Saturday, June 9, 2012

Here's To You Bill

I learned this evening that my friend Bill W. passed away on June 4th. Bill was not a big man physically, but he was a true giant of a man. He had dedicated his life to his kids and his grandkids.

I think it was for them that he achieved so much that was good in a life that was all too short and filled with much more than his share of tragedy. But he never allowed himself to feel sorry for himself or let the tragedy get him down for too long. When the weight of all of it became too much for him he would retreat into himself and bear the burdens alone.

I was privileged to be one of the few people who knew Bill's life story and the full extent of the burdens he carried all his life. That he did carry them all his life, yet achieved so much in his life is a mute testimony to how great a man he was. Mute because he shared his burdens with so few.

Bill was fortunate as a young man to have a grandmother who loved and cared for him. I am convinced he would not have survived without her. She made sure he knew he was loved. He repaid her by doing the same for his own grandkids years later.

Bill lived in the midwest. His ashes were scattered, as was his wish, over the land that he loved which had sustained him and nurtured the kids he loved.

Here's to you Bill. May God hold you in his arms and wash away your burdens. May he grant you eternal peace.

Thanks for being my friend and thanks for having your grandson contact me to inform me of  your death. I'll miss you my dear friend as will those who knew you best. You were a giant in my eyes even though we never met face to face.

Rest in peace buddy!

Jack Scott

1 comment:

  1. Hi Jack--Sorry to hear this. It always hurts to see friends and loved ones go. The older we get, the more we seem to know about it.

    You made reference to the many burdens of his life. Although it seems that it would be out of character for Bill to have you dedicate or share a post about him, why not do that? I don't know what his burdens were, but I think we all gain something by listening to other's stories. I think you would do a great job with it!

    [FYI--so sorry to be absent for so long, but I've been SUPER busy these past few months both at work and at home.] Take Care!

    ReplyDelete

I deeply regret that I must reinstate the verification process for those who want to leave comments on my blog. This is due to the intolerable amount of spam that spammers are attempting to leave on the blog.

At the same time I am changing settings so that those of you who have a Google Blogger ID or other recognized blogger ID will not have to have your comments moderated. My hope is this will encourage more readers to take the time to comment. The fact is I want to read comments with those of you who disagree with me as well as those of you who agree with me. All I ask is that you keep your comments clean and non-threatening.

The only reason I take the time to write this blog is to spur your thoughts and comments. Please do not let the spammers cause you not to comment. I know entering the verification words and numbers is a pain in the ass, but I hope you will not let the spammers cause you not to comment.

I still very much look forward to hearing from you.

Jack Scott

Anyone can comment on what I write in this blog. Regretfully, the recent amount of spam in my email account as required that I reinstate the word verification process for comments which I personally hate.

But at the same time I have loosened the comment moderation process so that those of you who have a Google Blogger ID or other recognized blogger ID will no longer need to wait for your comment to be moderated. I'm hoping this will tempt you to take the trouble to comment.

The truth is I want respectful comments both from those who agree with me and those who do not. All I as is that you keep comments to the point, clean and non-threatenting.

I look forward to hearing from each of you.

Jack Scott