CHOOSING EXERCISE, CHOOSING LIFE

WRITER: TIA O’NEAL, HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR, TOWN OF LADY LAKE

CHOICES, ABOUT FOOD AND ACTIVITIES, CAN BE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIVING AND SLOWLY DYING.

My motivation for getting more physically fit over the past few years is quite simple — I did not want to die.

Crazy talk for a 30-year-old, right? But 30-year-olds die of preventable causes every day. I didn’t want to be one of them.

In May 2013, one of the nurses at our health fair at work checked my blood pressure and said, “Tia, your blood pressure is a little high. You may want to watch that. Talk to your doctor about it if you need to.” I just thought the elevated reading was from running around a lot that day and being under a lot of stress. The following week, I went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription and checked my blood pressure. It was still high.

I thought to myself, “This can’t be right. I’m not that person.” Until 2011, I was always active, running and playing basketball… until I was sidelined by a torn meniscus and subsequent surgery. Had I really gotten that out of shape in two years? I was 40 pounds overweight and prehypertension at 29. That should be enough to make any person want to change, but honestly, the tipping point for me was watching people I love get sick and die. My family has a terrible history of heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. I’ve been to enough funerals in the past five years to know this is a fact.

I did not want to be a casualty of my inactive and poor eating habits, so I decided I would get healthy by the time I turned 30. I changed my diet and my lifestyle and began the journey. It has not been easy.

Perhaps one of the hardest things for me was watching a once very active family member suffer from cancer. When I asked her what she wanted, she told me, “Live. Go outside and run again like a normal person.” That’s hard to hear from a 27year-old, but I always remember that when I want to skip a workout, or I don’t want to do burpees. I remember I am able and if I don’t, it’s not because I can’t, it’s because I choose not to. There is a difference between being physically unable to do something and making excuses not to do it.

What is life but the sum of many choices? My poor lifestyle had nothing to do with genetics and everything to do with poor choices. Now I choose to wake up at 4:30a.m. to go lift heavy weights at 5a.m. I choose to run that extra mile on Sunday evening when I’d rather be lounging. I choose to eat better, live better, and be better. I choose health. I may have to work harder than the next person because of my family history, but it does not mean it cannot be done.

I reached my goal of dropping 30 pounds, mainly by focusing on nutrition and being healthy instead of the weight loss. In 2013, I also discovered CrossFit, which helped me lose another 10 pounds and has strengthened me both mentally and physically. I’ll be 31 in this month, and I’m in the best shape of my life. You can be too.

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PATIENTS RECLAIM THEIR INDEPENDENCE.”

“When I arrived at Promise, I was suffering from paralysis that affected me from my toes to my neck including my diaphragm. I couldn’t even breathe on my own. But the staff at Promise was amazing. They were all so patient and understanding with me and gave me the boost I needed to keep going.” —

Terri Lethig, Cardiopulmonary Manager

to grow on acres of banged-up Buicks, crushed Chevrolets, and fractured Fords. But love did indeed bloom 30 years ago behind the iron-link fence at Lady Lake Auto Salvage. Love of a challenge … love between man and wife … and love of family. A neglected junkyard was catalyst for all three.

Larry Wright was enamored from the moment he eyeballed the rows of forgotten vehicles.

“It was in terrible, terrible shape. There were more rats and snakes than there were cars,” his wife Joan said. “And there was garbage everywhere.”

But Larry saw beauty in the rusted heaps and worn-out appliances strewn over 10 acres adjacent to U.S. Highway 27/441 in sleepy little Lady Lake. So, in 1983, he handed over his life savings and got busy cleaning up the land his cars and trucks would eternally rest on.

“He would walk the property every night at 7 or 8. And his eyes would just shine because he owned it,” Joan said.

The place had nowhere to go but up, and Larry knew how to haul it there. The same way he built a successful transmission shop in Detroit — by outworking ordinary men.

“He was very ambitious,” said Larry’s grandson Troy Sharpe. “He never missed a day of work in his life. Even when he had half of his teeth pulled, he went to work.”

Larry didn’t know any other way.

