TSA New Orleans Employee Cited by City for Saving a Life
News & Happenings
July 22, 2008
Video of
Michael Cheeks Playing Taps
Michael Cheeks playing taps.
(wmv, 20mb streaming)
Michael Cheeks has long been driven by a sense of patriotism. It was a guiding force during his 22 years in the Marine Corps. It was a factor in his decision to join TSA in the months after 9-11. And it compelled him to do something special to mark Memorial Day 2008, something that would forever change the life of a fellow citizen.
Cheeks, a human resources specialist with TSA New Orleans, played the trumpet throughout high school and had recently been taking refresher lessons from Louis Francis, a local elementary school music instructor, someone he had met while serving as a community volunteer.
On Memorial Day, as a way to honor soldiers who had fallen in war, he did something decidedly New Orleans in spirit: He grabbed his trumpet and drove to historic locations around the city, stopping to play Taps at each.
One of his stops was at Algiers Point, directly across the Mississippi River from the French Quarter. As he stood on the river levee and played the familiar tribute to fallen soldiers, a man quietly approached Cheeks.
The man asked Cheeks to play the piece again. Cheeks did so and when the man repeated the request Cheeks obliged and played the piece a third time. The man then opened up to Cheeks, saying that he had recently lost both his parents in a fire, had fallen on hard times and was now homeless. Having lost contact with his family and without a home or money the man said he had nothing left to live for.
The man, also named Mike, was a fellow Marine and spoke of his service in Vietnam. He said that until he heard Cheeks play his trumpet and spoke with him, he was prepared to end his life by jumping into the swiftly moving river.
But the chance encounter with Cheeks and his trumpet changed things.
A week or so later, Cheeks returned to the Point to search for the man. He found that the man had gotten a job parking cars and that he had a new outlook on life.
Cheeks shared the story of that day’s events with his music teacher who then told Kim Nance, assistant principal at James Weldon Johnson Elementary School.
Nance was so moved by the story that she wrote to the New Orleans City Council and described the encounter between Cheeks and Mike.
“During our recovery in New Orleans, we have learned to help each other face difficult trials together,” she wrote. “Taking one day at a time … in our lives is all that can be asked of us.”
On July 10, New Orleans City Council member Cynthia Hedge-Morrell presented a proclamation on behalf of the council to Cheeks in recognition of the patriotic spirit that he shared with the city that day and the soul that he saved.
“Instead of having a Katrina tragedy, we have a Katrina celebration because someone reached out to someone else,” Hedge-Morrell said during the presentation.
Cheeks has been with TSA since the start of federal operations at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in October 2002, working as a transportation security officer, lead TSO, supervisory TSO and training instructor before assuming his current position as human resources specialist.
“What I did that day is nothing more than I would expect from anyone else,” Cheeks said. “We never know how we are affecting someone else.”
