Farewell, My Friend

Friday evening I had an opportunity to do one of those ministries those of us in the local parish often are called upon to do but never get used to doing.

JR served as chairman of the board of our local congregation back in the 70's. He was the board chair when his good friend and minister decided to move to a different ministry. JR and his wife were fairly new to the church, so he was pushed to the side. While they were always present, he wasn't asked to serve on any committees or study groups. I had my first visit with them when they returned from a cruise on the rivers of Russia to celebrate their 62nd anniversary and he came back with a case of pneumonia. In our visit, I discovered he was the retired comptroller of a Fortune 500 company. He began to tell me stories of how he and his co-workers had helped to build a small company into a giant corporation and how that corporation then had fallen on hard times and now doesn't even exist in a recognizable form. He talked about how he had served as a Marine in World War II and was shipped to the Pacific theatre to serve in the QuarterMaster Corps and how his daughter was born shortly after he shipped out. By the time he met her for the first time she was 22-months old.

We began to visit on a regular basis and talk about the church and it's business. He became a major player in our congregation embarking on it's first building project in more than 50-years.

JR was in some ways the typical executive of a major corporation. He was Republican through and through - and there was never a project done that didn't include waste, waste, waste in his view. I'm the typical old-line Protestant minister -- much more liberal than most of the congregation -- and sometimes I think much more liberal than most anybody else in town! And yet, somehow, JR and I were able to break through all that and even though we'd shake our heads about the 'silly' ideas the other held, we never resorted to the kind of name calling that seems to be the rule of thumb in our world today. As we discovered and named our differences, we came to appreciate the way we each ]viewed the world around us.

On December 15, 2004 JR had surgery. The doctors discovered a malignant tumor. It was inoperable. They gave him 12 to 14 months. Friday evening, with his beloved bride of 66-plus years, with his good friend who had been his personal physician for more than 50-years, and me by his side JR laid left the shell he had inhabited for 88 years, six months, and 25 days to begin a larger and more abundant life.

I'll never get used to saying goodbye -- but how fortunate I've been to share a part of the journey with him. Farewell, my friend, until we meet again -- and meet again we shall.