We're blessed to have 'Bubs'

Monday, January 30, 2012

"Bubs" is a comfortable nickname, an infant-inspired contraction of "brother."
Look around, and a "brother" is just somehow "there."
That's "Bubs" Suplizio.
We have been appreciative of the accomplishments, some of towering significance, of the past winners of the Distinguished Service Lifetime Achievement Award presented annually by the DuBois Area Jaycees.
When Anthony "Bubs" Suplizio got the 2011 award Saturday, we just plain liked the choice.
"Bubs" is always sort of "there." He is in the city park. He is on a fire engine. He is at Mass. He is giving blood. He is at work, dependable and organized.
He isn't flashy, or ostentatious, but then again, he isn't shy or hesitant about opinions, either. He states his views, calmly but decisively.
He exemplifies a tradition of service that goes back through his family, through his father, to the 19th-Century roots of the fire department, and goes forward through his children and members of his extended family. "Outstanding Community Service" is one of the Jaycees' criteria. "Bubs" exemplifies it. But he doesn't look at it that way.
You just give back to the community, he says, because ... well, because that's the kind of people we ought to be.
He is.
- Denny Bonavita