Usually we have to leave this world in order for people to say nice things about us. That’s all well and good, except for one problem: We’re not around to hear them. Oh, we’re there, lying in eternal repose. But by that time our hearing is none too good.
That’s why it’s a pleasure to seize an opportunity to write nice things about a fellow human being while he is still among us.
Barry Lillis is my friend. As of last week, he is also a member of the Buffalo Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. He was inducted into that body last week at a dinner and ceremony at WNED-TV, which I had the honor of attending.
Lillis was a weathercaster for WGRZ, Channel 2, from 1976 to 1996, roughly the same period I worked there as a reporter, editor and producer.
Barry knew how to connect with people. When the weather situation was serious, he would be. Otherwise, he delivered the weather with a joke and a way of connecting with his audience that few could match.
Anyone working the weather in that era in Western New York has the infamous Blizzard of ’77 as a prime talking point. Barry was no different. He was stuck in his home on College Terrace in Niagara Falls when the storm hit. A four-wheel-drive vehicle (in the pre-SUV days) had to be dispatched to bring him to Channel 2’s downtown Buffalo studios in order to let the rest of us know what was going on in the midst of that very dangerous and frightening situation.
He and I would stand in front of a map of Western New York; Barry handling the weather nuts-and-bolts and I would relate how people were coping with the emergency, since I had been out in the weather and talking with those who were dealing with the blizzard. Of course, in order to avoid looking like Lillis the Lilliputian, Barry stood on a wooden box in order to fool the camera into thinking we were about the same height.
But after a while, the importance of the weather faded in Barry’s mind and other, even more compelling issues took center stage for him. Demons had haunted Barry for much of his life. But, instead of being consumed and overwhelmed by them, he not only conquered them, but turned around and spat in their faces.
He was an organizer of the Kids Escaping Drugs telethon, raising millions for an anti-drug and substance abuse effort resulting in the founding of Renaissance House, a center for teen drug abusers to regain their lives. Barry also hosted the annual Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon.
Then, he took the next step. Barry studied for the priesthood and was ordained as an Orthodox Catholic priest. Now he’s the Rev. Barry Lillis, and I have to be nice to him or he’ll call down lightning to strike me. Just kidding.
In a videotaped piece shown at the induction ceremony, Barry said something about so many people his age (72) who just sit around waiting for the “dead bus” to come by so they can hop on. He said he’s not about to do that: There is simply too much to do and too many people to help.
It’s that kind of attitude that makes me proud to call Barry Lillis my friend and hope that the “dead bus” to which he refers won’t make a stop at his door for a long, long time to come.
Dick Lucinski is the managing editor of the Niagara Gazette.
Dick Lucinski
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October 8, 2008
LUCINSKI: A sunny son of local TV
- Dick Lucinski
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LUCINSKI: Political pendulum swings left
There’s a story that went around Washington back in the early 1960s that President John F. Kennedy, shortly after his swearing in, was sitting in the Oval Office with brother Bobby.
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LUCINSKI: Ready to ring in the new year
Happy New Year! Well, OK. We’re jumping the gun, but only by a few hours.
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LUCINSKI: Editing out the ‘air quotes’
“Saturday Night Live” is the funniest television show in the history of broadcasting. This is the Opinions page and that’s my opinion and I’m sticking with it.
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LUCINSKI: Toronto game was a sell out
Sold out. That could technically describe the house at Toronto’s Rogers Centre on Sunday.
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LUCINSKI: Worst and best of Christmas music
Now that we’re safely past Thanksgiving, it’s OK to jump feet first into the Christmas spirit. Not that the traditional Thanksgiving starting point seems to matter much anymore.
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LUCINSKI: Get ready for the fight of our lives
If you like to watch a good fight, get the popcorn and the soda ready and reserve a ringside seat. As of next week, it’s going to be a doozy.
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LUCINSKI: The fine art of doing without
Can you live without it? That’s a question that’s being asked a lot these days, not just over the backyard fence among friends and family but at various levels of government as well.
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LUCINSKI: Informercials: A video art form
It was another Saturday night without much to do. Seven p.m. on a Saturday evening is something of a dead zone when it comes to TV.
- LUCINSKI: It is time to adjust your (mind)set By the time this makes it into print, the Time Warner/Channels 4 and 23 dispute could be settled. Then again, few expected it to drag out this long.
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LUCINSKI: A sunny son of local TV
Usually we have to leave this world in order for people to say nice things about us. That’s all well and good, except for one problem: We’re not around to hear them. Oh, we’re there, lying in eternal repose. But by that time our hearing is none too good.
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