As youngster, lifetime Bridgeport resident Phil Dye used to head out with his late brother Steve and get busy on their summer lawn mowing. That was back in the day when neighborhood kids would knock on your door hoping to secure work and make some money.

 

Phil Dye was part of that generation that learned about how to earn a buck. He also learned something else instilled into him by his mother and father.

 

“We were doing pretty well. My brother and I had about 14 lawns we cut regularly and got paid to cut,” said Dye. “My father reminded both of us that there were two elderly ladies in the neighborhood that couldn’t cut their grass and we were to do it and we were told not to take a penny for doing it. There was a lesson there, and so many more at home, that I’ve always tried to apply to my life.”

 

Lesson, I have no problem telling anyone when it comes to Phil Dye, well learned. Even though he never took payment for that act of kindness of literally thousands of others, he’s about to finally get paid. And it’s a payment on behalf of the community.

 

Earlier this week, it was announced that Dye was one of two chosen as a 2016 Benedum Fellow Award winner. The honor is bestowed upon those from Bridgeport, or even outside of Bridgeport, who have had a tremendous impact on this community in a manner that the award’s namesake – Michael Late Benedum – would nod agreeably to.

 

Since 1995, the committee that has chosen the Benedum Fellows has never gotten it wrong with their selections. I can say this about my good friend Phil Dye – I don’t know if they’ve ever gotten it more right. And when I talked to him about it this week, it was vintage Dye – humbled by the recognition and deflecting praise to others.

 

“I got the mail and there was an envelope from Ford Funeral Home and I really didn’t have a clue to what it was since I’m friends with (Ford Funeral Home’s) Brad (Ford),” said Dye. “If he needs me he can call me, see me at the coffee shop or church so I just didn’t have a clue.

 

“I was humbled beyond words when I read it and, honestly, I was a little uncomfortable, but not in a bad way,” said Dye. “I wondered about all of those people I saw when I turned 18 and Clarence (Rawlings,the owner of the former Pure Food Store) gave me a job and I would meet so many really good an important people that made a difference in the community and thought maybe they were more deserving.”

 

As Dye and I talked Wednesday, we discussed some of those important people. Certainly, it was a virtual “who’s who” of Bridgeport’s top community leaders. I then reminded Dye that you don’t have to have a fancy title or be a CEO to make a difference and he laughed and agreed. And then he tied that into his faith.

 

“We’re all the same in the eyes of the Lord because he doesn’t judge us by our checkbook,” said Dye. “I never got a college degree or went to college after high school and went straight to work. What was nice about my first job was that everyone treated me well. I realized I was a simple man in a small town and I was okay with that.”

 

It’s safe to say the small town was okay with Phil Dye too. From his time at Pure Foods until it closed in 1996 to his time with the Bridgeport Fire Department in both a volunteer and paid capacity for 42 years about a half a mile from his home, Dye managed to impact people everywhere with the one thing we all have the ability to use – kindness.

 

“People treated me good at the store and at the fire department … I was treated well as a kid and taught to be good to others,” said Dye. “That definitely started at home.”

 

Dye’s mother, the late Barbara Dillon Dye who passed in 2014, and his father Johnny Dye, who passed in 1985, insisted on giving back. And Dye said he had plenty of examples.

 

“We had three vegetable gardens growing up and dad and mom loved to have a bumper crop. If they did, then they could help the neighbors and the ministers and the United Methodist Church,” said Dye. “I still can remember as a kid on Sunday morning there were a couple of elderly ladies that lived nearby that if they felt up to it would want to go to church, but needed a ride.

 

“Off dad went to get them; sometimes with me and my brother with him,” Dye continued. “He would never take their money if they offered him money. He’d tell them to put it in the church offering plate. Those kind of things stick with you as a child.”

 

They stuck with Dye from those days until this very day and this very moment.

 

He went to work the year he graduated at Pure Food when it was still on Main Street and worked there until it moved to its final location on Virginia Avenue. It closed in 1996, but after becoming one of the community’s most well-known faces there he had another full-time job opportunity lined up.

 

Dye had become a volunteer at the Bridgeport Fire Department in 1989. In 1996, he joined on full time. It was there he earned the nickname “Fireman Phil” for his endless work with children in giving tours at the station or occasionally heading into the schools as needed. Without knowing it, Dye became an ambassador of good will for the department and, because of that, one for the city that employed him.

 

While the kids loved him, he loved what he was doing.

 

“Working with children you immediately see they’re just so innocent and they came in with smiles and they would brighten my day up. They always had energy and excitement. They wanted to learn and participate,” said Dye. “The smiles and fun they had was always worth it. You think that many of them were there to put on a firefighter’s uniform and sit in the truck, which is a great seen in small town like ours and probably repeated everywhere. I can tell you to me it was worthwhile.”

 

Of course, Dye’s role with the fire department often put him in direct contact with people at the worst times of their lives. Whether it was the rare structure fire or the more common medical call, Dye and his colleagues would pull the double duty of the chores the work required and the shoulder people would lean on.

 

“You’re generally out in a bad situation and people are scared. Sometimes when you were done with what you needed to do you would just listen to someone that was impacted or maybe hold their hand,” he said. “You could see the results of that kindness right in front of your nose; right at your fingertips and I’d be lying if I told you that it was gratifying to help. The thing is I don’t want anyone to think I’m blowing my horn because anyone could do that as a fireman or not. I saw it as helping out my neighbor and we can all do that.”

 

Dye did that for 25 years at the department. He retired in 2014 likely helping hundreds of individuals in his calls to battle fires or assist medically and impacted probably thousands of school children in Bridgeport.

 

Dye wasn’t done. In fact, he’s still going today picking up new chores and continuing old ones as needed. You can find him on Saturday nights as one of the ushers at Bridgeport United Methodist Church or on Sundays you can find him driving the church van picking up those who need transportation to and from church.

 

“I truly enjoy that and my parents always taught me to be kind and help the elderly and for years I would take a few of the women to the beauty shop, the grocery store or doctor’s appointments. Sadly, those ladies have passed away, but I still find ways to keep myself busy,” said Dye.

 

Busy being kind. Busy being generous. Busy being “Fireman Phil” Dye.

 

And now he can be busy being something else – Benedum Fellow Phil Dye. It’s an honor that’s well deserved.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Phil Dye outside the Benedum Civic Center next to the historic marker, while the second photo shows him behind the wheel of the van he drives on Sunday taking individuals to and from church. In the third photo, Dye is shown at the fire department, where he spent 25 years. In the bottom picture, Dye is with Bridgeport City Manager Kim Haws on his last day on the job in 2014.