Saturday, May 20, 2000
Student graduates in hospital
By Ray Schaefer
Enquirer Contributor
Walton-Verona High School seniors gather around classmate Bobby Black's hospital bed as he is presented his diploma.
(Patrick Reddy photo)
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As “Pomp and Circumstance” played from a borrowed boom box, the 60 seniors from Walton-Verona High School solemnly marched into the hospital therapy room.
One by one, careful of their graduation caps and tassles, the students silently took places around the hospital bed where 17-year-old Bobby Black lay, partly inclined, wearing his graduation cap and gown over a hospital gown, looking nervous.
The speeches started. Then the superintendent handed Bobby his diploma. He took it in the hand that wasn't in the metal brace, and he smiled.
Bobby's graduation Friday afternoon was a first for the hydrotherapy room at University Hospital. For the Boone County teen recovering from injuries and surgery after a wreck in Dry Ridge last month, the ceremony was an emotional one. He hugged, joked with, posed with and even cried with many of the classmates in the room.
“I realized a lot more people care for me than I thought,” he said afterward. “It makes me feel special and loved.”
Bobby is the classroom cut-up, some of his friends said. They were just returning the favor for all the smiles he brought them.
Rodger Biddle teased him about hardly ever having his Spanish homework done. Bobby teased back.
“I about failed Spanish. It might be because of the wreck (that) I passed.”
Bobby was driving home at 10 p.m. April 18 after finishing his shift at the Waffle House, when his car flipped three times and he was ejected. He had not been wearing his seat belt.
The result: two broken legs, extensive damage to his pelvis, a dislocated left elbow and pain. Dr. Kenneth Davis, the trauma surgeon who treated Bobby, said more surgery and therapy await.
“I just figure, it's better me than someone else,” Bobby said. “They say my age is what saved me. (I think), my age and God.”
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