Memories

A friend of years past died last week.  I met Tom when I was a missionary in Mexico many years, actually 45 years ago.  Wow.  He was part of a group of missionaries who marched to a slightly different drummer.  Zone and mission conferences were always entertaining because someone from that group would do or say something that made others laugh - and make the poor mission president turn red in the face. They had incredible success but were inclined to question every rule or restriction and then do what they wanted. They didn't think knocking on doors was effective, so they would go to the parks or the plazas and just talk to people, asking about their families or their plans or whatever - making friends as a way to start a conversation about the church.  It worked - Tom taught and baptized 125 people during his two years in Mexico.
An example of hilarity from that group:  A few of the hymns in the Spanish hymnbook have been edited with more precise translations since the red hymnbook was published but when we were in Mexico there were a few with slightly odd meanings.  For example "I Need Thee Every Hour" used to be "I Desire Thee Without Ceasing."  When we sang that at a zone conference all the native speakers would begin to snicker and other elders who were more fluent would offer to serenade the sister missionaries.  And the mission president would become red in the face.
The last time I saw Tom was at an all-mission reunion in 2003.  He was there alone, said he had been divorced for many years and raised his kids alone - three sons and a daughter.  A few weeks ago his daughter sent me a Facebook message that her dad was in the hospital and wanted to talk to me.  I called him and we visited for awhile.  He was struggling with many of the same heart problems Neal had, so it was difficult for me to be optimistic about his prognosis, but he was discharged shortly after we talked.  I heard nothing else about him until Nephtali contacted me about the memorial service.
I knew that at some point I would have to attend another funeral but I didn't realize it would be so soon.  However I also knew that I should go to this one.
For the record, I do not like to drive and I especially dislike driving in Seattle traffic.  Add that quirk to today's commencement activities & traffic at UW and a trip to Edmonds just seemed a bit overwhelming.  I-5 was no fun but I arrived safely.
I picked up a program and read through the speakers and musical numbers.  Halfway down the page was another name from the past - my first district leader!  I hadn't seen him since December 1966 when he went home, got married and joined the Air Force.  It was truly delightful to see him and catch up on our lives.
It was a nice program. Only one of the musical numbers was a repeat from Neal's funeral and there were enough entertaining stories to keep my tears away. Tom's sons look like him and have his great sense of humor so they did a good job of sharing stories from their father's life. One that amused everyone was when the sons and their dad painted their house green. Apparently their dad wanted it to be something like a Mexican hacienda so he chose a bright green on a paint swatch. When they finished applying that much bright green paint, they stood back and realized they had just created the world's largest porta-potty.
Rest in peace, Tom.

(Apologies for the off-center posting...my scanner hates me tonight)