UPLAND, Ind.-- In the world of the Buildings and Grounds Department at Taylor University, maintenance workers and the grounds crew have separate domains, and it's rare the two intertwine.
But in the 20 years Sidney Hall worked at Taylor, said maintenance supervisor Scott Bragg, that wasn't the case.
In fact, Bragg said he remembered a time when he first started working in 1980 that the grounds crew had to fix leaking water pipes.
"(Hall) was down there helping us dig down in the mud," Bragg said, despite the fact that Hall was a maintenance worker and thus dealt with the electrical systems. "He was down there working beside us the whole time."
That's just the kind of person Hall is, Bragg said: always ready to help people.
Hall, who is a volunteer firefighter for Upland, was in critical condition Thursday evening at Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne. He was injured Wednesday afternoon when he fell through a floor inside a house that was ablaze.
His wife and two sons, along with several members of the Upland Volunteer Fire Department, were with him Thursday, according to a news release from the fire department.
Hall has been a volunteer with the Upland Volunteer Fire Department since September 1991, Capt. Mike Howard said.
He worked at Taylor from 1977 to 1997 and now works for Building Control System in Fort Wayne.
"He's real knowledgeable," Bragg said. "I learned a lot from him. He would always answer your questions."
And though he no longer works for Taylor, he continues to attend community appreciation dinners, said Jim Garringer, director of university relations.
He also continues to help out at Taylor because the university uses several systems from BCS, Bragg said, and Hall regularly talks them through problems over the phone.
"He would just bend over backward to help you out," Bragg said. "You just can't replace that."
Plus, he still likes to help his friends from Buildings and Grounds out on home projects, Bragg said, noting that Hall helped install a patio for a mutual friend last summer.
"We had a big cement-pouring party," Bragg said. "Sid did all the electrical work."
Alicia Lewis, who works at Ivanhoe's and whose ex-husband is also a volunteer firefighter, said she often saw Hall at fire station functions.
"He's a very intelligent man, very friendly," Lewis said.
Garringer also spent time with Hall during his tenure at Taylor, and he said a prayer request was sent to all the faculty members Thursday morning.
"He's a very giving person," Garringer said.
Howard said the fire station does not have anything planned yet to support Hall or his family because they are all in Fort Wayne. He wants to wait to talk to them before deciding anything.
Copyright 2007 by Chronicle-Tribune.
Republished with permission of the Chronicle-Tribune.
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