5-year-old becomes honorary lineman during Helene relief

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/Gray News) - There’s a new honorary lineman in Augusta, Georgia.

Meet Ryan Dial.

The 5-year-old has formed a special bond with linemen from Texas he ran into while on a walk with his mom in their neighborhood.

Now Ryan has his own hard hat, and they even surprised him with his own company T-shirt with his name on it and the O’Bar Electric logo.

Those linemen, especially one in particular, have become like family.

As a lineman, Devin Rockholt’s job is to bring light.

“Been doing it since I was 19. Took me to a lot of places. I met a lot of good people,” Rockholt said.

He’s the general foreman for an O’Bar Electric crew from Fort Worth, Texas.

“Ryan calls them ‘Light-Lights.’ Because they turned on our lights, and they were lights,” Maura Dial, Ryan’s mom, said.

It was a dark time for everyone whose power they restored, but it was especially difficult for Ryan.

“He’s very sensory-oriented and needs everything to be routine,” Dial said.

Community leaders in North August have said that it is important to stick together at a time like this.

It’s why Rockholt and his power crew became so powerful.

Not only have they helped restore Ryan’s routine, but they also found a way to disrupt it in the best possible way.

“When Ryan was first born, everybody said children with special needs default to love, and that’s just what he is. He’s just pure love,” Brandon Dial, Ryan’s dad, said.

Rockholt feels a special connection with Ryan, having had a sister with disabilities. She died in 2012.

“She was only 4, so around the same age as him. I actually volunteer for the Special Olympics. I do a lot of stuff like that,” Rockholt said.

Rockholt is also a father to a 3-year-old girl, who he misses desperately, but they’ll likely be heading to Florida next to help with Milton.

“We’ll go home when the work is done, I guess,” Rockholt said.

For now, he and his crew will keep on spreading light to other families who need it, too.

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