I’ve never really been affected by death. It was something that only happened to old people with serious illnesses and celebrities, and hardly ever happened to people I knew. This year has been quite different. Three friends of mine lost family members and my aunt died as well. She’d been dealing with Alzheimer’s for a while, but Alzheimer’s or not, the women on both sides of my family live forever, it seems. My aunt was barely into her 70s, so even though she was sick, her death caught me by surprise.
Yesterday a friend of mine, a speech coach friend, died in Lincoln. Like many other deaths in my circle this year, he’d been sick for a while. So in some ways, the release from his pain is a relief. He was such a successful speech coach, head of a Nebraska speech dynasty at the small rural school where he taught. He was always kind to me, and respected my kids. Even though he had unilateral bragging rights and could have been completely arrogant, he really was more interested in what his students learned. I wish I could have learned more from him.
His family is in my thoughts–not just his blood family–but his speech family. I wish I could be there for them.
Crap, you scared me. I thought you were going to say someone you knew died in that shooting. But then, that was in lincoln right?I’m sorry for you loss. It’s reverencing to think about the people that have been pillars in my life. Enjoy the memories.
The shooting was in Omaha, at a mall I’ve been to a thousand times, but I just looked at the victim list, and I don’t know any of them. Kinda eerie that I made this blog post and then a couple of hours later, the mall shooting happened…
He sounds like a wonderful man and mentor to many. I’m sorry for your loss. xo