Guiding a Child by Example…

Some heroes wear capes. Some fly and fight crime. Others enrich us with love and their time.

Dr. Tedd Mitchell

Dr. Tedd Mitchell is a remarkable man. President of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, he is an Internist, speaker and national authority on health. Dr. Mitchell has written for USA Today Weekend, served on the National Council for Fitness and Sports, and authored two popular books.

Sharing the story of his personal hero, Dr. Tedd Mitchell told us about his Grandfather Johnston, known as “Mr. Ted” to the folks of Grayson, Louisiana:

“Grandfather Johnston was the kind of man who made you strive to be more. Stand a little taller. Speak a little smarter. Behave a bit better. He lived for ‘the basics’—honesty, respect, discipline, faith, family and friends.

A self-made man, Grandpa helped ‘make’ others too. Born in ‘03, he was the oldest child in a large family. In the 1920’s, a time when few went to school, he worked his way through Louisiana State University. Later, he helped put the younger kids through, too.

As a teacher in Grayson, he quickly stepped up to Principal, then Superintendent of Schools until he retired in 1968. The only gap in his career came during WWII when he served as a major in the U.S. Army.

When we visited our grandparents in Grayson, we need only mention Grandpa’s name. Once folks knew you were kin, you were ‘in.’

I wondered what Grandpa had done to be such a hero. What made everyone respect him so much? Was it something that happened in the war?

Then I learned something that defined how I led the rest of my life. Grandpa’s reputation wasn’t built from any single event. There was no one big moment.

Grandfather Johnston forged his good name the old fashioned way…deed after deed, day after day.”