Growing up with a changing address as his father moved from U.S. Air Force base to base, Darrell Maples learned to be a "people person" to make new friends from Spain to Texas to Nebraska.
But less than a year ago, while filling in for a friend, Maples was enlightened by the concept in a new way as a volunteer at the Samaritan Center.
"I believe most people are inherently good; there are just too many pressures to do otherwise," Maples said. "I just like to give people a chance."
Maples said he did not appreciate the volume of clients or services that come through the Samaritan Center until spending time working there. He said he particularly was surprised at the number of older clients.
In addition to providing an extra pair of hands to help with the food donations, Maples said he takes every chance to talk with the clients, to let them know they are valued on a human level.
"We sit in our own comfort zones," he admitted. "Seeing people having a hard time - and they're good people, by and large - it's changed how I view people."
Spending extended time at the Samaritan Center is one of the many things Maples has been able to do after retiring in 2010 after 30 years in state government information technology.
Another focus has been the Sons of Confederate Veterans, where he has served in a local leadership capacity with the Brig. Gen. Mosby Monroe Parsons Camp 718 for most of his 25-year membership. And he is in the third of a four-year tenure as the Missouri Division commander, his second go-around as division commander.
As young as second grade, Maples said he can remember being interested in the Civil War and captivated by stories from his grandfather. While researching his family's genealogy at the Missouri State Archives, he discovered his maternal great-grandfather was a soldier with Missouri Confederate troops.
A poor dirt farmer from Miller County, who was older than 40 when he joined up, Maples said he knew there had to be more to his family's Confederate story than the issue of slavery to send his great-grandfather into battle as far away as Corinth, Mississippi.
What he suspects was a great motivator was seeing the Union army invade and occupy the neighboring Cole County. Nationally, nearly 90 percent of soldiers who fought for the south did not own slaves.
As his family search and Civil War history interest continued, he discovered more ancestors who served in the conflict - and on both sides.
When he was introduced to the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), it became a place for him to share those interests and be involved in preserving American history.
"That's why it's so sad about what's occurring now; they're attempting at this point not just to rewrite, but to erase history," Maples said. "There's something really wrong with that."
At the end of the War Between the States, the Confederate soldiers were told to "go home and be good citizens," Maples said. The SCV are descendants of those American veterans, declared as such in 1958.
To ensure that those veterans' service is not forgotten or dishonored, Maples has worked on several projects in Missouri.
For more than a decade, the SCV has been trying to correct the problem at the Higginsville Confederate Memorial State Historic Site, where the Army of Northern Virginia Battle flag was taken down permanently.
"If the government is now trying to wash its hands from all things Confederate, why not just give or sell that cemetery to the SCV?" Maples said.
The site originally was a home for Confederate veterans and their spouses, with an accompanying cemetery where Confederate veterans from all 13 states are buried.
"That's all that's in there," he said. "It's offensive my southern ancestors are being denigrated."
The SCV continues to commemorate and remember those Confederate veterans once a year, placing the Army of Northern Virginia Battle Flag on their graves for the Confederate Memorial Day in June.
Maples has listened with frustration as other forms of commemoration for Confederate service have been attacked recently, with more being threatened.
"I relish the opportunity to tell the truth," Maples said. "Respect and tolerance is a two-way street, and it seems to be a one-way street right now.
"You don't have to like everything about history to respect it."
The Missouri SCV also has been working on a memorial to Confederate chaplains. So far, they have identified more than 40 chaplains. A religious revival took place in the South during the war; and military leaders, including Gen. Robert Lee and Gen. Thomas Jackson, demonstrated their firm beliefs on a daily basis, Maples said.
Faith has been a foundation for Maples, as well.
"I don't know how people can go without it; I'd be lost without some faith," he said. "I try to lead my life based on what I believe to be right and wrong."