“His father died when Larry was a young man,” Troy recalled. “He worked two or three jobs to take care of his brothers, three sisters, and his mom. Sometimes he’d come home at 5a.m., lie down for a few minutes, and then get up and go to work at 6a.m.”

Larry dreamt of three things during years of replacing throwout bearings, installing torque converters, and testing solenoids — being able to afford a $100 pair of shoes, leaving Detroit, and saving his kid brothers Gary and Sid from the streets.

“Sid’s problem was drugs. And Gary’s, too. Larry hated drugs,” Joan remarked.

“That’s why we moved out of Detroit; Dad wanted a better life for all of us,” said his youngest daughter Debbie.

Larry was more than willing to pay the price to provide the better life. Most days, he worked from dawn to dark.

At least he didn’t have a commute. “We lived in an old trailer in the back of the yard,” Joan said.

“Old” is a generous description. Troy remembers it as “crappy.” A lesser woman would have balked, but Joan would follow Larry anywhere. He was her one true love. “I would have gone around the world with him. As long as we were together,” she said. Joan had known practically from their first meeting when she was 13. Three years later, she walked down the aisle. He was 19.

“They were true soul mates. They absolutely adored each other,” Debbie said.

Even though they lived in a cramped trailer in the middle of a junkyard.

“The whole venture was a team effort between husband and wife, best friends, partners, and teammates,” said their daughter Roxanne. “My mother stayed in the background, but always supported my dad 100 percent.”

It was easy to believe in Larry. The hard-working son of a taxi driver treated everyone with respect, especially those who fell on hard times.

“He helped so many people,” Debbie said. “Many times people would come in with a flat tire or needing a starter and they wouldn’t have any money. Dad would give them a tire or repair their car and get them back on the road.”

Some returned when they scrounged up a few bucks; oth- and went,” Joan recalled. “They’d come in late and Larry would say, ‘I’ll have to fire you.’ They’d come back two or three days later and he’d hire them right back. ‘What can I do? They have to feed their families,’ he’d say.”

Some didn’t deserve the second… third… or fourth chance Larry gave them.

“There were a lot of thieves. A tremendous lot of thieves,” Joan said with a faraway look.

Lowlifes pilfered parts and weren’t Larry.

Roxanne after she was involved in a serious accident with a drunken driver. When Roxanne and young son Troy needed a place to stay, Larry made room for them in the decrepit trailer he and Joan lived in at the back of the junkyard.

“My dad had his hands full,” Debbie says.

Little by little, the yard came alive. In less than five years, Larry grew his inventory from 135 vehicles to about 3,000.

“Larry had more ambition than his brothers did,” recalled Larry’s longtime inventory clerk/ secretary Terry Snyder. “He had good intentions, but his brothers went the other way.”

Sid was initially gung-ho, willing to put in long hours and bend over backwards to help customers. But after-hours partying began affecting his attendance and work.

Gary also loved the nightlife. He wasn’t exactly an 8-to-5 guy ers became regular customers on the Larry Wright installment plan.

“Grandpa was a great man,” Troy said. “He let a lot of people pay him a dollar a day; people who owed him hundreds of dollars.”

Lady Lake Auto Salvage was much more than a place to buy used auto parts.

“He had so many friends — customers who became friends,” Joan said.

Sadly, some people took advantage of Larry’s easy-going nature.

“So many employees came tools, but Larry refused to let them take his heart.

“He was a philanthropist at heart,” said Troy. “He wanted to help as many people as he could.”

He began with family.

“Larry brought Sid down to straighten him out,” said Sheri Wright, who worked as the clerk at Lady Lake Auto Salvage and later married Sid.

“My Uncle Sid was a wonderful guy, but he was involved with some drugs,” Debbie recalled. “He was hanging with the wrong guys.”

Larry also offered help to

Sales were up, way up. So Larry bought a house on Eagles Nest Road. He was finally in position to expand, to set his brothers up so they could really succeed.

Larry had a plan. He’d buy American Auto Salvage in Fruitland Park and have his brothers Gary and Sid run it. The Wrights would be salvage yard kings of Central Florida and live happily ever after.

Of course, it didn’t work out that way. Fairytales never take place in junkyards.

