Paul Fomby may not be much of a talker. But his weathered hands tell a story — a story of diligence and pride and kindness to others. In triple-digit heat, the 87-year-old man drives all the way to a packing shed in Tipton, spends an hour loading up his truck and trailer with honeydew melons until they creak from the weight and drives back to Corcoran or Hanford to deliver the fruit to those in need.

Depending on the week, he may go up as far as Orange Cove or Kingsburg to fetch fresh eggplant, cucumbers, or nectarines to deliver to the local soup kitchen, a battered women’s shelter or senior centers in town.

And he does this every week — hot or cold, rain or shine.

Fomby, a Hanford resident, says it all began as his weekend volunteer project while he was still working in Dinuba. But when he retired 28 years ago from a Tulare County job, it became his life, Fomby said.

“I want to keep busy. I don’t need the money,” he says. The tall, shy retiree wouldn’t say much more.

But when asked again why he likes to help others, Fomby simply recites an anonymous quote saying, “I shall pass through this world but once; therefore, any good that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow being, let me do it now. Let me not neglect nor defer it for I shall not pass this way again.” Then he keeps on driving his 1985 Chevy Tahoe pickup heading to the Corcoran senior center.

Believing in hardwork

Fomby, an Oklahoma native, was 20 when he was drafted into the Army at the height of World War II in 1942. His parents had died just before the war started, so young Paul Fomby was farming a family ranch with his older brother to care for their younger siblings, who were still in school. Two years after that, he was 5,000 miles away, fighting through the jungle of a Pacific island, sleeping in gun pits at night and taking a bath out of his helmet.

Many veterans saved the lives of fellow men. Some were recognized by the government for their sacrifices. Others weren’t.

Fomby is among the latter.

But his heroism during a battle in New Guinea is never forgotten by his surviving peers, who fought the war on the same front line and witnessed how he saved the life of one soldier sword-attacked by the enemy.

After the war, he moved to Dallas, Texas, where he married his late wife Mildred, and then briefly lived in California, where her family had moved.

The couple later moved back to Texas, where he earned a living by working on a cattle ranch and later truck driving.

“I’ve done a lot of stuff. A lot of guys work for a paycheck. But when I work for somebody, I’d give them a day’s worth. I earn my money,” Fomby says.

When the couple moved back to California, it’s that kind of work ethics that landed him a stable job on a road crew at Tulare County. Beside the full-time county work, Fomby also served as a reserve officer for the Dinuba Police Department for 15 years, he said.

Helping others

People know Fomby in this community better than he does them.

That’s because he helps them every week by dropping off produces for free at the Barbara Saville Women’s Shelter, Salvation Army, Church of the Saviour Soup Kitchen, St. Vincent de Paul, the county Commission on Aging, Corcoran Senior Center — usually all by himself.

Those who know him are grateful for his weekly generosity.

“He’s very kind doing this for senior citizens,” said Leonard Hernandez, a building maintenance supervisor at the Corcoran YMCA. Hernandez was helping Fomby unload some fruit for senior citizens in Corcoran the other day.

“I wish there were younger people who would help him. He’s already in his older age. He needs somebody to help him out ... If for some reason he would get sick and not be able to do this, imagine how this is going to impact people here.

“They are not going to get what they are used to getting. That would be a sad thing,” Hernandez said.

On July 20, Fomby was in Tipton loading up his truck with melons with the help of his friend, Lawrence Valdez, of Hanford, another World War II veteran.

Fomby, too, said he is beginning to worry that no younger person seems to be interested in helping him out and eventually taking over the volunteer work. “It’s hard to find somebody who wants to do it,” he said.

Fomby has an arrangement with willing packers that he can come by once a week to pick up “rejects” — products that may be misshapen or slightly cracked but are still good to eat.

Most of the time, he is so busy delivering fruits and vegetables to people that he doesn’t think too much about what others think of his volunteer work. But there are moments he’s reminded how much people love what he does, Fomby said.

Especially when he gets a “Yankee dime.”

“I was in Lemoore taking something in. And a woman came up to get some vegetables and asked, ‘What do you charge for this?’ I told her, ‘I usually get a Yankee dime,’” Fomby told a reporter on his way back to Hanford from Tipton. “An old lady who was sitting down right behind me then got up and gave me a kiss on the cheek over my shoulder.”

Fomby then cracked a smile for the first time during the two-hour interview.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2429.

(Aug. 23, 2009)