A Good Man

About a week ago, a good friend of ours passed away. Will wasn't one who would read blogs, wasn't too fond of change, but man did he always have a smile on his face. Elena met him while she worked a summer, when she was in college, at OfficeMax, and he came in to clean up the store. She befriended him, when others wouldn't pay him much attention. Over the years, we'd meet Will for lunch, mostly at Dairy Queen, where he'd usually get a chicken sandwich and some fries. Some fond memories I have of Will are his love of his central air conditioning (retrofitted for his house a few years back), his shiny red Ford pickup (he washed and waxed that truck weekly, it seemed), he mowed the lawn of a local Lutheran high school (and took great pride in that work), his chuckle and smile, and how he'd always talk about the weather (he knew things about the weather -- the kind of things that you'd learn growing up on a farm, as he did in Missouri).

Will was an usher at our wedding, and he often attended family gatherings/functions (the picture above was taken at my brother-in-law's high school graduation a few years back). Essentially, Will was an extended-family member, and we'll miss him; may he rest in peace.