Heroes/Villains

Getting to know Bryan. Bryan grew up in Hickory Hills. He comes from a big family; he is one of six kids, with eight years being between the kids. Looking at his brothers and sisters you know they have a pretty good sense of humor and take a lot of things in stride. Being from such a big family you could only imagine it being a bit chaotic, loud and hectic. Just like any family, they had their hardships and from that he has a good sense of humor and a good outlook on life. He was raised by as single mom, but she also had help from her mother and her sister. They ate the same meal 4-5 nights a week. Typically spaghetti, the sauce was grow in the garden and canned by his grandmother and his mother and his aunt Liz and turned into spaghetti sauce and chili, if they ate spaghetti 4 nights and chili 2 nights then when it came to Sunday that was the big meal day. Sunday dinner was usually roast beef mashed potatoes another vegetable and rolls. They always ate at 4 pm sharp; everyone was expected to be home unless they had to work. All the kids were expected to work as soon as they were old enough. The most important person in Bryan’s life was his grandmother, he spent every waking moment with her until the age of 13, and she practically raised him. She was an extraordinary person. She spoke 7 different languages her parents were Czechoslovakian immigrants. Her father worked on the railroad and he actually had and accident where he lost his arm working on the railroad. The land where his mother still lives today was actually part of a settlement agreement from when his grandmother’s father lost his arm. It’s incredible that the land is still apart of the family to this day. The land that the house is on today was actually much larger, Bryan explains. It had 18 rental cabins, 4 quad-plex efficiency apartment and 42 mobile home spots. Her parents operated that from when they got the land from the settlement, before the worlds fair in Chicago through the 1980’s. After they passed the children carried it on. The girl’s education wasn’t as paramount as the boys so the boys got all the attention and grandma and her sisters wound up taking care of the property and manual labor while the boys were educated and things like that. So his then gram took it upon herself to educate herself. She then went to a secretary college; she worked in banking as the administrative assistant all while she raised her own 5 kids and a couple of grandkids.

Bryan never really thought about what he wanted to be when he grew up as a young child. It wasn’t until he was in is preteens that he really thought about it and came up with an idea. But just like many of us today what we thought we were going to be as a child and what we now want are totally different. He changed his mind a few times. He was initially in college to get a history degree and to teach. Bryan says when he went to school to teach he didn’t really make the most of his resources in school. An opportunity had presented its self from a family member to get him enrolled in a chef school program. When that opportunity came around he decided to leave school go home and go to chef school, while waiting for that to take place he then proceeded to take paramedic courses and become a certified paramedic. From taking the paramedic course he then was able to enroll in the firefighter academy, so he was working as a paramedic and testing for fire academies at the same time. As if he wasn’t busy and doing enough, part time work became available at a trucking company where my mother worked at. From this part time trucking company job he was making more money there than being a paramedic so he continued working at the trucking company and advancing in his transportation career. Bryan says “integrity is everything” is the most important lesson he has learned from working in the transportation industry for so long. Relating back to work Bryan says, “be nice, those you see on the way up, you see on the way down.” This is an important life lesson that I myself never really thought about. But from Bryan’s history with his career, he kept advancing and getting promoted, so it is very relatable.

Bryan has also passed down a couple traditions on to his own family. One tradition being that they still do Christmas Eve and Christmas day the same as when he was a child and when his own mother was a child. One specific Christmas tradition being the Oplatek, which is an eastern European tradition where each person breaks off a piece and wishes for peace and prosperity are exchanged from one to another. A second tradition that Bryan shared is caddying. His grandfather, all of his cousins, all his siblings, all his siblings children and his son Matthew; from our family all caddied. From caddying there is also and opportunity to get the “Evans scholarship” for college which has been presented to more than half of his family through out the years. Speaking of family, if he was to hold onto one memory for the rest of his life it would be his family vacation to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. In the past his family was never able to take a vacation dedicated to having fun and spending time together. They labeled his daughters cheerleading competitions ad a family vacation because they would go out of town together, but in reality their heads were else where rather than enjoying the time spent together.

When asking a friend who has known Bryan for 27 years now, Kerry shares that “he may seem rough around the edges, but he has the biggest heart and is the most caring, kind person. When you have a friend in Bryan you have a friend for life.” She also shares that her favorite memory with Bryan is also their family vacation to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, that after 25 years they finally got to enjoy a vacation together with three grown kids (24, 21 and 20), it made all the hard times worth it. Both Bryan and Kerry feel very strongly about this vacation, hopefully they get to have another one in the near future with their kids. Bryan is always able to look at things more objectively; he can point out more good than bad in any situation. Kerry says when she got sick, he always recognized her on days she didn’t even recognize herself. He always made her feel like everything was going to be okay. Tying into that, I had asked Bryan what his hopes were for me in the future, he said, “Become strong independent women. Find happiness and gratification. To be completely happy with whatever you are doing, whether that be a career woman or a stay at home mom. Doing the best you can as happy as you can be.”

Bryan is a hard working, caring, big-hearted guy. He cares a lot about his family and especially those close by him. After talking with him I felt a lot better knowing that he also did not know what he wanted to do and he changed his career a couple of times. I hope this helped you learn about the most important person in my life. I myself learned some things about him and his past I did not know.

Gaddis, Bryan

Personal Interview

8 February 2020