Carl Kieke

Special to the Reporter-News

EDITOR'S NOTE: Through the beginning of 2020, the Reporter-News is publishing stories on Everyday Heroes, people who make a difference in their communities, often without receiving recognition.

You wouldn’t think someone in their early 80s would be able to do much to support others, especially if it meant leaving the comforts of home. That’s not the case with Marion Simpson – at least not until he suffered a severely broken leg in February.

The rehabilitation from that and from heart surgery slowed him down, but “each time as soon as Marion healed he was back to visiting again,” said sister-in-law Janie Dalrymple, referring to his frequent visits to those in the hospital or nursing homes.

For his many selfless actions, she nominated him as an Everyday Hero – a title he doesn’t feel he deserves.

“I don’t feel like I’m a hero, just another laborer trying to do what’s right,” is how he describes his activities.

Dalrymple disagrees.

“He does it to the extreme. If anybody could get up and get dressed and do that all the time, there’s got to be something else there.”

Simpson said he knows what that “something else” is: Jesus Christ.

“I feel like he gave his Son for my life, so what I can do to help others, I need to do,” Simpson said, referring to God.

"Do" he has, for the past 25 to 30 years. He is a senior deacon at Elmcrest Baptist Church and makes it his business to visit members, and others, when they need it.

Dalrymple recalled her father being hospitalized after an oil field accident.

“He was there the biggest part of the time,” she said. “I don’t know how he managed it (while raising four children). He’s just got something that a lot of people don’t have.”

Simpson spent four years in the Air Force and is retired from Lydick Hooks Roofing, where he worked for almost 38 years.

Simpson was quick to note that he has another hero living in his home – his wife, Glenda, whom he met while in the Air Force.

“She’s taken care of me for 62 years,” he said.

His recent health issues have placed some restrictions on his actions. It can be a long walk from the parking lot to a hospital room, so sometimes he has to wait until a person returns home. But if it’s doable, people have learned they can count on Marion Simpson to be there for them.

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