GIVE THANKS! SOME RESIDENTS OF THIS REGION HAVE SPECIAL REASONS TO DO SO

Families of the nation gather today to give thanks. Thanksgiving provides Americans with a holiday dedicated to counting one's own blessings.

The day is marked by feasts and football, prayer and fellowship. Above all, people are obliged by the occasion to ponder the mystery of their own well-being, to appreciate the good things of their existence.

And while for some this special day is steeped in tradition, even unreflective routine, many in the region have special reason to give thanks today.

The Southeast Missourian contacted a number of area residents who faced dangerous circumstances in recent times. Their thoughts provide a keener perspective on this holiday.

"No question about it, I have a lot to be thankful for," says Terry Long of Cape Girardeau, who is still recuperating from a gasoline fire at his home in early March.

"I'm still doing stretching exercises two hours a day," he said Wednesday. "But, I'm feeling pretty good."

Long received first, second and third-degree burns over 40 percent of his body in the accident at his home on March 8. Sparks from a grass fire touched off some gasoline Long had been working with.

He was taken to the burn unit of St. John's Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis County, where he underwent several skin grafts and was listed in critical condition more than two months.

"I was at St. John's 76 days before coming home on Aug. 22," said Long. "I have so much to be grateful for the many friends who showed kindness and consideration for my wife, Lucille, bringing her to St. Louis. This was so important to me.

"I'm also thankful for the helicopter medical service," he said. "This could have been the difference in life and death for me. And, I'm thankful for all my friends for their prayers, cards and thoughts during the past eight months."

Long was looking forward to Thanksgiving with his family.

"The children were expected to be here from Kansas City," he said. "but that depends on the weather."

Long is an advertising account representative with KFVS-TV. Prior to joining the television station, he was advertising director for the Southeast Missourian from 1964 to 1977.

For the Mike Carlton family of Cape Girardeau, there's also good reason to give thanks.

After a bone marrow transplant and 44 days as a patient at St. Louis University Medical Center, Carlton is looking forward to a Thanksgiving meal with his family and his continuing recovery from cancer.

Carlton was scheduled to leave the hospital Wednesday. He will remain in St. Louis for several weeks as an outpatient.

"I feel great about it," Carlton said Wednesday morning.

His wife, Cheri, said the family will spend Thanksgiving in St. Louis. "We are thankful. We will all four be together and we are thankful for that," she said, noting that their two daughters Laurie, 23, and Jennifer, 17 will be there.

"We have a lot to be thankful for this year," she said.

Carlton received a transplant of healthy bone marrow from his twin brother, Ron "Ike" Carlton of Cape Girardeau.

Ron Carlton will celebrate Thanksgiving at home. But he said Wednesday he'll be thinking about his brother this holiday.

"We just feel that we have been blessed," he said.

Pilot Bill Beard of Chaffee likewise feels blessed.

A Cape Central Airways pilot, Beard managed to walk away from a crash landing at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport on the evening of Jan. 20.

"I am very thankful that everything worked out as it did," Beard said Wednesday. "This ended rather well considering the circumstances, I think."

Beard was forced to make an emergency landing after his plane's landing gear failed to come down because of a mechanical problem.

The plane, a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron, landed at 8:27 p.m., skidding on its belly for more than 1,000 feet before coming to a stop. Emergency personnel, who had been alerted to the situation, raced to the plane.

Beard said the fact he had to make the landing at night added to the tension.

He emerged unscathed from the crash landing and was back at work the next day. Beard said he's just grateful that he wasn't injured.

Blake Phelps, 19, of Scott City, says he's especially thankful today that he's been given a second opportunity for life, in addition to making some positive changes in his former lifestyle.

Phelps was critically injured in a one-car accident that occurred May 16 on the South Kingshighway-Interstate 55 on-ramp.

The 14-year-old driver of the car was killed. Phelps suffered a broken neck.

For a while it was feared Phelps might be paralyzed for the rest of his life. But six months later, he has recovered from his injuries, although he will never be able to play football, wrestle or engage in any other type of strenuous sporting activity.

"But I'm not bitter," he said Wednesday. "It could have been worse, I could have been killed or paralyzed.

"It's true I can never do some of the things I've wanted to do, but because of what happened, I can appreciate the things that I can do that much more. I'm just thankful that I'll be able to live a normal life. ... I'm also thankful for my parents and all my friends who have supported me during my recovery."

Roger Moore of Delta says he has always taken time on this holiday to be thankful for the things he has, but this year he is even more thankful than before.

"I almost wasn't here ... by all means I'm more thankful this year," said Moore.

On the evening of May 31, while tearing down the old Delta funeral home he had purchased, a concrete block wall collapsed on him.

Moore sustained a broken leg, dislocated shoulder, and cuts and bruises all over his body. But after a week in the hospital and about six weeks recuperation, he was back at work with Ford and Sons Funeral Home in Cape Girardeau.

Fortunately, Moore saw the wall collapsing and was able to avoid being buried by it. "But one more step back and I would have been gone. I was fortunate; Walter Joe (Ford) almost had to put me away," said Moore.

"I always watch myself so I don't get in dangerous situations, because I see a lot of accident victims. But I did something foolish," added Moore. "The sledge hammer now rests ... I know what it would be like to be in an earthquake."

Ruby Stone is similarly thankful.

"This is one Thanksgiving I can really and honestly be thankful for. I'm more than thankful," she said.

Stone, 88, was carried from her burning house by two passersby who saw the flames and stepped in to help.

Acting Fire Chief Max Jauch said at the time that they may have saved her life. The fire Nov. 15 destroyed a frame house at 107 N. Park St., where Stone rented the downstairs apartment.

Her heroes are Joseph Orr, a member of the cross country and track teams at Southeast Missouri State University, and another unidentified man.

"I didn't have a chance to talk to anyone (during the fire or since)," Stone said. "But I'm very thankful to the two boys who carried me. I would like to say I will pray for them for the rest of my life and I do thank them from the bottom of my heart.

"I've always had things to be thankful for, but this year even more so. The Lord spared my life."

For Marilyn Seyer of rural Cape Girardeau, this holiday season very nearly was one she would have spent without her husband, Ronnie.

Ronnie Seyer still is recovering after he was nearly killed two months ago when his neck was pierced after the mirrors of the semi-truck he was driving and an eastbound truck hit as they met on the Mississippi River bridge.

"He's doing better," said Marilyn Seyer. "He's progressed a lot. He still got a good way to go, but we're sure thankful we still have him. It's going to be a lot nicer Thanksgiving and Christmas."

Quick action by Candy Tucker of Olive Branch, Ill., who came upon the scene shortly after Seyer was injured, was credited with saving the man's life.

Seyer said she talked with Tucker Monday, and her and her husband are planning to go to the Seyer's home for a "Christmas get-together" sometime over the holiday.

"We're really looking forward to it," Seyer said. "I owe an awful lot of it to her. I know she doesn't want to take much credit, but the doctors said that if she hadn't done what she did, he wouldn't have made it."

Seyer said her husband's accident has made this holiday a reflective one.

"People just take life for granted. They just think that after their loved one leaves for work that he's just automatically going to come back," she said. "Life if really precious, and you never know how long you're on this earth so you better be thankful every day you have your loved ones with you."