West Pittston resident Bob Fox met his childhood hero, U.S. Rep. John Lewis in 2015. Fox is shown in Lewis’ office at Captial Hill.
Submitted photo
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Bob Fox, once again, along with his family, met U.S. Rep. John Lewis at his Capital Hill office in 2017. Shown with Lewis is Fox’s wife, Kelly, and children, Gwenyth and Bobby.
Submitted photo
WEST PITTSTON – It’s not often one gets to meet his or her hero but in 2015, Bob Fox got to do just that. He found himself one-on-one with the U.S. Congressman from Georgia, John Lewis, who died last week at the age of 80.
Fox, 52-years-old, is a self-described history buff with interests in the Civil War, World War I, Vietnam War and the civil rights movement going back to his high school days. Fox recalled doing his senior term paper was on Martin Luther King. Because of his research with Dr. King, he became aware of John Lewis’ importance in history
In 2013, Fox was appointed to the of the Pennsylvania Rehabilitation Council (PRC) by then-Gov. Tom Corbett, an entity set up to advise the Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) on how well its programs and services match the needs of people with disabilities; he was reappointed in 2016 by Gov. Tom Wolf.
His duties as a member of PRC required him to attend a national conference in Alexandria, Va., where he represented his local council in 2015 and 2017. On the last day of the conference in 2015, meetings were scheduled at Capital Hill.
“My first time there, in 2015, I met with nearly all of the members of the Pennsylvania delegation in the House,” Fox said. “My plan though, by the end of the day, was to meet one of my heroes, John Lewis. I contacted his scheduler, and all he could promise was that Mr. Lewis might be in the office.”
When Fox arrived at Lewis’ office at 5 p.m., Lewis was still in his office posing for a photo with school children. At that time, Fox recalled the receptionist offering him a beverage and Georgia peanuts while waiting on Lewis. She told Fox Lewis had to participate in an interview which would take approximately 25 minutes.
“When it ended, he emerged from his office, and sat next to me in the waiting area,” Fox recalled. “He started talking about his friendship with Jack Murtha (a former PA House of Rep.), and we eventually discussed the 50th anniversary of the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which had taken place a few weeks before.”
While in office, former President Barrack Obama suggested the Pettus Bridge be renamed the John Lewis Bridge.
“I asked Mr. Lewis if he agreed, but he told me it should remain with its current name,” Fox said. “I chalked it up to the humbleness of the man.”
Toward the end of his visit with the representative, Fox asked if he could take a photo with Lewis in his office. Lewis agreed and the two gentlemen walked into the office for the photo.
“Much of the room’s walls were covered in framed photos from the civil rights era,” Fox remembered. “I was fascinated and he just started going from picture to picture commenting on each one including him sitting next to Martin Luther King at Medgar Evers’ funeral as well as a color photo of him at the March on Washington.”
Fox continued, “I couldn’t believe he was taking the time with me, and I was in awe of his presence. He was an icon of the civil rights movement explaining the photographic history of the movement to some guy from Pennsylvania. I will never forget it.”
Fox returned to the conference in 2017, this time with his wife Kelly and two children, Gwyneth and Bobby. He thought he try his luck once again in meeting Lewis, but this time with his entire family.
“He was there,” Fox exclaimed. “Unfortunately, he didn’t have much time to spend with us, but was gracious to pose for a picture, and he commented on my beautiful family. As my children get older, we teach them a little more about the ‘boy from Troy’ and his amazing place in United States history.”