gentleman to me.
Lloyd Pugmire, my first boss at the telephone company, upon hearing that my shorthand skills were less than stellar (I was told "the other girl takes all dictation," but once hired found out I was the other girl) dictated his letters to me soooooooo slowly I could have typed them up as he spoke, but then sped right up when another girl was hired who actually did take dictation. He encouraged me to take the leap from clerical staff to a position traditionally known to be a "man's job." He contacted me years after his retirement to ask for my help to write his biography for his grandkids. I could never call him by his first name, ever, though he urged me to. He was a very distinguished gentleman to me.
My husband Rodney told me on our first date that he was a nice guy and not ashamed to say it or be one, and that he regarded loyalty as the most important virtue. When he was told by a psychologist that my young daughters were starting to bond to him after their father's death and that if he wasn't prepared to care for them he needed to leave, he chose to stay and never once called them his stepdaughters. He has treated me with care and respect everyday for 27 years, even making me an omelet every Saturday for the first two years because that's all he thought I liked until I told him I'd kill for a fried egg. He is MY distinguished gentleman.
Look around. You are surrounded by distinguished gentlemen.
So What is a Gentleman?
—Marilyn Penland
ELEVA8UP / OCTOBER 2014
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