Corrections_Today_Winter_2024-2025_Vol.86_No.4

employees that I have may have supervised but I actually worked for,” Beeler began. He recounted lessons learned from former employers, mentors and friends who guided him in his long corrections career and gave him advice which proved invaluable during his long career. One piece of advice he remembered: “You always said please and thank you no matter if the person was the most irascible person you would ever meet.” Beeler thanked his family who supported him throughout his career. “One of my favorite stories is my daughter Me gan’s first play date. Yard people would come and cut the grass. And there was this young man who asked my wife, and you know like a good father I’ve already checked this guy out, and he said I have a daughter. I haven’t seen her in six months

and I miss her so would it be OK for Megan to follow him cutting the grass with her toy lawn mower. When he got released, he came up to me and said I want to tell you how much that meant to me that you trusted me.” Dr. Linthicum returned to the podium to introduce Doug Dretke whom she thanked “for the lasting difference he has made for thousands of corrections professionals and for the public he has so faithfully served.” Dretke began by thanking the assembly for this award telling them: “I am completely overwhelmed, grateful and humbled by this experience. I am just one of so many correctional professionals who have dedicated their life into this noble and often misunderstood and underappreciated profession.” →

Winter 2024-2025 | Corrections Today

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