Editorís note:In memory of longtime reporter Rose Post, who died this year, the Salisbury Post is reprinting some of her columns. The story about Claude Aldridge first appeared in the Post in 1998.
Maybe Claude Aldridge is our George Bailey. You remember George Bailey, donít you?
Maybe you knew him better as Jimmy Stewart of ěItís A Wonderful Life.î Whichever way, Clarence, that cuddly angel, proved the holiness of ordinary good people.
But thatís enough about George Bailey and Bedford Falls. Youíve probably already seen the movie again this year, anyway.
This is about Claude Aldridge, who retired a couple of years ago as resident manager of The Plaza, but nobody ever thought of him as an ordinary man. He proves that over and over every year around Christmas when folks ask him to tell that story again about buying a television set for his wife, Geneva. The story always makes them feel better. Like seeing ěItís A Wonderful Lifeî at Christmastime makes us all feel better.

It happened on a Monday night. Claude and Geneva were meeting Helen and Walter Goodman a little after 5 to eat and then go on to hear a gospel singing at 7:30. But the Goodmans werenít there when the Aldridges arrived.
So Claude told Geneva he thought heíd go to Wal-Mart and get that television set they were planning to buy while she waited for their friends.
She agreed. He went and bought the TV.
ěAnd I put it on a cart and rolled it out to my car about 15 spaces back from the store and went to open the trunk of the car.î
But something didnít feel right.
ěI sensed somebody was near me,î he says, ěso I turned around, and there were two young men in their 20s or 30s, right clean-cut looking guys.î
They had stopped a van right next to the cart holding the television set.
ěAnd they had lifted the television set off the cart,î he says, and were carrying it to their van when he noticed them, and they noticed that heíd noticed.
ěCaptain,î one of them said, ěweíll relieve you of your television set. Weíve got room in the van.î
Claude doesnít want to sound like heís bragging when he tells his story, but the truth is he didnít hesitate at all.
ěSwell, fellows,î he said, ěthatís great. If you need it worse than I do, Iíll give it to you and help you load it, but I have to pray about it first.î
He bowed his head and immediately began to pray.
ěHeavenly Father,î he said, ěthank you for bringing these friends Iíve never met to help me load my television. I ask you to bless them materially with their needs, not their wants, bless them physically that they can work and make an honest living and bless them spiritually that they can feel your presence as I feel it now. Amen.î
He opened his eyes.
ěThey had placed the television back on the cart. One of them was at the van, closing the doors, and the other was sort of rubbing his hands, and he said, ëMister, Iíll be glad to help you load your television.í
ěSo I opened the trunk. There was a tire lying on the bottom, and he asked me, ëIs the tire bolted down?í and I said, ëNo,í and he moved the tire, and I helped him and we put the television in, and we closed the lid.
ěAnd I stuck my hand out and said, ëFriend, I really appreciate your help, God knew just who to send me, didnít He?í î
The two young men agreed he had and got back in their van.
ěI moved my cart,î Claude says, ěgot in my car, and we both drove out of the parking lot. I turned left and they turned right.î
Of course, he told Geneva and the Goodmans what had happened as soon as he got back to the restaurant.
ěAnd my knees began to knock. I felt like everybody in there could hear me.î
But that didnít keep him from sharing it with his pastor, the Rev. Glenn Dickens, on Saturday morning, and Sunday he preached on ěAcknowledging the Presence of God.î
ěIíve never seen those two young men since,î he says, ěand I probably never will. But I canít claim any victory for either one. God just led me to them.î
Geneva Aldridge died in early 2006, followed by her husband later the same year. ěClaude really knew how to be a friend,î his obituary said. ěThose he met were never strangers, only friends he had never known.î