Andy’s Fishing Story–1990

Andy had many adventures in fishing over the years, but when I was with him at Kring Point State Park in the 1000 Islands Region of the St. Lawrence River, we had an adventure together. Andy was in one boat, and I in another where we were drifting through a weedy area next to the south shore of the river. Often, the wind takes you the opposite way of the current. The boats were about 40 yards apart—parallel to each other. All of a sudden, Andy shouts “Fish-On”. So, the rest of us started to reel in our lines because we were fishing for Northern Pike, and when they get close to the boat, they go crazy. Andy had his fish about a boat length from netting, when I felt a bite on my line. I let out the drag to keep the fish away from the boats, so Andy could land his fish. But, I felt quite a pull from mine after I set the hook. As it turned out, when Andy cranked his in, we discovered we had both hooked the same fish! I let my line have plenty of slack, and after Andy boated the “Pike”, he removed my hook as well, because the fish had “foul-hooked” itself after Andy was cranking it in. It was a father-son “Fishing-moment” that you never forget. Bill Burt.

Andy’s Younger Years

Betsy and I named him what we wanted to call him—not Andrew. His great—Auntie Claire said he could sign his name, A. Sherman Burt, when He became famous! He lost control of his leg muscles about 2 weeks after a “bump” on his spinal cord. He lost thefeelings in his lower body, but the Lord restored the feelings a year later. The summer of 1977, He still got in the water with the aid of a “Life-Saver” style seat. Next door neighbors—George and “Cile” Dudleck treated him like their grandson. Cile would come get him every day if Betsy didn’t take him over. He grew up watching a local TV evangelist—Jim Bakker, on the PTL Club. From that and nother faithful believers, he was becoming a young Christian and began praying for other people in need. In 1977, Billl’s Gospel Quartet recorded the #1 hit by the Blackwood Brothers—18 months as #1. Andy was still learning his pronunciation of words. The song was—”Learning To Lean—On Jesus.” Andy pronounced it “Werning To Wean” as a new Christian.

Before we moved back to NYS in 1979, Andy used leg braces, and a walker to get around. He eventually used “fore-arm crutches”. In 1980, Betsy and a team founded “Son-Shine Day Care” in the old Manlius High-School, on Pleasant Street. It was owned by Jack Buskey’s Church, who bought the building in the late 60’s for $50K. Andy spent his pre-school days there. John Durfee—a Cazenovia town employee—paved the road next to our rural mailbox so Andy could get off the school bus. He arranged for his pick—up on our driveway side, to avoid crossing the road. FBC-Manlius was a great upbringing for Andy—he was one of Shirley Mapstone’s Kids. She was the children’s Choir Director for over 50 years, as well as his Sunday School Teacher. She was also Bill’s, 30 years prior. Andy performed in skits as well. We were gifted and old player piano, and Andy learned to play with Laine Gilmore as his teacher. Fran and Sylvia Davison offered to let us keep our boat at their Cazenovia Lake-front home. Sylvia taught Andy how to row, and eventually, he could fish from the boat. In 1981 when “Brother Dan came a lon, we got an antique wooden boat. We named both boats—Andy B. Andy was a good swimmer and spent a lot of time in the water. A “Head-Start” program allowed him to go horseback riding with a teacher friend of his Gramma B’s. And was a great student and took interest in may educational projects. As a cub-scout, he helped build a pine-wood derby car. By middle school, he transitioned into a wheel chair after hip-alignment surgery, and later adding stabilzing rods in his back. He designed a “card-board” Military Tank body to be placed on his wheel chair for Halloween. Later, he did an interview with an SU professor on a Bob-Sled, he was preparing for the Winter Olympics. He started sketching pictures around 4^th grade, and kept up the art into high school. His self-portrait is proudly displayed in our home. When we traded the wooden boat for our Ski-Nautique in 1984, Andy and Dan both learned to knee board. In 1987, we took the boat to Black Lake for a week of fishing with family and friends. By then, Andy became a great fisherman. All the way through his college years, we kept going back to Black Lake. His close friend, B J Fay was his “partner-in-crime>” Cazennovia and the Baptist Church in Manlius were both great environments to grow up in. Andy and Dan developed a great love for basket ball. Andy was impressed with the Boston Celtics, and Larry Bird. So, I put up a back board of the Celtics logo and they wore the paint right off it. Then, the Chicago Bills and Michael Jordan took over—so “Andy used a grid and repainted the backboard. Dan told me all their friends called our Fenner Rd. Home—the Jordan House. You see, our home was across the road from Atheletic Field so everyone went by there. In the late 1980’s, as we all were entering the home computer age, Andy’s grandfather, Bob Siegenthaler helped me build a family room addition to the house. Andy could enter it from his downstairs bedroom. I added a second clothes closet and made the other into a shower for him. We didn’t have a lot of furniture for the new room, so my brother, Tom loaned us a “pin-ball” machine. With the bell ringing, we could moniter how long the boys played. We added a TV and eventually let them play Nintendo on a limited basis. Andy became quite good at basketball, by developing a cross-dribbling technique while still pushing his wheelchair forward. I changed the camber on his chair for more speed, and comfort. To help Andy’s driving skills, I allowed him to drive our snow mobiles to get a feel for the “hand-controls”. Then, I decided to plan a fishing boat that he could handle by himself. The Boston Whaler with electric start and a steering wheel, plus swivel seats, allowed him to set in the cockpit, while I would back the trailer down the ramp—off he went. I took Andy in his freshman year to play on an adult Wheelchair basketball team—The Syracuse Flyers. Because of his skill in dribbling, he was an instant success, and stayed with it through High school. He also got involved with Young Life Fellowship—went to summer camp, and eventually was on a work-crew there. After Andy turned 16, we had our full-sized van equipped with hand controls and enrolled Andy in a State-Sponsored driving school where thy finished with a road-test and license. By his Senior year, he was able to take students to the Young Life Fellowship meetings-a feeling of independence. I bought him an electric guitar, and he took to it immediately, and formed his own “garage-band”—”The Topless Lumberjacks”. He was especially good at playing “Blues Riffs”. The Davison’s neighbor at the Lake, Nick Christakos, allowed Andy to drive the van to his home—transfer from his wheelchair to the boat dock, get into the fishing boat and go fishing by himself. We let him go, because he was careful and responsible. While in his senior year, he got a job at the local library to help save for college. Unbenounced to us, Andy chose to pursue a career in business and finance. Grandfather Leslie Burt was a banker, but Andy never knew him. We took him to NC, PA and RI, to apply to college. Two out of three schools offered him full scholarships. I also drove him to JMU, for a tour, because it was on the way to a NC vacation—but he wasn’t interested at the time. Later on –he found out that some of his Young Life friends were going to JMU, and the rest is history. We’re glad he finished in 3 years with the honors program due to AP courses in HS. So, his education cost the same as attending a NYS school. He had a high-paying student job tutoring athletes. While at JMU he made life-long-relationships—which he has treasured. After starting his first job in C’ville with SNL—not Saturday Night Live, he moved into an apartment near the UVA campus. He discovered that in the same building, there was a headquarters for a wheel-chair basketball team. So, he felt he was in the right place! He told me later that after meeting Jeanna-a recent UVA grad, at the FAX machine at SNL, that she was a “neat-nut”. She and a friend had come to his apartment and “straightened things up a bit”. Later on, I had the privileged of joining him on some adventures to get to know the Choe family. It’s hard for me to believe that he would have turned 50 this year. Betsy and I are filled with pride to have had Andy as our son, and brother in Christ.