A Different Kind Of Hero

You'll run into all different kinds of hero's as you stumble through life... but you don't run into them too often. This is about a man that you'll probably never meet, probably have never known about til now. A man that just plows on through with a hobby that brings joy to thousands.

I own and manage a woodworking forum of about 1000 members, one of those members is Dick Grage. All of those guys and gals know about him and his ministry already, but you don't. Dick is retired, lives in Arizona with his bride... and Dick makes toys.

LOTS of toys.

I've seen him say more than once that when he retired he'd never do woodworking for money, it's his hobby, his enjoyment, his past time. He makes the type of toys that are timeless and more or less indestructible to young hands. I asked Dick this morning if he had any idea how many toys he'd made and it made me laugh... he actually had kept records over the years, and friends....... it's mind boggling. Here's his numbers.

Cars = 4,036

Cradles = 92

Trucks = 134

Graders = 57

Tractors = 101

Toy boxes = 40

Play kitchen sets = 11

Crosses = 132

Amazing eh? I tried to locate some of his pictures but most have expired from his picture hosting place, but here's a couple.

A batch of doll cradles he, with some help from his wife, finished up and all lined up drying.





And when he hit the "4000" mark on cars, he made a special one out of Zebra wood... just for himself.



All of this is done out of his own pocket, in his own time, and then he takes them to churches and preschools and day care centers and he gives them away to eager teachers and others.... by the box fulls.

And how much does he charge for all this?

Zero.

Dick Grage, you're a good man.


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I want to add to this just a bit. One of the guys on the woodworking forum had saved some pictures of Dick's cars that he's made, in process and finished. Here's a few of those. Again... the amount of time that he put's into this.... wow.

Thanks for the pictures Dan.