A standing ovation of 300-some guests greeted Larry Sofia after he was named the Mayfield City School District 2015 Citizen of the Year.
Below is the speech Superintendent Keith Kelly read in his honor.
CITIZEN OF THE YEAR 2015
Larry Sofia is a hero.
Last October, the Mayfield Board of Education had the honor to learn why Mr. Larry Sofia was named a “Lander Elementary School Hero.” The Lander Hero award was created for Larry Sofia and presented to him at the Board of Education meeting. He is the only recipient of the Lander Hero award.
Now, I’m going to tell you why Larry Sofia most deserves to also be named the Mayfield City Schools Citizen of the Year.
For the last 18 years, Mr. Sofia traveled to Lander Elementary School to help serve lunches to our students. He always shared a smile with them. He would talk to them about healthy food choices and sometimes about history.
He was glad to be at the school every day and they were glad for him to be there. “Just a really, really nice man.” The staff and students would say.
For 18 years, every day but Wednesday, Mr. Sophia volunteered at the school, the same school his 3 children attended.
No matter the weather, be it snowy roads or rain, Mr. Sofia would put the key in the ignition and drive to the school in Mayfield Heights, the city where he has lived for more than 60 years.
Although this is the first year Mr. Sofia is not volunteering with the kids, he continues to serve on the Mayor’s Advisory Council in Mayfield Heights and the Parks and Recreation Commission where he has coordinated the Mayfield Heights Home Days for decades.
Larry Sofia gives back.
It’s how he was raised. It’s in his bones.
For more than 55 years, Mr. Sophia worked outside in the northeast Ohio elements as a mason contractor. Brick-by-brick, he made our neighborhoods stronger. He created solid foundations.
And when he retired at the age of 72, he then began his kind work at Lander School for the last 18 years.
For all of what I have just described of this great man, we could name him our Citizen of the Year -- for his giving back, for his achievements, for his contributions to our schools and community,
But there’s much more Mr. Sofia has experienced. He is a man with great lessons.
Dec. 7, 1941.
An infamous date for America and for Larry Sofia who survived the attack at Pearl Harbor.
See, he is a great man and by that, I mean he is an American hero. He’s a U.S. Navy veteran who was aboard the battleship West Virginia on that historic day. On that Sunday morning, he and two sailors were setting up chairs on the ship’s deck for church services. Bullets sprayed the deck. He survived and was then thrown into the ocean following a blast of torpedoes.
A veteran, a survivor, a mason, a volunteer for kids. Larry Sophia is simply a hard-working, American gentleman. He is who we should strive to be.
The poet Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote an inspiring quote which summarizes why we chose Larry Sofia as our Citizen of the Year.
It is a quote that best describes him.
“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
Larry Sofia has succeeded beyond measure.
If you get the chance to shake this man’s hand tonight, you might feel a bump just under the skin. Ask him what the bump is and he’ll tell you, “It’s shrapnel.”
I am honored and humbled to name our Lander Hero, our American Hero Mr. Larry Sofia as the Mayfield City School District 2015 Citizen of the Year.
Congratulations Larry Sofia and thank you for all you have given to Mayfield Schools, the Mayfield community and to our country.