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Paying it forward: Massena couple gives Blackhawk helicopter crafted by Norfolk woodworker to Gouverneur Army specialist

Posted 12/17/17

Updated 9:30 a.m. Dec. 22, 2017, to correct names. From left, Steve and Robin Butot, Massena; The Blackhawk; Spec. Taylor Bryson, James Dean Bryson, Dominique Bryson, all of Gouverneur; Brenda and …

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Paying it forward: Massena couple gives Blackhawk helicopter crafted by Norfolk woodworker to Gouverneur Army specialist

Posted

Updated 9:30 a.m. Dec. 22, 2017, to correct names.

From left, Steve and Robin Butot, Massena; The Blackhawk; Spec. Taylor Bryson, James Dean Bryson, Dominique Bryson, all of Gouverneur; Brenda and Roger Currier, Norfolk.

MASSENA -- This holiday story of three St. Lawrence County families and one Blackhawk helicopter began in August and ended this month when The Carver, the Givers and the Soldier finally met face-to-face at a new shop at St. Lawrence Centre mall.

Late last summer, Specialist Taylor Bryson  of Gouverneur, his wife Dominique, and young son James Dean came in to the North Country Showcase. After looking around a few minutes, the soldier came to the desk, a hand-carved Chinook helicopter lovingly cradled in his arms.

“I’d like to take this,” he said in his Missouri drawl, and when we explained that it was a one-of-a-kind piece, made by a local craftsman, he asked if the wood carver could make him a Blackhawk. “Choppers are my thing,” he explained, especially the Blackhawks.

He handed us his email address with the Blackhawk request, paid for the Chinook, and left, adding that he was on medical leave for his family and would be “going back” soon.

The next day, Showcase staff contacted woodworker Roger Currier of Norfolk who agreed to try to honor the soldier’s request.

And so he did.

Spec. Bryson was contacted. No reply. Contacted again three weeks later. No reply. The Blackhawk was sold. Woodcarver Currier set to work on another chopper. When it was finished the soldier was again contacted. Still nothing. A “sold” tag was put on it to keep it on the shelf. Each week it was dusted, each week nothing.

The months passed. One day Robin and Steve Butot of Massena came in to the Showcase looking for gifts to buy. They paused by the Blackhawk and a staff member told them the story behind it.

“We would like to buy it,” said Steve, “and send it to your soldier in thanks for his service.” Robin agreed.

Again the contact was made via email to Spec. Bryson; still no answer. The chopper again sat on the shelf. Waiting.

It’s very hard to find a soldier gone missing, especially when the only contact is an email address. Was he stateside? Was he in trouble? Did something happen to him or his family? Was he real?

One of the staff had contacts at Fort Drum and so, just before Thanksgiving she contacted Master Sgt Burnell Haney, Ret., of Henderson Harbor, to see if he could help locate the missing soldier.

One week later, on the same day Sgt, Haney sent a positive response, Specialist Taylor Bryson finally sent a note to the shop. “Just arrived back from deployment,” he wrote; “I’m sorry I didn’t get there sooner but I arrived late and we also had other issues.”

Early this month the three families came together at the North Country Showcase to celebrate new friendship, selfless devotion to country, and paying-it-forward: The Givers, Steve and Robin Butot; the Soldier, Spec. Taylor Bryson, his wife and son; and the Woodworker Roger Currier and his wife Brenda. Dominique Bryson, a native of Parishville, is undergoing chemotherapy for a brain tumor and is hopeful that her husband can remain stateside for a while.

In the meantime, Roger Currier’s choppers finally have a new home. But who knows where they will end up? On a shelf, perhaps, at the Bryson home? In a locker somewhere far way? In a toy box for young James Dean? Wherever they go, these choppers will have already linked three families, a retired sergeant, and the staff of a small North Country shop who insisted on leaving no stones unturned in the search for someone special.

“It’s a very small thing we did,” says Steve Butot. “But look what this soldier has done for all of us…it’s the least we could do.”

Pat McKeown is a retired journalist and a volunteer at the North Country Showcase. Her column “Just the Other Day” appears occasionally on The NorthCountryNow website.