By KEVIN CHIRI

Publisher

RESERVE – Johnny Eugene has some simple, yet wise advice for this Thanksgiving holiday.

“My advice to people is to be more thankful. Things could be a lot worse,” the 78-year-old Reserve resident said.

Eugene is someone who should be listened to. He speaks from experience, and more importantly, he practices what he preaches.

The lifelong River Region resident has lived the last 11 years with both legs cut off just below the knee, a result of his fight against diabetes.

But incredibly, Eugene is a man who couldn’t be more positive in his outlook on life.

“Most people are just not very thankful for what they have, and honestly, I don’t know why that is. We all have it so good,” he said, with Thanksgiving coming up in front of him. “As for me, I thank God every day for just having another day.”

And for a man who has had to live for the past decade without his legs, you might think that Eugene would have plenty of reason not to be thankful. But incredibly, he is just the opposite.

“I have always put my trust in God for whatever happened. So even when the doctors told me they would have to amputate the first leg, I really never let it bother me. I just trusted that God had some reason and I would make the best of it,” he explained.

Eugene not only has kept a good attitude about having his legs amputated, but it hasn’t stopped him from continuing a very active life. Neighbors see him mowing his yard, trimming the weeds, working in his garden, and doing most everything he did before he lost his legs. He even remarried two years ago.

“He has always been a very positive person,” his wife Mary said. “He’s just a very good man.”

Eugene was born and raised in Norco, then lived 30 years in the Mt. Airy area before moving to Reserve three years ago. He went to work for General American Oil shortly after finishing school, but then went into the Navy in 1942 as he served his country in the war.

“I remember how nice all the guys were on our ship. It didn’t matter who was black or white, we were all friendly and nice. I was even on PT109, the same one J.F. Kennedy was on, and I served in the Phillipines, even right after a typhoon went through there. That was amazing to see,” he recalled.

After coming home from the war, he went to work at General American Oil again for five years, then moved to Destrehan’s Grain Elevator where he worked 25 years before retiring.

“I loved retirement since I fished all the time, something I have always loved to do,” Eugene said.

But in 1993 he was helping some family members put a roof on a house and stepped on a tack. Already with diabetes, he did not even know the tack was in his foot until the swelling got very bad. By then it was too late.

“With diabetes you can get gangrene very easy, and that’s what happened to my foot. Then it was only a month later I got an infection in my little toe on the other foot and they had to amputate the other leg,” he said.

But Eugene said that losing both legs “just never bothered me. I trusted in God all my life and that is what I have done now.” He attends St. Mark Baptist Church in Mt. Airy.

About the only thing he said he doesn’t do anymore is drive, and he believes he would probably be a better driver than some of the people on the road, even if he drove now without having his two legs.

“I still cook, do yard work, go fishing,” he said. “And I even talk to other people to try and get their spirits up. When they see me, it seems to help them know they just need to be thankful.”

And what better time to make that point than the one week out of the year when all Americans try to be a little more thankful.