Remembering Life!!!
Lieutenant Commander Otis Vincent Tolbert Jr. led a life of service to God, his country and his family. He loved football, and was a star runningback in college. A navy brat, he followed his father's footsteps and joined the US Navy as soon as he was able. His dad was a pilot, an officer, and an instructor at Annapolis. It was probably inevitable that his son, Vincent, would show the same character, gifts, hard-working spirit and dependability. He was a hero not only to his wife and three daughters, but to the people he worked with at Macdill AFB in Tampa, and then later at the Pentagon.
His wife, Shari, put it best: "These guys are heroes every day. It's not just when a plane hits their building. It's a shame the only time they get that honor is when they are in the ground."
U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, U.S. Representative C.W. Bill Young, U.S. Senator Mel Martinez, and the Tolbert family, were present at the dedication of the Lt. Cmdr. Otis Vincent Tolbert Joint Intelligence Operations Center at MacDill Air Force Base, Fl, which was held this summer. The building is referred to as "The Vince" to those who work there, in memory of the many contributions of the man who spent his life surrounded by men and women who give their all to protect us, and who left a wonderful legacy of example for others to follow.
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My husband works at the building called "The Vince", where US Central Command is housed. When I found out about Project 2996 from my friend, Dale, I immediately jumped at the chance to participate. I asked him right away if I could write something about Lt. Cmdr. Tolbert, because his story is so compelling and he shares so much in common with my family. I could relate in so many ways to who he was, and his story is very real to me because of that: he's not just a name on a plaque on a wall.
Here is an excerpt from the project's homepage:
9/11/09 will mark 8 years since the attacks of World Trade Center I and II, The Pentagon, Shanksville, American Airlines Flights 11 & 77, and United Airlines Flight 93 & 175.
On that day 2,996 people were ripped from their lives. But as the media and society tend to do, they have focused on the killers. We’ve all learned more about them than we wanted to. On that day many of us made a pledge to never forget what happened.
The bloggers listed below are trying to keep that promise by learning about the people who died that day. Use the list below to visit their sites and read about the people they have chosen to remember...
Thank you for taking the time to learn a bit about this remarkable man, and how he was also so much like the rest of us: a hardworking family guy with three kids, one of whom was disabled, a competitive man who excelled at sports in his youth (and in the football pools as an adult!) and a patriot.