As reported earlier, the death of Paul M. Bass Jr. has deprived Dallas of one of its leading community servants. The businessman/volunteer was among the city’s elite, with pals ranging from T. Boone Pickens to Harold and Annette Simmons (Annette and Paul both hailed from Tyler). But it was  Bass’  generous spirit and feel for ordinary people that set him apart, his sister-in-law Leslie LaBarba said tonight.
When Bass was at Parkland Hospital in 1983 after suffering a heart attack, LaBarba recalled, he was so impressed with the fresh sheets on his bed that he set out to find–and thank–the person who cleaned them. Downstairs he finally located this person, who not only ran the laundry, it turned out, but also took it on herself to help other employees with problem tasks like HR paperwork and figuring out bus schedules. “She’s running the hospital!” Bass said of the laundry boss.
“Paul learned then that the people who really matter in any business are the ‘little’ people, because they’re the ones doing the work,” LaBarba said. He made this life-changing discovery, she added, because one day in 1983, he got up out of his hospital bed to thank the person who washed his sheets.
