A Very Golden Anniversary

Marty McBride

July 30, 2011 

 

This essay was written on July 22, 2011, eight days prior to a planned celebration to honor the fiftieth wedding anniversary of the greatest parents any person could possibly hope to know.  Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

 

   

Tom & Sandy McBride, then and now

 

August 6, 1961 was the day that would bind Thomas Morrow McBride to Sandra Elizabeth Hosley forever.  That day was just the beginning of the remarkable story of a family that would have an unquestionably positive influence on entire communities, a country, and even the world.  On August 6, 2011, the epic story of Tom and Sandy is set to reach a momentous milestone that is rarely seen in a human family – not in the past, not in the present, and likely not in the future.  To get just a small sense of what makes the bonding of Tom and Sandy so special, we begin by looking at the family they have created.

 

Tom & Sandy plus six!

 

January 29, 1963 marked the birth of Thomas Morrow McBride, Jr.  The younger Tom would come to earn a Varsity letter in three different sports while finishing academically among the top five students in his high school class.  As an adult, Tom completed four consecutive years of college to earn a bachelor’s degree from Siena College.  Since graduating from college, Tom chose to pursue a career in the newspaper business, first as a writer and then as an editor and always with the same newspaper.  As a member of his local community, Tom has left an indelible mark on his community’s future as a coach and mentor of young athletes between the ages of four and eighteen.  As a father, he follows the example that was laid out before him by Tom and Sandy and gives his heart and soul to his wife and two children.  As a testament to his success as a father, his 23 year old son recently described him by saying, “He not only is the world's greatest father but also my best friend.”  As a husband, Tom and his wife Dana celebrated 25 years of marriage on May 30, 2011.

 

October 3, 1964 marked the birth of Martin James McBride.  Marty would come to earn a Varsity letter in three different sports while finishing academically among the top ten students in his high school class.  As an adult, Marty earned a bachelor’s degree after attending Siena College for four consecutive years.  Upon graduation, he began a life of service to his country by serving in the United States Navy for nine years, which included his direct participation in the Gulf War of 1991.  During his final three years in the Navy, Marty attended the University at Albany part time in order to earn a Master’s degree, which laid the groundwork for his current career as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation where he is setting a number of precedents in the conduct of international cyber crime investigations. Faced with frequent moves to a number of different States, Marty still made time to serve each community in which he lived through the coaching of youth sports.  As a father, Marty also makes family life’s number one priority.  As a husband, Marty and his wife Ella celebrated 24 years of marriage on May 30, 2011.

 

January 24, 1966 marked the birth of Steven Harry McBride (aka “Uncle Buck”).  As one of his high school’s most exciting quarterbacks of all time, Buck would come to earn Varsity letters in both football and basketball while earning his diploma over four consecutive years.  As an adult, Buck opted to serve his country as a member of the United States Coast Guard.  After serving his country, he chose to pursue careers that would allow him the time and flexibility to work at what he loves most - serving his community as a coach and mentor of youth and high school students.  More recently, Buck has taken on the gargantuan responsibility of protecting the family’s most prized legacy, the scores of magnificent acres of farmland that have been a home and much more to the McBride family for four generations.  As small farms became unprofitable, many area farmers began selling their land to developers that chose to use the open farmlands for the construction of large housing communities.  In order to save the McBride lands from a similar fate, Buck decided to turn the fallow McBride farmland into an outdoor complex of athletic fields that are now used to benefit the local community with a park-like environment that is open to all.  As a father, Buck continues the trend of placing the needs of family above all else.  As a husband, Buck and Vicki will celebrate 21 years of marriage on August 11, 2011.

 

June 24, 1967 marked the birth of Edward William McBride.  Ed would come to be the one child that would follow in Sandy’s footsteps by becoming the Valedictorian of his high school class.  What makes his accomplishment even more impressive is the Varsity letters he earned while participating in three different sports.  Never one to take the easy road, Ed began his adult life by earning a bachelor’s degree after attending Harvard University for four consecutive years.  Ed then chose to pursue a career as a biotechnology research scientist where he was on a team of New England Medical Center scientists that researched and published a paper on the “cloning and characterization of the cholecystokinin-2 receptor”.  More recently, Ed became the third employee to be hired during the establishment of the biologic research company that has become Anchor Therapeutics.  As with his three older brothers, Ed also places family matters related to his wife and three children ahead of all others.  As a husband Ed and Stephanie will celebrate 15 years of marriage on August 3, 2011.

 

March 28, 1969 marked the birth of Bonnie Ann McBride.  While successfully completing four consecutive years of high school, Bonnie earned a Varsity letter in three different sports and participated on one of the rare teams to win a highly coveted State championship.  She then served a tour of active duty with the United States Air Force, including time stationed in Germany.   Although she left active duty to devote her time and energy to creating yet another solid branch of the Tom and Sandy McBride family tree, Bonnie continues to serve the Air Force in a Reserve capacity.  Since four children and an Air Force reserve obligation didn’t occupy enough of her time, Bonnie decided she would pursue a career in nursing.  For her most recent accomplishment, she took a few months out of her busy schedule and went to Ohio to obtain a Commission as an Air Force Second Lieutenant Flight Nurse.  Bonnie somehow manages to find even more time to serve her local community by coaching youth sporting activities.  Bonnie and Scott Kemble celebrated 19 years of marriage on January 18, 2011.

 

April 25, 1972 marked the birth of Suzanne Lynn McBride.  Suzie successfully completed high school in four consecutive years and earned Varsity letters in multiple sports while raising a wonderful daughter during three of those four years.  With never ending support from Tom and Sandy, Suzie adeptly kept her family intact, added a second child, established herself in a successful nursing career, and took time to volunteer the use of her specialized skills to serve as an Emergency Medical Technician.  Suzie and David DeCelle celebrated 18 years of marriage on March 21, 2011.  During some of their first years of marriage, David served as a member of the United States Navy with the full support of Suzie.

 

  

The grandchildren!

 

Since April 25, 1972, the special influence of Tom and Sandy has been spread directly to their seventeen grandchildren.  The new generation began with the three big bosses; Allison, Tom III, and Jacob who were followed by the triplets; Shannon, Grady, and Meghan – all three born within five weeks of one another.  Then came the “brothers”; Sam and Ryan who were followed by Martin II, Erika, Spencer, Emily, Maggie, Matthew, Nathan, Seth, and, of course, the infamous “Squish” aka Benjamin, the main character in many family Facebook conversations.

 

Anyone who believes that the special influence of Tom and Sandy is limited to their children and grandchildren is someone that doesn’t know Tom and Sandy at all.  They have been role models, whether they know it or not, for their own parents as well as for large numbers of brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, cousins, friends and neighbors.

 

August 6, 2011 will mark exactly 50 years since the day Tom and Sandy committed to one another to create their masterpiece, the storied McBride/Hosley Family Tree.  Very few human couples on planet Earth find themselves blessed with 50 years of marriage.  Almost none can lay claim to having six children that, in the same year as their own Golden Anniversary, would celebrate fifteen to twenty-five years in a first marriage, would have graduated from high school in four consecutive years, and would have sought out careers that give much more to society than receive from society.  The stories of the second generation and beyond are yet to be etched into the family history, but they are already showing a great deal of promise.

 

Without a doubt, Thomas Morrow McBride and Sandra Elizabeth Hosley have provided the world with a wonderful, real-life example of what an ideal family can actually look like.  Though the odds may be stacked against the rest of us, I dream that I too might look back twenty-six years from now with the same pride and joy that I know Tom and Sandy have worked so hard to earn.