Certificate of Valor

Matt's Good Samaritan Story

I had met Matt in Manhattan Beach several times so when he was hired at Warnaco, a swimsuit manufacturing compnay, where I worked I was super excited because i thought, "this will make my days waaaaaaay more interesting". I loved hearing him on sales calls talking about tankinis and the full cut or bikini breifs. If he could sell a tankini, this Matt was something! As the weeks progressed, Matt and I would conduct several harmless pranks to each other (stealing all pens, stealing chairs - mine was far superior, as well as covering each others chairs in bathing suit hygenic liners).

Low and behold, a few months down the line, there happened to be a pretty bad car accident in front of our office building just as Matt was crossing the street early one morning. He ran to the injured person, helped her out of the car, consoled her and contacted her loved ones. The story spread rampant in the office (as it was an office of mostly girls who all thought Matt was pretty cute).

A couple weeks later, Matt was contacted by out office safety committee to let him know he had been nominated from our department to be our safety rep and to attend a safety meeting the next day. Little did he know (after showing up to the meeting 20 minutes late), the meeting was to award him with a good samaritan award. Matt, as humble as he his, was ambushed but this group of women of the safety committee and had to take his photo with his certificate of valor. The photo and award was posted in the company cafeteria for all to see; headline; "Matt Wadleigh, What a Guy!" I used this tagline in all my emails to him.

When I left the company, I had made him my own cerificate to wrap up my time and all our rediculous pranks, since he really made every day a lot more fun. He also surprised me and gave me a color copy of his certificate. I still have it....what a guy!

I'll miss you Matt!