One of those is Arnold Sigut, who received the Jennifer Phillips Award for Courage Wednesday at the Bell County Judge and Commissioners' Committee on People with Disabilities annual awards luncheon.
A resident of the domiciliary at the Olin E. Teague Veterans' Medical Center, Sigut has helped Chaplain Richard Beyer, the Roman Catholic chaplain, prepare for Mass for years.
He's also an avid gardener, using his talents to landscape around the VA chapel.
Sigut, now in his 80s, served in the Navy in the Pacific during World War. He was working in the engine room of a minesweeper on the way to Hong Kong when the first atom bomb was dropped on Japan.
"I guess we were about 300 miles from Hiroshima and I probably could have seen the light if I had been topside," he said.
After the war, Sigut returned to Falls County to farm. He wound up at the Temple VA in 1966 after he became ill and lost his farm.
Sigut used to work with a crew of domiciliary residents who did the landscaping on the VA campus. Now, most of that work is taken care of by paid employees.
At some point, after the VA chapel was moved to its current location, Beyer asked Sigut if he would like to work on the property around the church.
Sigut began developing the gardens in 1999, starting in the front of the chapel and moving to the back about three years later. It hasn't been easy, considering the chapel sits on an old parking lot. Dig a few inches down and it's hard packed gravel.
"It looked so bad," he said of the area. "Every year I cleaned up a little more."
Tom Rardin, chief chaplain at the VA, said he doesn't know how Sigut keeps moving.
"Arnold has multiple back injuries, but he's never stopped," Rardin said. "He looks like he hurts when he walks and he probably does.
"Without planting a blade of grass, Arnold weeded, watered and fertilized to get the lawn in place," he said. "His only mechanical tool is the power mower. He uses a hatchet to edge."
Sigut started with a small area, and every week he would progress, until he had control of the whole block, Rardin said
Sigut takes cuttings from plants around the VA campus and with time and a little nurturing, the plants eventually find a spot in the chapel gardens.
With the aid of a walker, Sigut makes his way around the outside of the chapel, pointing out the different plants. Last week, the roses were loaded down with fragrant blooms.
Sigut notes where an ornamental plum had been in a side yard, until he replaced it with a hibiscus. He has planted sago palms, camellias, azaleas, irises and more.
"If he sees an area where grass isn't growing under the shade of trees, he'll plan a flower bed," Rardin said. "What you see in the fall will be different from the spring, he's constantly changing out plants."
Sigut continues to carry on a love for the earth, Rardin said.
"I'm convinced that the Lord did something extraordinary when he put the Garden of Eden on earth," Rardin told the luncheon audience. "He banished mankind from that garden, but he gave the secret to Arnold Sigut."
