Hometown Rankin - April & May 2016

Gallant Hearts Delivers Independence
Jerry File
A Mississippi Jewel:
Gallant Hearts Guide Dog
Training School
Nestled in bucolic Mississippi
countryside, rests the peaceful,
yet always bustling, Gallant Hearts
Guide Dog Center. Gallant
Hearts trains professional guide
dogs for people who are blind.
Gallant Hearts’ premium guide
dogs fan out all over Mississippi,
the United States, and Canada,
delivering independence, and a
richer life.
Executive Director, Becky
Floyd, earned bachelor degrees
in psychology and sociology from
The University of Mississippi.
Then, she graduated Ole Miss
School of Law.
In a casual moment near the
end of law school, she and friends
were talking about what they
wanted to do after graduation.
Becky said, “Someday, I am going
to start a guide dog training
center.”
Decades later, after a successful
career, capped by her retirement
as the Executive Director of
Mississippi Protection and
Advocacy System, Becky fulfilled
her dream by starting Gallant
Hearts Guide Dog Center, in
2009. Gallant Hearts placed its
first dog in December, 2012.
The Life Changing Potential Of The
Guide Dog For The Blind
Guide dogs for people who are blind deliver
extraordinary value and benefits to the person, and
society. Becky explains: “I have had my own guide
dog, since 1964. Guide dogs are good for the
productivity of the person, and for the economy.
For example, along the way, my guide dogs were
very important in my having, and progressing in, a
career. To be honest, I don’t think I would have
had as much self-confidence as I have had, over
the time of my endeavors. For example, I don’t
think I would have had the self-confidence to
navigate the Ole Miss campus when I was there as
an undergraduate, and in law school. I don’t think
I would have had the self- confidence to move
away to Jackson and get my own apartment and to
go to work, every day. And certainly, I would not
32 • April/May 2016