What went wrong? Dozens of things. First, Gary and Sid

— unless it was 8p.m. to 5a.m.

“Gary was a little on the wild side,” recalled Sheri. “And he didn’t work as hard as Larry did. Many times Gary would come in late and I had to run the show.”

Gary wasn’t just undependable; he was unpredictable, irritable, and argumentative.

His parts pullers began sarcastically calling their boss “Exactly Wright.”

“He was just aggravated with the business and he wanted somebody to buy it out from under him,” recalled Roy William Lovejoy, one of Gary’s employees. “And he had all these bills piling up on him and he said, ‘I’m ready to leave this ----ing place.’”

No one of his employees was surprised to hear Gary Wright arguing with a customer in the early afternoon of Dec. 5, 1985.

Carl Bullard was trying to settle a bill for repairs to his car. The dispute was over an additional $45 Gary wanted to charge for installing a rotor.

When Bullard questioned the charge, Gary exploded. According to Bullard, Gary screamed, “I don’t want to hear a ---damn word from you. If I do, I’m going to blow you and that raggedy --- piece of ---right off my property.”

What happened next depends on which eyewitness (there were four) you asked. Wright either went to his office and got a gun, or Bullard unholstered a weapon and began firing.

No one could deny the argument ended with six retorts from a Smith and Wesson .38 special and Gary Allen Wright face down on the floor with a bullet in his jaw and a second slug in his upper torso.

Fruitland Park police officer Mark Isom and emergency medical technician David Jordan were among the first responders. Jordan checked for vital signs and found none. Gary Wright was dead at age 42.

“They called my husband and told him, ‘Hurry up and get down here, your brother Gary’s been shot,’” Joan recalled. “Larry screamed and got his brother and they jumped in the car. I’ve never seen two people move so fast. They didn’t come back for the longest time. Both were crying. We didn’t expect to hear he passed away.”

That afternoon, 52-year-old Altoona resident Carl Bullard turned himself in. He was charged with first-degree murder and booked into jail. Bail was denied.

A devastated Larry Wright identified his brother’s body at the morgue. “It broke his heart,” Debbie said.

Through tears, Larry resolved to try even harder to protect baby brother Sid. The kid still had a fighting chance.

The evidence suggested an open-and-shut case. Bullard, unprovoked, shot an unarmed man and then fired the fatal shot while Gary lay on the floor.

Or had he? Lead investigator Chuck Johnson was hearing conflicting stories.

At least one witness claimed Gary had a gun and pointed it at his irate customer. Bullard may have acted in self-defense.

Jewell Bennett, a customer who was outside the American Auto Salvage office, said Gary Wright, “… walked over to a desk and picked up a handgun” and holstered it in the front of his trousers. After the shooting, Jewell saw an employee take a clean rag and remove the gun from the dying man’s hand. Gary’s employees obstructed justice by taking the weapon and stashing it in a storeroom.

If Jewell was telling the truth, a first-degree murder charge was out of the question. The state would be forced to pursue second-degree murder or manslaughter.

Jewell’s incredible story gained credence when investigators found a Crossman B.B. gun that resembled a .357 Magnum. There was blood on the weapon. Two employees who initially swore Gary was unarmed recanted and admitted to hiding the Magnum-lookalike Gary was holding when he died.

According to a report Johnson filed, “It is believed the victim holstered the B.B. handgun in his trousers. Testimony is inconsis- tent at this point but apparently the victim made an overt move toward the handgun that may have been interpreted by the defendant (Carl Bullard) as a drawing motion.”

Another employee said Gary pointed a real gun at Bullard.

“They had all kinds of guns,” Roy William Lovejoy told investigators. “Mr. Wright had a .357 that he carried in the back of his pants, back underneath his shirt whenever he had to take large, you know, was trying to kill Mr. Bullard.” for a while, then he would go down.”

Bullard admitted shooting Gary Wright, but swore he acted in self-defense.

The prosecution countered with ballistics evidence indicating that the final fatal shot was discharged as Gary lay wounded on the floor.

The six-member jury deliberated five-and-a-half hours before finding Bullard guilty of second-degree murder. Sid Wright sobbed when the verdict was announced.

