The Reason Behind the Fundraising - More Stories About Alan

The Alan Frederick Schien Memorial golf tournament is just weeks away on Sunday, September 3rd at the beautiful Osage National Golf Club.  We want to share some stories about Alan, so that you can learn a little bit about this wonderful man's life and why Easterseals means so much to us. We hope to see you at the tournament, and if you would like to sign up a team, donate to Easterseals, or provide a silent auction prize, please go to www.fredheadgolf.com for more information.

Alan’s Life Lessons He Taught Me, the Good and the Bad (by Kent Schien)

Alan was this amazing person that despite his tremendous disabilities, he woke up every day happy.  He went about his day everyday with ferrous determination to get through his many therapies and he did with it with a smile on his face.

Alan taught me that it is okay if you aren’t getting things done maybe as fast as others, the point is to get them done with the right attitude.  That in life maybe we should measure our progress in micro stones instead of milestones and celebrate each success and not measure ourselves against the progress of others because who cares; it is not important.

Alan taught me that if someone is trying help them and that was good.  He also taught me that if someone won’t try – let them go. 

So, in work, I would do anything for someone trying and I would not have time for someone that didn’t understand the value of trying.

Alan and Music (by Kent Schien)

Alan loved music, all kinds of music.  From the time he was little he always enjoyed music.  His personal care assistance, “his girls” 16 in all, would play their music and he enjoyed it all.  From classic country, to country, to classic rock, to modern rock to hip hop to gospel, Alan loved it all.  Each of “his girls” liked different music; Alan had his own handicap accessible van and on weekends when we would take him somewhere we would get in the van and hit the key and the music would be blaring out of the speakers.  We always knew who had driven him somewhere last by the music pounding out of the speakers.

We would take Alan to many nice restaurants and we especially focused on restaurants where live music was played.  He loved to listen to the music during dinner and tap his foot against his wheelchair footrest.  One evening we were at a restaurant down at Lake of the Ozarks with my large family and we were going to listen to Boots Randoff and Lyn Zimmer Boots and Lynn played jazz.  Boots played the sax and Lyn the clarinet.  In the jazz world Boots had made a name for himself with a song called yackty sax, most people remember it as the beginning song for the old comedy show “Benny Hill”.  So, we are all getting settled for dinner and my Mom had Lynn come by to visit with us.  Mom introduced our family and she said, watch my grandson Alan he loves music, he taps his toe to the beat.  After the first break Lyn came over and said to us he was watching Alan and could tell he loved music.  Then he said what is one of Alan’s favorites and with missing a beat we said he loves Frank Sinatra.  Lynn said that he also loved Sinatra.  At the next break Lynn brought over his favorite CD of Frank and gave it to Alan.  This was the start of a great relationship with Alan and Lynn.  Alan had all of Lynn’s CD, all autographed and he has a great picture of him and Lynn that Lynn autograph.

His girls always talked about taking him to a concert.  So, when the Tim McGraw concert was announced for St. Louis the girls really pushed and Carol and I to let him go.  So, after much discussion we relented and allowed three of his girls to take him the concert.  Off he went with his three dates, his cowboy hat he had stolen from his uncle Mike from years before to the concert.  Now Carol and I were nervous as you could guess that this disabled man in a wheelchair would have some kind of trouble at the concert and after worrying the whole time I am not sure who was happier to hear his van pulling down the driveway late that night.  Great experience for him and all that saw him that night.

I always say you can learn something from everyone, no matter who they are or what disability they have, so pay attention, you might learn something.

For more information on the event, go to www.fredheadgolf.com or www.eastersealsmidwest.org.   For further inquiries, call tournament co-chair Bill Bartelsmeyer at 314-422-7869, Kent Schien at 314-691-0007, or Easterseals Midwest Vice President of Development, Shana Albright, at 314-394-7044

For Tournament Info - www.FredHeadGolf.com

Follow Us On

Facebook 

LinkedIn

To Help Easterseals Midwest - www.eastersealsmidwest.org