, through all the trials and tribulations I went through, to be more empatheticwiththe people who come here.
"I can leave my thing at the door. I try not to tell people what I wentthrough because it leaves their mouth on the ground, like, 'How are you sitting here in front of me?' It was through Jesus and God. You know, at one pointI couldn't lift a pan past my waist. I get goosebumps thinking about it.So for me to be able to giveto the people here ... a smile is the one thing that's free, and I give it to everybody."
At 83,Jeannette "Jan" Harrell isblunt about life and death.
The Sharpes residenthaspre-existing conditions that made the spread of COVID-19 over the past few months even scarier. It's been heartbreaking, she said, to read about deaths of people young and old.
Jeannette "Jan" Harrell, of Sharpes, with her dog, Max. When Jan had a bad fall this year, Max stayed with her for many hours until help arrived.(Photo: TIM SHORTT/ FLORIDA TODAY)
Then on Oct. 21, she had her own health scare, when, sick and weak, she sankto the bathroom floor around 5 a.m. With her Life Alert button and cell phone in the living room, she lay there for more than seven hours.
Her terrier, Max "my little love," she calls himsat near or beside her the entire time, barking off and on. Harrelllaughs nowabout looking at the toilet and thinking about how her daughter comes tohelp clean.
But she's serious about what she thought ofas she lay there, unable to gather the strength to stand: "I'm not scared to die ... but I want to live."
"I have three of the most beautiful children that I raised by myself without child support," she said. "I love them they're my best friends. I have a new great-grandchild, born in August. And then I have some of the best friends in the world, too. I love my little apartment ... I love my life."
A Florida native, Harrell's proud of her roots. Her great-grandfather was the first postmaster in Orlando. Harrell moved to Brevard County in 1960 from Daytona Beach to work for Pan Am and later, at Boeing, at Kennedy Space Center, retiring in January 2000. Her memories from the Space Center are strong and poignant, like seeing the Challenger explosion and thinking, "That's not right." She loved seeing the recent SpaceX night launch, a crewed mission that was "return to flight for me," she said. "It was wonderful."
Jeannette "Jan" Harrell, of Sharpes, with her dog, Max. When Jan had a bad fall this year, Max stayed with her for many hours until help arrived. Florida Today
Her lifeis as busy as she wants it to be. She gives rides to friends who no longer drive and runs her own errands. When life is "normal," as it's not in this far-from-normal year, she has lunch with friends with an occasional margarita.
But just a month before Thanksgiving, the life Harrellloves was, literally, on the line.
It happened so fast. After being sick in the night, falling and lying on the floor from 5 a.m. until around 1 p.m., Harrell was rescued after a neighbor came to check on her and calledEMT's, Her vitals were good, she said, once she was helped up, and she passed on going to the ER.
"Max even growled at the EMT's," she said. "That's how he is."
But aday later, she was sick again. This time, she went to the Rockledge Medical Center's ER, and was hospitalized for four days, with sepsis, low potassiumand COPD. The thought of COVID was not far from her mind, but she praised hospital staff for their care and concern.
Jeannette "Jan" Harrell, of Sharpes, with her dog, Max. When Jan had a bad fall this year, Max stayed with her for many hours until help arrived.(Photo: TIM SHORTT/ FLORIDA TODAY)
And back home on her couch, cuddling Max and surrounded by good neighbors, books, the TV that tunes her in to NASCAR, football and baseball... yes, she said. It's good to be alive. On Thanksgiving. On any day.
"I'm so grateful to the young couple next door, to the EMTs, to the hospital staff ...I didn't know I was that sick," Harrellsaid.
"I am not afraid of dying, but I am just not readyyet."
In 2017 and 2018, Gabe Cenkerhikedthe Appalachian Trail with his mother.
In 2019, the STEM-loving teentookcollege tours with his parents, visiting campuses including those at Yale and Princeton.
Then came COVID-19. Andmore isolation than most of uscould imagine, down to the prestigious summer programs hehad beenaccepted to going virtual. Even though the Rockledge teen isa veteran of homeschooling and Florida Virtual School,it's a sure bet this isnot the senior year Gabe was expecting or would have chosen.
Gabe Cenker, 17, is seen smiling just moments after opening a letter of acceptance from Penn State.(Photo: Jennifer Cenker for FLORIDA TODAY)
He's missed being part of the Rockledge Highrobotics team, which has just started online meetings to figureout the upcoming season: "I'm looking forward to that," he said. He can still do beach walks. Or play tennis. He and his dad, Dave, an engineer, recently took a socially distanced camping trip to Blue Springs State Park.
Gabe Cenker will graduate from high school in May 2021. A global pandemic changed his senior year, but it hasn't changed his focus on his future. Florida Today
But when quarantines and restrictions end,and he can roam aboutfreely, what's on the schedule for this bright and motivated teen?
You might just find him in the produce aisle.
"As much of anything at all possible. Not even with friends but just sort of stupid things, like being able to go to a grocery store," said Gable, wholl graduate from high school in May 2021.
"Just getting out and doing normal things again ... my family likesto go to Disney a lot. We'd go every month to try a different restaurant. Wereally enjoyed doing that. That's stopped, obviously, since COVID. I've been trying to come up withsome things to do throughout and it's like, 'No, can't do that because it's inside ...I'm not all that picky. I'll just beexcited to do really anything and everything that's normal."
Gabe Cenker, 17, pictured during a November 2020 camping trip with his father at Blue Springs State Park, has experienced a very different senior year than the one the teen might have expected.(Photo: Dave Cenker for FLORIDA TODAY)
Because of his deep thoughts and "old soul," Gabewas given the trail name "Deep Waters" bya fellow hiker on the Appalachian Trail, said his mother.
