TAMPA, Fla. — In today's Beautiful People, we are getting a glimpse at what service looks like through the eyes of a Tampa man. Leon Paige served his country in the U.S. Army, his county as a deputy and now his community as a volunteer.
"I was active duty for 26 years and I chose to stay in reserve for another 4 years," Paige said.
He looks back fondly at the years he served as a Hillsborough County deputy, here he did just about everything.
"I started out in patrol and then we created, the office created what was called street crimes and I was selected for that," he said. "I was on a DUI squad at some point. I went through narcotics where I spent a majority of my time. I eventually got promoted to supervisor."
His main area of patrol was near the University of South Florida, an area many people called Suitcase City.
"We had to come over here and patrol this area because there was no office here," he said. "The office was built and this was like the wild, wild west. The crime was rampant."
And even in retirement, he has a soft spot for what's now called the University Area Community Development District. He even sits on the board of the organization helping to revive the area.
"Now if you look around, we're building a park, splash pad, we've got a playground behind us and we got a nice facility right beside us. And all around us that's continuing to go on, so you're going to see a lot more of that type of activity in the area soon."
He says the biggest change is that more people now own homes in this community and that makes a difference.
"If you have ownership in an area, you're going to be responsible for it and so forth. We have a lot of energy invested into trying to make sure people become a part of the area through home ownership or long term residency."
Leon is also a proud father and grandfather and looks forward to helping others find those brighter days. "I like to see people when they don't have the burden of just paying rent and buying groceries and things like that. If there's something we can do to assist in that, then I'm going to be doing that kind of thing."