Sid’s chances of bouncing back took a hit when an appeals court ordered a new trial because the circuit judge erred by not allowing Bullard’s testimony that Gary acted irrationally and used racial slurs.

Sid’s already delicate stateof-mind plunged further when the state declined to prosecute Bullard a second time. Testimony that Gary Wright was armed had supported Bullard’s don’t feel that probation would be justice served. To me, it don’t seem like there’s been enough time spent behind bars for committing a killing of another human being. There’s some question about self-defense.”

Watching Bullard walk free was the final nail in Sid’s emotional coffin. He functioned like an out-of-tune engine from that point on, and American Auto Salvage suffered. “The younger brother Sid tried to run it, but he sums of money to the bank or something.”

Did Gary Wright have an actual .357 Magnum and a B.B. gun that looked like one?

The three-day trial didn’t solve the mystery.

“We don’t know if this is the gun or not,” Bullard’s attorney Carl Wilson said as he showed jurors the B.B. gun. “If it was this gun, then he, Wright, played with a toy and caused this whole tragic thing. If it was a real gun, then I’m not sure we have a tragedy because then it would be obvious he

Bullard was sentenced to 15 years for murder and five years for carrying a concealed weapon, sentences to be served concurrently.

Larry Wright was sentenced to survivor’s guilt. He coped by working harder than ever.

Five miles south at American Auto Salvage, baby brother Sid remained stalled. Managing the office Gary was killed in was probably the last place he should have been.

“Sid had a lot of trouble dealing with Gary’s death,” recalled Sheri. “Sid would be all right claim of self-defense.

“Mr. Wright created the circumstances and caused what has happened up to this point,” stated Bullard’s attorney.

It was no longer clear whether Gary Wright or Carl Bullard was the victim.

The picture became clearer when the court allowed Bullard to plead guilty to the reduced charge of manslaughter. Bullard’s sentence: five years probation. He was released from prison. He had served 17 months.

Sid told the court, “I don’t fully understand what’s all happening here right now, but I lost it back to the previous owner,” Lady Lake towing service owner Robert Isom said.

Larry did what any loving brother would do; he hired Sid to work with him, but there were different ground rules this time. Sid had always needed Larry; now Larry needed Sid. Larry’s health was failing.

“He was tired, mentally tired,” Joan remembered. “It got to where he was falling asleep at dinner.”

Sid jumped at the opportunity to repay his big brother. For a while, Sid thrived pulling parts and filling orders. But a dark cloud hung over him — Sid couldn’t shake the feeling that Gary’s murderer would one day walk into the office.

Sid’s performance became erratic. He became more of a hindrance than help.

“It tore me up. I got bitter at the whole world. I could see it was taking a toll,” Joan said. “If he had been a better person, Sid would have helped his brother.”

On the other side of Lake County, Carl Bullard was having his own problems. He was alone and ill, mentally and physically. He had no appetite and lost 60 pounds. And he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone — maybe the Wright brothers — were going to get him.

On Feb. 15, 1999, 66-year-old Carl Bullard surrendered. Deputies found him in his 1990 Chev- rolet S-10 pickup truck with a gunshot wound to the head.

In Lady Lake, Sid was also surrendering, but he was pursuing the slow death. Sid tried to obtain Oxycotin with a forged prescription, but escaped arrest when the pharmacist refused to fill it. On another occasion, Lady Lake police found “several hypodermic needles” and a “small plastic baggie” on the bathroom floor of his apartment.

Larry had to face the harsh reality that his love — as strong as it was — would never be enough to save Sid from himself.

“Sid was into drugs so much. He would stay high. That was his out,” Joan said. “Larry would tell him time and time again, ‘Please Sid, you’re killing yourself.’”

Larry was also dying. Diabe- tes, COPD, and the affects of years of around-the-clock labor were breaking down Larry’s body. The trauma of losing one brother and seeing a second slip away were doing a number on his mind.

Joan begged him to sell the business that spawned tragedy instead of happiness.

At first, Larry resisted. He finally relented when a buyer appeared unexpectedly. Larry and Joan bought a cabin in the mountains in Murphy, N.C.

