MILWAUKEE — This is a story about friendship and a love for community.
"We have been friends for 70 years. Mac turned 75 in January, I'll be 78 in September. He was five and I was eight," said LaMarr Franklin.
He and Mac Weddle not only understand what it means to be lifelong friends, but they also understand what it means to give back to their community.
"My mother moved to 12th and Locust with a tavern and my father moved to 5th and Wright and had his own tavern, so that's where I met Mac," said Franklin.
The two have been friends ever since.
"Even today coming here, we made a U-turn and went through the neighborhood and talked about how gratifying it was to be able to come up at that time in that era, in that place, in that neighborhood," said Weddle.
We traveled back to their old stomping grounds.
Looking at the building where he once lived, Franklin said, "Brings back memories, I mean really. Weddle responded, we had so much fun, we shoveled all these folks' snow back in the day and we just knew everybody."
Both Weddle and Franklin have made major contributions to the City of Milwaukee. Weddle spent 42 years as the Executive Director of Northcott Neighborhood House which is behind Milwaukee's Juneteenth celebration, one of the largest in the country. He credits his success to his mentor, former Northcott Director Joseph Winston.
"Joe is a man that made me go to school, made me go to college, made me finish my education," said Weddle.
Franklin is a former Board President of Northcott and started the Milwaukee Chapter of the Black Achievers Program at the YMCA back in 1973.
"I always gave back to the youth, I did Junior Achievement for a while, I just wanted to be involved and that's the way I was raised," said Franklin.
Weddle and Franklin have both played instrumental roles in the lives of young people with events like the Spirit of the Men Conference at UW-Milwaukee.
"Reuben Harpole would do the Northside Tour and we have all the different groups of cultural boys learning about our history. Go on the south side where we would have Gary Gretka or Robert Miranda would tell the history of the southside," said Weddle.
Before Northcott, Weddle worked at what's now known as the Lavarnway Boys and Girls Club. Franklin spent 40 years working there and served on the Scholarship Board. Through the Booster Club, he helped award scholarship dollars to individuals that went on to be our city's next leaders.
"We gave scholarships like Willie Hines' four-year scholarship to Marquette," said Franklin.
Both men have served on numerous state boards, organized a local community "Call to Vote" and in 1997 they along with Everett "Boobie" Moore and Tom Jacobson created the Garfield Avenue Blues, Jazz, Gospel, and Arts Festival that lasted for 22 years.
"It's so gratifying to be able to, wherever we walk, pretty much somebodies going to come and say something and it's heartwarming. It's a blessing, I feel good," said Weddle.
The old saying is true...everyone has a friend during each stage of life, but only lucky ones have the same friend in all stages of life!
