"Santas' donate cane similar to one lost to WWII vet on The Murfreesboro Post

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"Santas' donate cane similar to one lost to WWII vet

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By: Lisa Marchesoni

Posted: Thursday, December 17, 2009 5:17 pm

"Santas' donate cane similar to one lost to WWII vet

Terry Fitzgerald gives her cane to World War II veteran Jacob R. McClenny.

Yes, Jacob R. McClenny, there is a Santa Claus.

In Murfreesboro, Santa is Bob and Terri Fitzgerald who donated a cane to World War II veteran McClenny, who lost his cane near Thanksgiving outside Walmart.

McClenny’s daughter, Joyce Anderson, said her father purchased the cane in 1976 in Germany.

“The approximately 1-inch medallions (on the cane) represent the places he has been,” Anderson said. “This cane is very special to him and I really would like to see him get it back.”

After learning about the missing cane, Terri Fitzgerald of Johnny’s Guitar called Anderson.

“She said she and her husband, Bob, were stationed in Germany for eight years, and her daughter still lives there,” Anderson said. “During her time living there and visits later she had collected medallions like the ones on my dad’s cane, and attached them to a cane almost identical to his.”

After she saw his picture, she wanted McClenny to have her cane.

Anderson and McClenny met the Fitzgeralds at their Johnny’s Guitars store Wednesday and she gave McClenny the cane.

“It actually has some of the same medallions as his, and several from places where he had visited, and a few that he had not,” Anderson said.

“I wanted to get this story out, because this is one of the kindest, most selfless and generous acts I have seen in a very long time,” Anderson said. “The look on my dad’s face was priceless. This couple gave a military veteran more than a cane, they gave him happiness beyond description.”

McClenny, his wife Bertha, Anderson and her sister, Wanda, sent a “great big thank you and Merry Christmas to our new Santas, Bob and Terri Fitzgerald.”

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Member Opinions:

By: SocEtTuem on 12/18/09
A wonderful Christmas story. The world needs more people like Bob and Terri Fitzgerald! God Bless them.

By: momx5 on 12/21/09
VERY COOL