Theresa Braxton was laid to rest today.
You may not know that name, but if you called Local 4 any time over the last 42 years, chances are pretty good you talked to her. Maybe you remember her singular calm and friendly voice.
She was the perfect introduction to our building, and she never failed to make the day better for all of us as we would come through the lobby.
But she also understood she was the first line of defense at Local 4. She shouldn’t have had to be, but that’s our world, and there was that day in 2005 when a man tried to get into the station with a gun. Theresa went into her very own lockdown procedures and no doubt saved lives that day as the man was left to turn his anger on our former colleague John Owens, who had the misfortune of trying to enter the station at that moment. She reacted quickly to that, too, and John is alive today because Theresa got help on the way.
Last week, Theresa lost a battle with cancer that she hadn’t wanted any of us to know about. It was a shock to all of us, and even more shocking to come to work now and not see her at the front desk. Our thoughts are especially with her daughter Brie’oncia.
Here the world needs more Theresa Braxtons and now we’ve lost the best one we had.