One of the great things about being Mayor of a small town is that you get to
know a large percentage of the citizens. Over the years, I’ve discovered that
there is a proliferation of what I like to call “neighborhood superheroes”. By
day, they are your typical citizen – going to work, taking the kids to school,
mowing the lawn – but by night (or on special occasions) they transform into
something more.
Kees Grashoff is the epitome of a neighborhood superhero. By day, he’s a
respected mechanic with a hearty laugh, but come Christmastime, Kees puts
his bushy beard to effective use as Independence’s resident Santa Claus.
Seen every year riding in the bucket of a fire truck in Independence’s
Holiday Parade of Lights, Santa Kees’ schedule is booked solid and his
hearty laugh delights hundreds of children every year. A Dutchman, Kees
has also been known to disappear right about the time that Sinter Klaus,
Santa’s Dutch doppelganger, shows up at the Dutch Christmas Festival.
You don’t just have to be a secret Santa to be a neighborhood superhero –
our Independence Police officers have a long tradition in this regard.
Sergeant Bob Mason, like now-retired Sgt. (?) Roger Lloyd before him
patroll our streets by day (and night), and in their off time, don the uniform
of a Central Youth Sports coach and booster. Anyone who can turn a group
of middle school kids into a coordinated team is a hero in my book.
(I can’t think of other stories. You can either stick with the quirky like Kees,
or go for the volunteerism angle like Mason and Lloyd. I’d mention the city
councilors if we hadn’t just done something on them)
Neighborhood heroes are everywhere when you start looking for them. It’s
the family who spends an entire weekend each year turning their house into
a special Christmas light show. It’s the man on the lawn tractor who plowed
my entire neighborhood’s sidewalks and chugged off down the road before I
could get his name. It’s all those fixtures in the community that you may
only know as “the bell ringer at Roth’s”. They’re ordinary people like you
and me, who take the time to do something extra to make their neighborhood
and community a better place. That’s a superhero if I’ve ever heard of one.