"He's so gifted, and he's always been involved in so many interesting subjects," said Jennifer Cenker, who taught for Brevard Public Schools before stepping backto homeschool her son.
"So he's missing his friends ...he's got a core group of five or six friends he's known all the way through in homeschooling. But he's come up with methods to be with them."
One of those ways: hitting the kitchen. Gabeand one of his best friends have cooked together online, fromchoosing recipes to shopping online and, via their laptops, comparing their culinary exploits as they cook for their families.
The forced isolation has given thisfamilya lot of time to talk about Gabe'sfuture and explore every career possibility: aerospace engineering? Meteorology? Geology?
And the always-studiousGabe is dual-enrolled at Eastern Florida State College, prepping, in virtual style, to head off to college however that turns out, online or in person.
He's modest about his accomplishments. He's thoughtful in his responses.He's grateful, this Thanksgiving, for all the possibilities ahead.
"I want to get into college and then figure out like exactly what I want," he said. "I know it's definitelyin the STEM area.
"It gets more interesting when you're at one of the schools. I got to see two of them, and we started looking at housing, where I'd live there if I were accepted, all that. Depending on how things are in the spring ... maybe another road trip."
Larry Goodijohn grew up in a loving home in Houlton, Maine,with his mother, two siblings and his adoptive father.
While he didn't knowhis birth father's identity, he had a good life. He graduated from the University of Florida, where he met his future wife, Laura, and is a recovery operations manager forJacobs Technology. AMerritt Island resident, he'sthe father of a son, Spencer, and a daughter, Kelly, and soon, he and Laura will be grandparents.
But life got even sweeter and the family bigger in 2019, when Spencer took a23andMe DNA test and learned he was 27% Jewish. Then, Goodijohndid his own test. He found some distant cousins. Then camethe call that changed his life, from a young man who turned out to be a nephew.
In short order, Larry was talking with that nephew's dad, one ofLarry's younger brothers by his birth father (that Jewish connection). Not long afterward, he was on the phone with that father, Gerald "Jerry" Kane who just happensto live in Florida, too.
Larry Goodijohn, 62, of Merritt Island is thankful that he has finally met his birth father, Geralrd "Jerry" King, 83. The two, who will celebrate their second Thanksgiving together this year, discovered each other through DNA testing, and had been living just a couple of hours apart for the past 14 years.(Photo: TIM SHORTT/ FLORIDA TODAY)
The two menmet in person for the first time in August 2019. The reunion? Going strong.
Father and son will marktheir second Thanksgiving together this year with COVID-19 precautions in a very small and safe familygathering. Their first Christmas together is up next. They had their first Father's Day together in June. In addition to the brother and sisterhe grew up with, Goodijohnhas three brothers and two sisters who are the children of Kane and Irene,his wife of 63 years. All the sibllingshavebeen "super-welcoming and loving," Goodijohn said, and he feels a strong biological connection.
Larry Goodijohn, 62, of Merritt Island, chats with his birth father, Jerry King, 83, on FaceTime. The two met for the first time in 2019.(Photo: TIM SHORTT/ FLORIDA TODAY)
So many firsts. So much joy. So manyjokes: Kane's a master at those, his son said.
"I didn't really expect to find my father," said Goodijohn, whose mother, Joyce, was happyfor his discovery.
"I figuredthere was a good chance he might not even be alive at this point, I thought maybe I could find a sibling that I didn't know. But it turns out he's been living in The Villages for 14 years.It's so wonderfulto find your dad and find out he's such a good person, thathe's really smart and funny and all those things you'd hoped for."
Jerry Kane, now 83, was 19 and in the Air Force when he dated Goodijohn's mother in Maine.Hemarried a few months after Larry would have been conceived in 1957, and had no idea that Goodijohn's mother had given birth to his child.
He and Irene were excited to welcomeGoodijohn's family into their already big brood.
"I think the best part of all of this was thatI mean, aside from the fact that I found that I have another son is that my other children took to him like he's been in their lives forever," Kane said.
"I didn't know how I was going to handle it at first. You know, one day you have five children and you wake up the next morning, you have six. Butwe were just so much at ease. And then, Larry and I discovered things about each other that were so similar ...what he did as a child, whatI didto make money. Wewere both business-minded, even when we were young. Plus the fact that it looks remarkably like my two youngest sons and myself."
Kane is proud of his oldest child, without a doubt.
"I give big kudos to his mom for handling things the way she did and and raising a really good son," he said.
Larry Goodijohn, 62, of Merritt Island is thankful that he has finally met his birthfather, Jerry Kane, 83. Florida Today
If people really do beam with happiness, Goodijohn isshootingsignals to faraway planets.
Laura Goodijohn teared up as her husband of 35 years chatted with his father on FaceTime recently, sharing that her "new" in-laws and Larry's siblings have been incredibly loving.
"Larry is happier than I can ever remember.I get really emotional when I talk about it," she said. "He's always wanted to know who his father was. Sofor him to find him and find that he is such a wonderful man, and he looks just like him ...I just want to say it's changed Larry's life."
The entire family is making up for lost time, Goodijohn said.
"I'm so thankfulfor being able to to get to know them," he said. "I couldn't imagine the story turning out better."
Contact Kennerly at 321-242-3692 or bkennerly@floridatoday.com. Twitter:@bybrittkennerlyFacebook: /bybrittkennerly
Read or Share this story: https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2020/11/24/year-loss-and-great-need-what-you-thankful-year/6127510002/
Visit link:
In a year of great loss, isolation and need, locals look to family, future this Thanksgiving - Florida Today