ERICA TECHO
10th Annual Diamond Awards
Lew Burdette, President of King's Home, spoke at the 10th Annual Diamond Awards.
When he was 15 years old, Lew Burdette did not know if he would survive the night.
He left his father’s small grocery store around 6 p.m. and at 2 a.m., he was in intensive care receiving treatment for multiple stab wounds, a gunshot wound and a punctured lung.
Burdette said that night of kidnap and assault and the next few weeks of recovery taught him a few lessons about life and leadership, which he shared with the South Shelby Chamber of Commerce at the 10th Annual Diamond Awards on Dec. 3.
“We all have pain and suffering, disappointment and loss. It’s part of our lives, that’s just life,” Burdette said. “And that’s certainly a common bond that I have with our residents in King’s Home because that’s part of my journey too. I’ve found myself in a desperately hopeless situation.”
After leaving his father’s grocery store on Dec. 27, 1974, Burdette was kidnapped. His kidnappers said they wanted to use him for ransom, but he knew his dad would not have the $250,000 they wanted. They drove him out of the already rural area into the backwoods, Burdette said, and they eventually pulled down a dirt road.
They hit him in the head with the butt of their gun, stabbed him multiple times and dragged him off into the woods and dumped him in an old well. The men shot at him while he was in the well, and after hitting him once in the head, the kidnappers finally left. Burdette said he felt hopeless and could find no way out of the well.
“The good thing that I’ve discovered about hopeless situations is that we can learn a lot from them,” Burdette said.
Burdette said that night taught him how important it is to have respect for others and respect for life. If the men had that respect, he said, they never would have considered kidnapping a 15-year-old and harming him in that way.
The night also taught him to value life. He was facing what he thought was certain death, Burdette said, somewhere no 15 year old expects to be.
“At 15 years old, I didn’t value my life because I thought I had my whole life in front of me,” Burdette said. “We all feel that same way today, don’t we? And it’s normal… but we don’t know what’s just around the other bend.”
When he was his weakest, Burdette said his faith and God’s strength helped him survive. He eventually stopped worrying about death, he said, and trusted God’s plan. That was when he found footholds in the side of the well.
“When we try to do it our way — remember I did, I tried pushing and scratching and crawling, I tried to do it all my way,” Burdette said. “A great life lesson is when we’re the weakest, he’s the strongest.”
Burdette finally made it out of the well, crawled along the dirt road to a nearby shack and took an ambulance to the hospital. He said that’s when he learned to never give up, even when things seem hopeless.
“Things certainly didn’t go my way that night, in that near-death experience,” he said. “But that’s life. Every single one of us faces struggles, but the true test is how we handle them.”
Following Burdette’s speech, the Chamber presented its annual Diamond Awards to community leaders. The full list of nominees and winners is below:
Business of the Year:
- Davis Drug – winner
- Columbiana Clinic
- Mundy Motors
- Shelby Baptist Association
- Stone Hollow Farms
- St. Vincent’s One Nineteen
- American Tree Maintenance
New Business of the Year:
- Simply Infused of Mt Laurel – winner
- Southern Roots and Blooms
Citizen of the Year:
- Shari Hyde – winner
- Harpersville Town Councilman William Rayfield
- Shelby County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Chris George
- Della Pender, founder of God’s Ministry Outreach
- Peg Hill, Shelby County Board of Education VP
- Vincent City Councilwoman Bridgette Jordan Smith
- Donald Shirley, Chelsea COP member
- Alicia Johnson, Chelsea COP member and employee at Davis Drug
