What Ned Smith is grateful for this Thanksgiving
Two years ago, Ned Smith of Glenside suffered a stroke, His family, friends and medical personnel rallied around him. Now, he and relatives are taking musical note of Ned's gratitude for those who helped him during a difficult time.
Ned Smith is Thanksgiving.
He has enough gratitude for family and friends who have helped him since he suffered a stroke in 2011 to make a Thanksgiving Day table groan.
The 56-year-old Glenside resident is a former employee of the Philadelphia newspapers. For years, Ned was in charge of scheduling the presses at the printing plant in Conshohocken, where the Inquirer and the Daily News roll off giant presses.
"I was the coordinator of the production," he said modestly.
He was the go-to guy to order, Stop the Presses! if breaking news warranted a front-page makeover.
He is the go-to guy to hear a story about illness befallen and illness bested.
Two years ago last month, Ned suffered a stroke.
He was asleep when the stroke, which occurred over 24 hours, began. He didn't know at the time that was happening -- just that he felt poorly.
Being the go-to guy at the printing plant, he didn't call in sick.
"I jumped in the car and went to work instead of going to the hospital," he said. "I blew that."
Had he gone earlier, the stroke might not have taken away most of the functioning of the left side of his body.
But it did.
He tried working from home, but eventually went on disability.
On Valentine's Day 2012, he decided to write a love poem to his wife, Judy, which began the musical portion of his recovery.
"One thing led to another," Ned said.
Conrad Korsch, the son of a former coworkers at the printing plant, is the bass player for singer Rod Stewart.
"I asked him, 'Conrad, do you think this could be a song?'"
Korsch said sure. So Ned asked his niece, Deirdre French, now an 18-year-old freshman at Temple University, and nephew Rafe Arlotti, now 20 and who attends college in Phoenix, if they were up for the challenge. Each penned music for the poem, calling the song I got Angels.
It became a tribute to medical personnel — physical therapists, nurses, everyone who helped him at Abington Memorial Hospital — as well as to his wife.
That summer, when Judy's side of the family gathered for their annual vacation on the beach in Avalon, N.J., Ned passed out T-shirts he had made that said, I'm an Angel on them and played his niece's and nephew's songs back-to-back.
When it comes to family, usually one together is better than two apart. So the two versions of I got Angels became one/
"We're now working on an album," Ed said, joined by Arlotti's friend, Kyle Sponaugle, a guitarist and lyricist. They are at eight songs and counting.
A second niece, Karen McGeehan designed the CD's artwork. Two other nephews, Eric Arlotti, 16, and Scott Entriken, 15, are working on the "album's" website.
Nowadays, Ned's stroke still shows itself.
"When I walk through Home Depot, people know something is wrong with me," he said. "My left arm is a work-in-progress."
He still gets shots and goes to physical therapy. But his new musical hobby — and the gratitude he feels toward all those who have helped him through these two years and will be at his side for as long as a full recovery might take — give him strength.
Ned's wife of 32 years, Judy Smith, not surprisingly, loves the tribute she got from her husband, whom she met at Avalon when she was a waitress at the boardwalk restaurant and he was the manager.
"I was overwhelmed by what was inside of him and expressed it," Judy said Wednesday.
Like her husband, she feels grateful on this day before Thanksgiving.
"It could have been so much worse," she said. "We're lucky we have all that we have."