An Army of Normal Folks - The Gift of a Legacy

Episode Date: August 23, 2024

For "Shop Talk", Coach Bill pays tribute to his late friend Bill Prest, and it's 12 years after his death. Now that's a legacy which outlasts how much money he made. Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney with An Army of Normal, folks. This is Shop Talk number 21. Today we're going to talk about legacy. In my book Against the Grain, I have a whole chapter dedicated to legacy. It's called The Gift of a Legacy. And in it, I talk about an old friend of mine named Bill Prest and I talk about something that happened actually at his funeral that has really shaped my vision of legacy. So Shop Talk number 21 is going to be about the gift

of a legacy as it pertains to my old buddy Bill Prest and we'll jump into that right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Hi, I'm Molly Conger, host of Weird Little Guys, a new podcast from Cool Zone Media on iHeartRadio. I've spent almost a decade researching right-wing extremism, digging into the lives of people you wouldn't be wrong to call monsters. But if Scooby-Doo taught us one thing, it's that there's a guy under that monster mask. I've collected the stories of hundreds of aspiring little Hitlers of the suburbs. From the Nazi cop who tried to join ISIS, to the National Guardsman plotting to assassinate the Supreme Court,

to the Satanist soldier who tried to get his own unit blown up in Turkey. The monsters in our political closets aren't some unfathomable evil. They're just some weird guy. And you can laugh. Honestly, I think you have to. some unfathomable evil. They're just some weird guy. And you can laugh. Honestly, I think you have to. Seeing these guys for what they are doesn't mean they're not a threat.

It's a survival strategy. So join me every Thursday for a look under the mask at the Weird Little Guys Trying to Destroy America. Listen to Weird Little Guys on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm David Eagleman from the podcast, Inner Cosmos, which recently hit the number one science podcast in America. I'm a neuroscientist at Stanford and I've spent my career exploring the three pound universe in our heads. We're looking at a whole new series of episodes

this season to understand why and how our lives look the way they do. Why does your memory drift so much? Why is it so hard to keep a secret? When should you not trust your intuition? Why do brains so easily fall for magic tricks? And why do they love conspiracy theories? I'm hitting these questions and hundreds more, because the more we know about what's

running under the hood, the better we can steer our lives. Join me weekly to explore the relationship between your brain and your life by digging into unexpected questions. Listen to Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the all new podcast There and Gone. It's a real life story of two people who left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck and vanished.

Nobody hears anything. Nobody sees anything. Did they run away? Was it an accident or were they murdered? A truck and two people just don't disappear. The FBI called it murder for hire.

It was definitely murder for hire for Danielle, not for Richard. He's your son. And in your eyes, he's innocent. But in my eyes, he's just some guy my sister was with. In this series, I dig into my own investigation

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This month, we're bringing you the stories of athletes. There's the Italian race car driver who courted danger and became the first woman to compete in Formula One. The sprinter who set a world record and protested racism and discrimination in the US and around the world in the 1960s. The diver who was barred from swimming clubs due to her race and went on to become the first Asian-American woman

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podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. For decades, the Mafia had New York City in a stranglehold with law enforcement seemingly powerless to intervene. It uses terror to extort people. However, one murder of a crime boss sparked a chain of events that would ultimately dismantle the mob. It sent the message that we can prosecute these people. Discover how law enforcement and prosecutors took on the mafia and together brought them down.

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Subscribe to the iHeart True Crime Plus channel today, available exclusively on Apple podcasts. Everybody, it's Bill Courtney. Want to talk about legacy? Bill Prest was a guy that I met when I first got into the lumber business as a wet behind the ears 26 year old. He was a Marine. He was a father. I first got into the lumber business as a wet behind the ears 26 year old. He was a Marine, he was a father, he was a husband. His family had owned a huge manufacturing facility for many years in the wood business. And after retiring from that, he went to work running a division of a lumber company I once

worked for. And he kind of took me under his wing. Funny thing about Bill Prestes, he used to eat onions raw like apples. I thought it was the most disgusting thing I ever saw and he always explained to me, oh Billy, I'm a texture eater. Still don't really know what that means and I wish he was alive today so I could ask him about it. The second thing is he always carried a briefcase on all the out of town sales trips we went on. He had papers and stuff in it, but one of the other things he always had in it was scotch and tang. And he would in a hotel room mix up some tang and 50-50s for scotch and tang together over ice and

have a cocktail and he called it an orange whip. Phil Prest, what a man. He's a good friend. When I broke from that company and started my own, he showed up about two weeks later with a bag of barbecue sandwiches and sat down and told me I'm really really proud of you and happy you've started your own company. I'm rooting for you. It's gonna be tough. His support meant a lot to me at the time because there's no guarantee we would last beyond the first year. Rarely did a week go by that he wouldn't stop by the office and share some words of wisdom, some encouragement, and occasionally an orange whip. After I got on my feet and got going, Bill double retired, still spent some time messing around, trading a few things in the