“That morning we drove to the yard and gave the keys to the new owners. We got in the car and drove away and he never looked back,” Joan said. “I tried to be cheerful and talk all the way to North Carolina, but he was very quiet. I think that broke his heart.”

Larry had only been in his mountain cabin for two months when the call came. Sid was dead at age 50.

The loss hit even harder than Gary’s murder. “This news crushed my grandfather,” Troy said. “Sid was the youngest and was like a son to my grandfather. I believe this news created the stress, sadness, and depression that led to the aneurysms my grandfather suffered.”

The only consolation — Sid died clean.

“He literally died of heart congestion,” recalled Sheri. “His organs shut down, but they didn’t find any drugs in his system. We expected them to find something, but they didn’t.”

Maybe Larry saved Sid after all. Now, if only he could save himself.

“He had two aortic aneurysms — one large, visible palpitation in the sternum area and a smaller one underneath it,” Troy recalled. “The doc gave him 48 hours to live without emergency surgery. He never wanted to undergo surgery for any reason… his tone changed when the doctor told him his life depended on it… He smiled and said, ‘Let’s do it.’ I could see the uncertainty and fear in his eyes for the first time in his life.”

The surgery lasted nine hours.

“Not once, not even a little bit, did my grandfather ever complain nor have anything negative to say,” Troy recalled. “He was really strong and that made it easier for my grandmother. He was constantly smiling and never whined, bitched, became depressed — not a smidgen of negativity.” time,” Troy recalled. “When she returned from the restroom, he had already passed.”

Larry’s medical expenses exceeded $1 million when Joan and Troy moved him back to Florida to protect his estate.

Larry lived 13 months longer than Sid. He died from a massive heart attack. Or was it a heart broken too many times? Luckily, his efforts weren’t in vain.

“This whole ordeal changed my life,” said Troy, who graduated from Florida State University with a degree in finance, moved to Houston, and founded Oak Harvest Financial Group. “I di- to keep going. She missed him too much. She slowly deteriorated and passed away on May 11, 2010.”

So, Troy lives for Larry and Joan.

“He would be very proud and humbled, and I know he would do it all again a thousand times if it meant I would make something of my life. Also, I recently became engaged and plan on starting a family in a couple of years. I’m sure they are smiling from above.”

Larry was in a coma for five weeks. In the hospital, he suffered hypoxia.

“He had symptoms very similar to a stroke victim in regards to his cognitive ability. He could remember what happened in 1965, but not in 2000,” Troy said. “He didn’t even know what year it was and he would often call me by Sid’s name.”

Eighteen months of pain, frustration, and severe bedsores followed. Larry fought with the same determination he had shown in clearing the junkyard.

He didn’t want Joan to end up destitute.

In Tallahassee, Larry’s health improved. He reached a point where he could eat, drink, and walk about 50 feet with his walker.

Then on Dec. 17, 2006, around 3a.m., Larry awoke with a start and screamed, “Joanie!” When his bride rushed to his bedside, Larry said he felt excruciating pain in his left leg, but it quickly passed. She told him she was going to the restroom, but would be right back. And then …

“They looked at each other and said ‘I love you’ one last rectly attribute my success to my grandparents… I truly believe my grandfather went through that experience in order to help shape my life. In life, he was willing to sacrifice everything in order to provide for others and his ultimate sacrifice created the opportunity and paved the way for my success.”

Sadly, Joan didn’t live to see Troy open one of the fastest-growing retirement planning firms in the country, appear on “Fox Business News,” or be mentioned in Forbes magazine.

“Once he passed away, my grandmother slowly lost all will

Love that bloomed among rows of junked vehicles wasn’t strong enough to save troubled brothers, but Larry Wright’s love wasn’t wasted. His grandson was paying attention.

“If I can be half the man he was I’d die satisfied.”

Troy is committed to living his life like the special man who worked as a junkyard king, but was, in fact, simply a king.

EDITOR’S NOTE:

The initial interviews for this feature took place seven years ago. The author regrets that Joan Wright and Robert Isom didn’t live to see their words in print.