“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”
― C.S. Lewis
Close to ninety years ago, my grandfather, Gerald Delbeke, boarded an ocean liner and left Belgium for Ellis Island. He only spoke Flemish, he knew nobody in America, and in spite of the Great Depression, he was relying on his trade as an electrical engineer to survive. He soon got married, found a job as an engineer in Detroit and formed an incredible family of children, including my mom. His english was never great, but my mom still speaks of him with great deep admiration and love. He was a very faithful and religious man, they prayed the rosary every night as a family, and he instilled many of the values that were handed down to me. A humble hero indeed!