Last week a gentlemen asked me if I knew Denny Guptill. Well before I
was Denn Guptill, I was Denny Guptill but I wasn’t the Denny Guptill he was
asking about. Instead he was talking
about D.P.(Denny) Guptill, who was the chief of Police in Saint John, New
Brunswick during the prohibition years.
When I acknowledged that Denny Guptill was my father’s uncle, the man
simply said “He was a good man.” Later I
asked him how he knew my uncle and he replied “I didn’t really know him, I was
a citizen when he was the chief, he was a good man.”
A “Good Man”, that’s quite the testimony considering that D.P. Guptill
has not been chief of Police in Saint John for over 70 years and has been dead
for over fifty years. Denny Guptill’s
legacy was that he was an honest cop in an era when that was an anomaly and
that he left Saint John a better place then he found it, and a generation later
people still talk about it. I wonder
how people will talk about this Denny Guptill in 70 years? How people remember me tomorrow will be
determined by the choices I make and the things I do today. Have
a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to
attempt the impossible.
1 comment:
That is great to hear from strangers about members of our family, and to speak so highly of them. I will always remember you Denn as you taught me how to be me. I will always remember the first thing that you said to me that still sticks in my head to this day. There is no cookie mold to be a Christian, just believe and do what is rite.You and Angela are always in my prayers Denn and always will be my friend.
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