100 Houston Voices: Fall Edition
Craig Casipe can still hear his father’s cowboy boots coming down the halls of Ben Taub Hospital. His father worked in hospital administration, and years later, people still remembered the sound of his footsteps.
For Craig, those boots represent an example set by both of his parents: work hard, take care of people, and let your actions speak.
His mother, a nurse, had a simpler way of showing care. She would ask, “Did you eat?” Craig remembers brushing off the question when he was younger. Now he catches himself asking his own family the same thing.
Growing up, Craig was surrounded by families who looked after one another. At the time, he did not realize what his parents were building. Looking back, he recognizes it as community. He sees their example in the connections he now makes among veterans and others across Houston.
More Than a Job Title
Craig spent 20 years in the military, but there is much more to him than his service. He loves movies, listens to books, and volunteers at conventions. His wife and children are artists, and he speaks with admiration about their creativity.
At a convention, Craig enjoys recognizing a young person’s costume or talking with someone waiting to meet a favorite performer. He knows what it feels like to be a fan in that line. A brief conversation can make the wait feel different.
He calls it “the art of connection.”
That same feeling draws him to movies. Strangers can sit together, laugh or cry at the same story, and leave having shared an experience. Craig believes stories help us see the layers of a person that a job title cannot reveal.
Helping Veterans and Caring for the Helpers
Craig brings that attention to his work with veterans. In our conversation, he described volunteer coaches preparing to help veterans navigate a job search. Some have led large teams or held major responsibilities in the military but struggle to explain that experience to a civilian employer. The coaches’ work begins with listening.
Craig gives his volunteers three principles: reciprocity, resources, and bandwidth.
Reciprocity means the work should have meaning for the volunteer, too. Resources means no coach has to solve everything alone. Bandwidth means being honest about the time and energy each person can give.
“We don’t have an unending well of energy,” Craig said.
If a coach needs to attend a child’s recital or handle a family emergency, he wants them to go. Caring for people should be something volunteers can continue doing, not something that leaves them depleted.
Craig also knows what it feels like to receive help. During his own job search, he participated in Career Gear’s Mission Possible program. He remembers someone helping him select professional clothing until he was carrying so many hangers that his hands turned red.
The clothing helped him prepare for an interview. The care behind it stayed with him. Someone had taken the time to help him walk into his next opportunity with his head a little higher.
“Be a Paramedic”
When things become hectic, Craig offers a reminder: “Be a paramedic.”
As he explains it, paramedics walk into an emergency calmly enough to assess what is happening. Their steady pace does not mean the situation is unimportant. It helps everyone around them respond more clearly.
Craig applies that idea to work and everyday life. Pause. Pay attention. Take care of what is in front of you.
It is another expression of what he learned from his parents.
A Houston He Keeps Discovering
Craig grew up around southwest Houston and the Missouri City and Sugar Land area. After two decades away in the military, he returned to the city where he was born.
One of his Houston memories is celebrating a Rockets championship with friends. He remembers red and yellow hazard lights blinking along the freeway as fans made their way to the parade. To him, it felt like the whole city was sharing the moment.
Today, Craig loves that Houston still gives him places and people to discover. He talks about its food, cultures, parks, neighborhoods, and the many communities that make the city feel like home.
When asked what Houston needs more of, his answer was not another attraction. He wants more people to notice and share the good things already happening here: the small gatherings, local resources, and people making room for others.
What Does My Turn Look Like?
Craig has changed the way he thinks about success. Asked what he hopes his life looks like a year from now, he did not name a promotion or a number of people helped. He hopes to remain grateful, present, and aware of the difference he can make now.
Lately, he has been asking himself, “What does my turn look like?”
The answer seems to live in ordinary moments: making time for a conversation, helping someone prepare for an interview, giving a volunteer permission to rest, or asking a loved one if they have eaten.
Craig learned early that care is something you do. Now he is finding his own ways to pass it on.
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