Hey, got my picture taken with a "celebrity" and a guy who is great to know.This is Claude Cooper who volunteers as a trainman on the Cuyahoga Valley Railway.
Claude is 90 and still going strong. I should be so lucky (He's got me by 10 years)
He's in the celebrity class because Beacon Journal writer Jim Carney (who I worked with for a number of years) did a great story on Claude that ran the other day on the Community Page.
Over the years Claude has always been on the go. According to Jim, he's driven a grocery delivery truck, worked as a SeaBee during World War. He drove trucks ande unloaded the supplies coming on shore at Guadalcanal, drove a bus after the war, drove an oilfiield truck. He retired after 32 years with Greyhound. But after that he drove a school bus for 21 years.
Then he decided he needed something to do after the school bus stint end he looked for something to keep him busy. He had always loved trains, so when he saw an ad where volunteers were need by the railroad that runs through the Cuayhoga Valley National Park, he answered it and has been with it for the last three years.
I've worked with him several times as a rail rover who represents the park and hands out literature and answers questions. I also have a couple of animal pelts I pass around.
My friend a colleague Jim did a great story that really captured the 90-year-old.
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