business. He always on Thanksgiving and Christmas cooked turkeys and Boston butts and would take them to all of the nuns in the cathedrals living around the city so that he knew that on Thanksgiving they had a homemade turkey and a and at Christmas out of Boston but nobody ever knew he really did that he just ran around gnawing on onions and drinking orange whips and delivering that stuff to the nuns just because he was a kind guy. Certainly he had children and family that revered him and loved him. He had a life in the Marines that mattered to him and there wasn't anybody that ever met and interacted with Bill Press that wasn't better for it. But even with all

of that, it was at his funeral that I was left with a lasting notion that I still carry with me today. His funeral was held at a large cathedral in Memphis and the place was packed, and I mean packed, standing room only and it was big. His son-in-law walked up to the lectern and I listened and I witnessed this outpouring of affection from his son-in-law. The number of people he had a positive effect on just blew me away. As I said, Bill served his nation as a Marine and he served his community. At one point in the service, his son-in-law quoted somebody I'd never heard of, Albert Pike, a 19th century Freemason. The words have resonated with me ever since.

The quote is, what we do for ourselves dies with us, what we do for others and the world remains and is immortal. I went home that day and kept thinking, when my body is lying in a box someday and people come to pay their respects, what are they going to say about me? I was probably too early to ask those questions at that time. This is 12 years ago, but I'm starting to ask those questions of myself more. What is my legacy? Lisa and I have bought a bunch of stuff.

We've done a good job in business and as a result we've saved some money and have a nice house and one day I'm gonna croak and then Lisa's gonna croak. I'm certainly gonna croak for Lisa and when they do my legacy that I've built through this business and whatever else I forgot will be divided up amongst my children and they'll spend it and use it maybe leave some of it for their children and then it's gone because it is true what I learned at Bill Prest's funeral what I do for myself in this life does die with me does die with me. So is that our legacy? Or is it more about what we do for the world and for others? Because see that does in Albert Pike's language, does remain immortal. It

does last forever. Bill Prest is gone. He's been dead 12 years, but here I am still talking about the things he did for others that still inspire me to this day. That's his legacy, not his business acumen, not the money he left behind or the house or whatever. It's him. It's his essence. It's his service. What's your legacy? Will it die with you? Once the attic of your heirs is full and they put some of that stuff you bought on their lawn and sell it for five, ten, twenty bucks at a yard sale one day, is that your legacy? Or is it your service? Is it what you're doing for your community? Is it what will be left behind in your memory? Guys,

Albert Pike's right. Bill Press emulated it. And I want you to hopefully think about that as you go on through your life, ask yourself when you're laying in a box one day, what will they say about you? They won't talk about the money you made. They'll talk about the good you've done or the lack of it. Think about leaving a proper legacy folks. That's Shop Talk number 21. And if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with friends and on social. Subscribe to our podcast, rate and review it. Join the army at normalfolks.us. Even consider becoming a premium member there.

All of these things that will help us grow an army of normal folks. If you have ideas for shop talks, current events, tenants, or anything else you think worthy of discussing, email me at bill at normal folks dot us. And if I think I have anything of value to add you can have your own personal shop talk from my mouth to your ears think about the legacy that you could leave behind as a member of the army of normal folks join us and help us thanks to our producer ironlight labs I'm Bill Courtney I'll see you next week. Hi, I'm Molly Conger, host of Weird Little Guys, a new podcast from Cool Zone Media on

iHeartRadio. I've spent almost a decade researching right-wing extremism, digging into the lives of people you wouldn't be wrong to call monsters. But if Scooby-Doo taught us one thing, it's that there's a guy under that monster mask. The monsters in our political closets aren't some unfathomable evil. They're just some weird guy. So join me every Thursday for a look under the mask at the weird little guys trying to destroy America.

Listen to Weird Little Guys on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm David Eagleman from the podcast, Inner Cosmos, which recently hit the number one science podcast in America. I'm a neuroscientist at Stanford and I've spent my career exploring the three pound universe in our heads. Join me weekly to explore the relationship between your brain and your life because the more we know about what's running under the hood, better we can steer our lives.

Listen to Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Andrea Gunning, host of the all new podcast There and Gone. It's a real life story of two people who left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck and vanished. A truck and two people just left a crowded Philadelphia bar, walked to their truck and vanished. A truck and two people just don't disappear. The FBI called it murder for hire. But which victim was the intended target and why?

Listen to There and Gone South Street on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, host of Wamanica, or wherever you get your podcasts. podium. There's the team table tennis champ, the ice skater who earned a medal and a medical degree, and the sprinter fighting for Aboriginal rights. Listen to a manica on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What happens when a professional football player's career ends, and the applause fades and the screaming fans move on?

I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity to fans move on.