An unlikely hero of the G.F. fire tragedy

There will be no shortage of people, papers, television stations praising our firefighters and law enforcement in the coming days, now that the fire at the J.P. Stevens Mill No. 3 has been put out and people are beginning to go home.
We will join in that chorus, because we were there and saw not only the courage of the firefighters, the dedication, but also the intelligence of their approach.
It’s easy and obvious to praise the guys with the hoses and walkie-talkies, but the first hero of the crisis in Great Falls we want to honor is not so obvious and easy.
He’s a 13-year-old with a push broom, but we are a little awestruck by James Corder. A Great Falls school custodial official praised the young man as well, saying he is “jam up and jelly tight.”
Great Falls Middle School Facility Supervisor Henry Stevenson said 13-year-old James Corder did “everything” Stevenson asked him to do.
Corder could have sat back and let others do for him. Like hundreds of others, he came to the shelter at the middle school as an evacuee.
He could have sat back and done puzzles and watched TV and expected others to cater to his needs. It’s understandable. The volunteers who work these shelters want to cater to people in trouble.
But James Corder pitched in. He grabbed a broom and swept the floor. He moved tables and chairs for others. Whatever was needed, he was a go-to guy for Stevenson.
Stevenson himself is worthy of praise as well. He and his crew were supposed to be closing the middle school for the summer Instead, he was working late, late nights, getting maybe six hours of sleep, helping get whatever the volunteers needed that the school could provide.
Stevenson’s “helper,” this 13-year-old kid, had the right attitude from the start.
“I’m staying here right now, sir,” Corder said Friday night, broom in hand. “I’ve been here since Thursday. It’s like our house right now. You want to keep it clean.”
He was sweeping his “house.”
The boy finally gave it up for the night Friday at one point, Stevenson said.
“When he got down, he fell right asleep.”
In other words, Corder worked himself into exhaustion when he could have been watching TV.
Some evacuees were focused on what they could get out of this. It’s understandable. A tragedy came and took their lives away for a week. But this young man asked not what his community could do for him, but what he could do for his community.
His only tool was that broom, but he is as worthy a hero as anyone with a hose.
He was brought up right. His mother Starlene should be proud of him,.
We are.

Published Wednesday, June 14, 2006.