“He was happiest a couple of thousand feet off the ground” says Michael Berg.

“He started his business, which he called Prometheus Methods Tower Service Incorporated, because Prometheus was the god who brought fire.” says Michael. Nick was in the business of building and repairing radio towers. He traveled widely, and often offered his services to poor communities in developing countries like Uganda and Kenya, Michael remembered.

“He developed this little company from that to one that employed five people.” said Michael. “He was entrepreneurial, but he was not interested in money except as a means of furthering his charity. I’ve always said that the child was father of the man. I often looked to Nick because he just had it so all together and I just, I really wanted to be more like him.”

Michael Berg

It was during Nick’s second trip to war-torn Iraq, as an independent contractor helping to repair and build radio towers, that he was abducted. Nick was in Mosul, in the northern part of the country, when the Abu Ghraib prison scandal became public. “It so enraged the citizenry of Iraq,” said Michael. “It changed the whole texture of the war.”

Days before the scandal broke, Nick had been detained by military police and was finally released after being held for thirteen days.  He  began traveling from Mosul back to Baghdad, with the intent of returning to the United States. “He calls us on the phone and he tells us that everything is okay, that he’s going to get out as quickly as he can but that he’s not going to do anything rash and take a route that would be dangerous.”

“I remember telling him to ‘Stay low.’ That was one of the things he always said, ‘Stay low.’ I remember him telling me a lot of different routes he might take instead of the direct route which he ended up taking,” recalled Michael. “I didn’t want to get into, you know, saying ‘I love you.’ I didn’t want to say anything at this point because I felt like it’s like saying ‘I’m afraid I may never see you again.’ Maybe he felt the same way. I don’t know.”  That was the last time Michael spoke with Nick.

Michael was notified about Nick’s death by the U.S. State Department and he grappled with whether or not to share the details of Nick’s execution with his family. “When [my friend] heard the news about Nick I told him what I hadn’t told anyone yet about how Nick was killed and that I hadn’t told my wife and kids.” Michael’s friend encouraged him to tell his family and an hour after he told them, the video of Nick’s execution was broadcast on the Internet.

When I asked Michael what he would like to say to and about Nick, his reply was simple, “To Nick, I would like to say the ‘I love you’ that I didn’t say on April 9th when he called home. To know Nick was to know a unique individual, a real one-of-a-kind person who was a creative genius and wanted to harness that creative genius to help whoever was in need.”

Special thanks to Lilly Sullivan and Nina Porzucki.

After helping Lisa remove her first tooth, Lenoir sat Lisa down and explained that the Tooth Fairy would be on her way to collect the tooth as Lisa slept, and that she would leave a quarter in its place. Lisa showed the tooth to her older sister Vicki before dutifully placing the tooth under her pillow, climbing into bed, and drifting off to sleep. The next morning Lisa woke up, reached under the her pillow and found that her tooth was still there. Lisa ran to her parents and held out her hand with the tooth in it.

“Mama started to say something and Daddy just threw his hand out and stopped me and said ‘Lisa, ‘Ray’ is at the end of the alphabet. The Tooth Fairy must have been really busy last night. You’ve got to go back to bed and you’ve got to go to sleep now!’”

Lisa ran back to bed and tried to force herself go to sleep until she actually started to doze off.

“I heard these heavy footsteps coming across the floor,” said Lisa. “I thought, don’t fairies fly?” She felt a large hand slide under her pillow and then heard the footsteps cross back to the door. “I just had to look. I saw the back of a bald head that looked just like my Dad’s.”

The door shut then Lisa reached under her pillow and found her quarter. Right at that moment Vicki came into the room.

“Vicki, I don’t think there is a Tooth Fairy,” said Lisa. “I think it’s Daddy.”

Lisa explained what she had seen and Vicki responded, “Well, that wasn’t Daddy, Lisa. That was the Gentle Giant. He helps the Tooth Fairy when she is busy!”

“When I was 11 years old,” Lee continued, “I used to take two big mules and turn ground all day long, out in the country. It weren’t easy.”

The oldest of eleven children, Lee worked 72 acres of cotton, corn, and tobacco on his family’s land in North Carolina. The job was year-round and left him with little time for school. “I got to school about two days a week, and I was the biggest kid in school. I got disgusted with school. My dad said, ‘you’re worth more to me at home than you are in school. You got to work on this farm. We got to live.’ And so it was hard,” Lee remembered. “And I still have a problem with not being able to read and write. But God sees me through.”

Lee brought his guitar to the booth. While growing up, he used to play clubs in Virginia and North Carolina. Today, Lee fills the booth with his bluesy renditions of “Tell Me Why” and “Amazing Grace.” You can listen to him sing by clicking on the links.

Nancy’s story was different. “I had a problem, years ago, with drugs and alcohol. If it weren’t for JCOC and their programs and guidance, I probably wouldn’t be here today.” Nancy has been sober over six years, and she now works as JCOC’s kitchen manager.

Nancy and Lee have known each other since 1995.

“He’s easy to talk to,” Nancy explained. “Kind-hearted, good Christian. Proud to say he’s your friend and you know him.”

Lee agrees. “Ever since I met Nancy, we’ve always been good friends, yes sir. I couldn’t ever say anything against this woman.”

Our friends at 89.5 FM not only set up a huge banner over Waterside Drive announcing our arrival, but they also provided music and food for guests at our opening day. Of course, the best part of any opening day is the stories we hear from our participants.

Brenda H. Andrews interviewed her friend Andrew I. Heidelberg about his experiences as one of the Norfolk 17,  the first group of  black students to attend previously white schools during desegregation in Virginia. One day, when 12 year-old Andrew was coming home for dinner, there were two women and a man from the NAACP at his family’s home. They wanted to recruit Andrew in their efforts to get African-American students into recently desegregated schools. Andrew agreed to participate but had no idea what to expect. Months later at age 13 was his first day at Norview High School. Despite the tremendous prejudice he faced on a daily basis from white students at Norview, he knew he would graduate. “I didn’t want to let them make me quit,” he said.

A tale of triumph over a different kind of adversity came from Ray Evans who spoke with his daughter Debra Matthews about what it was like to be a child evacuee in England during World War II. His separation from his family found him in foster home after foster home, some of them warm and loving and others awful and abusive. Ray also talked about the bittersweet moment when he had to leave his final foster home—a wonderful, caring place—to return to his family.

Mr. Heidelberg summed up the message of both stories when he said, “Quitters never win and winners never quit!”