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PITTSBURG —
Cancer treatment centers don’t usually conjure images of laughter, but Fort Scott resident John Findley brings it to Pittsburg’s Via Christi Cancer Center in spades.
Findley, 67, owns Findley Automotive in Fort Scott. He also enjoys dressing up and scaring people for Halloween. So it was only natural that Findley, who was diagnosed with leukemia two years ago, and his daughter, Suzanne Griffin, would show up to his chemotherapy session Tuesday afternoon dressed as the Edna and Tracy Turnblad characters from the musical Hairspray.
“I’ve never been accused of being normal,” laughed Findley, who was seated in the lobby of the cancer center with his daughter.
At 67, Findley isn’t constrained by the stereotype of the gruff Midwesterner, and popping on a silly dress and voluminous wig doesn’t phase him any more than a vampire costume might. And besides, Halloween is today, and what better way to startle people and make them laugh than to show up as six and a half-foot woman with smeared lipstick?
“You have to grow old, but you don’t necessarily have to grow up,” Findley said.
The idea came one year after he had seen Hairspray and thought the costume had potential for Halloween. Ever the prankster, Findley and Suzanne ordered matching dresses, which his wife, Connie, altered.
“I sauntered up to my brother and he didn’t know who I was for a while,” Findley said, adjusting the horn-rimmed glasses that had belonged to his mother. “His wife had this nervous look on her face. She never did figure out who I was until afterward.”
Findley said the whole thing is about making people laugh.
“You’ve got to do some things to have fun,” he said as several staff members who were entering the front door stared in a state of suspended belief at the large, sequin-clad man before realizing who he was and breaking into laughter.
Suzanne said her father is good at his craft.
“I’m going to need years of therapy,” she laughed.
So Findley brings his character to the cancer center. And the staff are glad when he visits.
“People laugh out loud and enjoy it,” said Joanna Hughes, Via Christi hospital outreach servces manager. “Hospital settings can be trying. He lifts everybody’s spirits for the day.”
Just then a hospital volunteer asked Findley if he’d like a cup of water to drink. Findley politely declined.
“I might smear my lipstick,” he said with a wink.
Cancer treatment centers don’t usually conjure images of laughter, but Fort Scott resident John Findley brings it to Pittsburg’s Via Christi Cancer Center in spades.
Findley, 67, owns Findley Automotive in Fort Scott. He also enjoys dressing up and scaring people for Halloween. So it was only natural that Findley, who was diagnosed with leukemia two years ago, and his daughter, Suzanne Griffin, would show up to his chemotherapy session Tuesday afternoon dressed as the Edna and Tracy Turnblad characters from the musical Hairspray.
“I’ve never been accused of being normal,” laughed Findley, who was seated in the lobby of the cancer center with his daughter.
At 67, Findley isn’t constrained by the stereotype of the gruff Midwesterner, and popping on a silly dress and voluminous wig doesn’t phase him any more than a vampire costume might. And besides, Halloween is today, and what better way to startle people and make them laugh than to show up as six and a half-foot woman with smeared lipstick?
“You have to grow old, but you don’t necessarily have to grow up,” Findley said.
The idea came one year after he had seen Hairspray and thought the costume had potential for Halloween. Ever the prankster, Findley and Suzanne ordered matching dresses, which his wife, Connie, altered.
“I sauntered up to my brother and he didn’t know who I was for a while,” Findley said, adjusting the horn-rimmed glasses that had belonged to his mother. “His wife had this nervous look on her face. She never did figure out who I was until afterward.”
Findley said the whole thing is about making people laugh.
“You’ve got to do some things to have fun,” he said as several staff members who were entering the front door stared in a state of suspended belief at the large, sequin-clad man before realizing who he was and breaking into laughter.
Suzanne said her father is good at his craft.
“I’m going to need years of therapy,” she laughed.
So Findley brings his character to the cancer center. And the staff are glad when he visits.
“People laugh out loud and enjoy it,” said Joanna Hughes, Via Christi hospital outreach servces manager. “Hospital settings can be trying. He lifts everybody’s spirits for the day.”
Just then a hospital volunteer asked Findley if he’d like a cup of water to drink. Findley politely declined.
“I might smear my lipstick,” he said with a wink.
