Dear Hearts and Gentle People

I've heard him called many things....kindhearted, workaholic, good ole boy, behind-the-scenes man, and even angel-come-to-earth, but I'm quite certain the description he most appreciates is simply.... friend.

Mike McCombs is everybody's friend, or to be more specific, Mike is a friend to everybody. Dear Hearts, you may not know it, but Mike McCombs is your friend, too. Without making it sound like an obituary, as one of his friend's laughed and accused me of doing, I decided it was high time to say a few nice things about a kind, good-hearted man, even though he'd rather run naked down Courthouse Street than have any accolades tossed his way.

"You have no idea the things that Mike does all the time for people around here, but then, Mike doesn't want anybody to know," said a elderly man whose grass Mike cut while the man was at work. "I don't know how he knew that I didn't have the time or the energy to do it or that I couldn't afford to have it cut.....he just showed up, cut it, and left. A neighbor told me who cut it, otherwise, I'd never have known."

Mike is no respecter of persons when it comes to good deeds, anonymous or otherwise. If there's anyone in the county he doesn't know by name I can't imagine who it is. He is definitely a people person, with an natural affinity for the elderly and down-and-out. If he knows of someone who has lost a spouse he will make it a point to check in on them and do whatever is needed, be it fixing a leak in the sink or making a trip to the grocery store.

He will drive folks to and from doctor's appointments. He regularly mows grass for those who are unable to do so, picks up broken limbs, rakes leaves, pretty much anything, and always for free. He doesn't want pay. He wouldn't dare take it. Don't even try.

Whenever there is a need for special assistance in the community (illness, loss of home, etc.) Mike is usually the first on the scene to organize the efforts. He is more than generous with his contributions to local causes and is always on hand to do whatever he can for the betterment of Lincoln County.

"Mike will pay for several dozen boxes of cookies, then leave them, and the money, with us," said a local Girl Scout leader. "He'll tell us to either keep the money as a donation or give the cookies away to shut-ins."

On his regular runs to Augusta to pick up tires for his family business, MTA & J Tire Company ("He probably gives away more tires than he sells," says an employee) Mike will stop at the donut store, bring dozens back with him to Lincolnton and distribute them all over town to businesses and public offices. Just to be nice.

Hubby, who's been good friends with Mike for many years, remembers when our son, working for a local industrial equipment company, had been sent to Albany to pick up a service truck and bring it back to Augusta. On the return trip, sometime around midnight, the truck had a flat. Our son called home and hubby called Mike to see if he knew of anyone who might be able to get a tire down to him. Yes, he did, he said. Mike not only found the tire, he got out of bed, delivered, and changed the tire himself. And wouldn't take a penny.

He, along with wife Tina, has sent enough flowers to the sick and shutin to singlehandedly keep our local florists in business.

Up at 5 a.m. every morning Mike has the work ethic of a man much older. "He's of the old school," says a local business owner, "work from sun-up to sun-down and no breaks in between."

In addition to the tire business and all his other pursuits, Mike also owns and operates Commercial Insurance, Inc.

"I've actually seen him wear three different outfits in one day," says Bruce Beggs. "He'll have on his work clothes in the morning, then at lunch he'll have on what I call 'his insurance suit', and by afternoon he'll be back in his [grubby] work clothes."

Aptly labeled a workaholic, Mike was hard at it late Friday afternoon, repairing tires with one of his two sons when he began to feel ill.

"He said his arm felt funny and he had some soreness in his shoulder," said Beggs, "but he just assumed it was the heat or else he had sprained his shoulder picking up tires or something."

When the discomfort did not subside Mike, reluctantly, consented to be transported to the hospital where he was immediately scheduled for a heart catherization. The cath revealed some blockage in a couple of arteries behind the heart but the surgery was successful and two stents were inserted in the arteries to keep them expanded and the blood flow normal. Mike did well and was released from the hospital sometime during the weekend.

"He was back in the tire truck Sunday morning," laughed Beggs, "but [at least] this time he was on the passenger side."

Never one to take a vacation ("He doesn't believe in them," said a family member.) Mike finally broke down and consented to a recent trip to the Bahamas at the insistence of his wife, whose job had awarded her the trip.

"He said he really enjoyed it," said Beggs. "But then when he got home he had this attack.

"He's really been giving Tina a hard time about that now. Told her he'd worked all his life with no vacation, he finally goes on one, then he comes back home and has a heart attack!"

Maybe he'll take another vacation someday. Maybe he won't. Either way, I can guarantee you he'll continue to get up with the chickens and go to bed long after dark. And he'll keep on looking after the people in his hometown.

Mike McCombs' heart may show a little wear-and-tear and it may beat with the help of a stent or two, but in my opinion, dear hearts, it's a mighty doggoned good one.