Many months ago in my weekly email series I wrote one entitled: “Only One White Shirt.” It was the story of Bonnie Whitten, who was my training instructor on the ticket counter, many years ago at Midway Airport in Chicago for Capital Airlines.
I didn’t have enough money to buy uniform shirts, and every evening for at least two weeks Bonnie would take my one white shirt home and wash and iron it and bring it back the next morning.
We stayed in touch all through the years and the highlight was in 2004 when I was speaking in Indianapolis and we brought her to the luncheon from the assisted living facility where she resided. I introduced her and told the “one white shirt story” and she received a standing ovation……..the highlight of her year she said on her Christmas Card.
Since then, when it is an appropriate topic with an audience, I show the photo of Bonnie and me in 2004 and tell the story. It is a great example of someone reaching out (Bonnie) to a youngster (me) getting a start in business.
Then in June of 2006, I had just finished speaking in Las Vegas and had told the Bonnie Whitten story. When I got to the airport an hour later, I checked my voice mails. There was one from Bonnie’s brother Bill, saying Bonnie had died that day, at age 82, within thirty minutes before I talked about her.
What a great lady. She had an amazing impact on my life with her friendship and kindness. It is the “little” things in life that make an impact and leave a lasting legacy. Thank you Bonnie and I know you will rest in peace, so well deserved. God Bless You.
Who is the “Bonnie” in your life? Remember to thank him/her for the “little” things.
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Howard Putnam speaks on leadership, change, transformation, customer service, teams and ethics. He is the former CEO of Southwest Airlines and the first CEO to take a major airline, Braniff International, into, through and out of Chapter 11, getting it flying again in less than two years.
This article was originally included in Howard Putnam’s Leadership eSeries. You can sign up to receive his weekly thoughts on leadership by going to: http://www.howardputnam.com/eseries.asp
