Christmas may be over, but for a man in Parker the giving spirit is not. On Monday he stood in the median at South Cottonwood Drive and Brompton Way holding a cardboard sign that read, "SMILE I'll give you a buck."
"You've given before at intersections. I know you have," he said to one driver before handing them a dollar.
"I'm Carl Ramsey. God Bless," he shouted to each driver.
The man handed out dozens of dollars bills to drivers who took the time to stop and read his sign.
"I've been blessed at Christmas and got a little extra money and thought it'd be fun," he told Denver7 anchor Molly Hendrickson.
The gesture, he said is small, but it was clear from the looks on peoples' faces, its weight was not.
"Thank you," one driver exclaimed when she drove off.
Another woman pulled up and gave him hot chocolate she bought for him after seeing what he was doing.
"He's got to be freezing but now he's warm and it's so sweet!" the driver said.
He stood on the corner for about two hours and said about 10 percent of drivers took the time to read his sign. Before he left he gave Denver7 a folded note and asked we wait until he was gone to read it.
The letter said: "I am not Carl Ramsey, but today I represent his spirit. Carl was my friend in high school. The guy was a very loving caring young boy with an infectious laugh. Each time you saw him he had a new humorous story to tell. When he started talking with you, not a minute would go by before a crowd would gather following intently listening to his every word. You had a smile on your face being around him, anticipating what he would say next. Sometimes the late bell would ring in the middle of his story and painfully you had to wait a whole class period to hear the end. Carl was an impact person to many of us. That summer after graduation with just 18 years of life under his belt, he was killed in a farming accident. As the years have passed, my imagination has tried to envision what his life would have been like. Today you have seen a small glimpse of Carl Ramsey. In this gesture of giving others a buck for a smile, his amazing spirit lives on.
From 1975 to 1981, I lost five friends. Our 40th HS anniversary will be celebrated next summer. There will be four more events to celebrate their lives. They have been gone from this earth a long time, but are not forgotten."
The letter was signed, "friend."
