I can not speak for the dead as our host suggests. I don't know everything about John. But what I do know I think deserves to get repeated.
A few years ago I had the privilege of meeting Mr. John Drake.
My mother-in-law was into dancing. She went to dance class as a social outlet, and then met John. They became main dancers, filling in as dance partners for classes that were lopsided. He was about 20 years older than her, but he danced as hard and as well as anyone in the hall.
They went out dancing, and slowly, it became more than dancing.
She would call my wife to ask for advice. It bothered her that the two of them, at their age--especially at his age, would be making out in her car like teen-agers.
Their fondness for each other grew, so she stopped asking for dating advice from her daughter, and introduced him to us.
He was quite a man. Tall and thin with a firm handshake and a friendly smile.
He was a proud member of the Lions Club and donated much time and effort to their worthy causes.
He was a spokesman at the retirement home where he lived, pushing for new projects and new activities for all the residents.
He was allowed use of their wood shop, from which he crafted not pretty things, but useful ones, up till about two years ago.
He retired from the Ford Motor Company after 40 years of service. The union did him well after his retirement, but he earned every penny. He was a company man, never surrendering for a moment that the company he labored for put out great products he loved.
But his most striking moment, the one that he rarely mentioned, but that left me with awe, came before he started with Ford.
In 1945, he was a soldier in the US Army. He was ready to be one of the millions to bloody the Japanese mainland when The Bomb fell on Hiroshima, then Nagasaki. Mr. John Drake and his platoon was one of the first sent into Hiroshima after the bomb fell, to over whatever aid and support they could give.
Radiation? Its dangers were ignored, or unknown. He never knew he was going into a deadly dust cloud. He only knew it was his duty to save the living, comfort the dying, bury the dead, and rebuild the ruins.
Last night, surrounded by children and grandchildren, in a hospital north of Atlanta Georgia, cancer, possibly first seeded by the dust of Hiroshima, claimed the life of Mr. John Drake.
For over a year he had been battling this disease, and he fought well.
Rest now John. We will miss you.
This is not a fitting post for this holiday week, but I must give thanks for have met, and made a friend of John.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Thank you for sharing that, Dan.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
quote:This is not a fitting post for this holiday week, but I must give thanks for have met, and made a friend of John.
I disagree...I think it is completely and perfectly fitting that you make this post this week. Perhaps it will remind many of us to step back, and give thanks for the people we have met that mean something to our lives.
*hugs*
Thank you for sharing some of John's life with us.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Thank you for sharing with us and honoring the man you knew. I am sorry for your loss, and you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.
Posted by Geraine (Member # 9913) on :
Around this time of year it is always good to hear about the lives of good people that served others. It reminds us of how we should strive to emulate that behavior.
I am sure there is a special place for people like Mr. Drake in the next life.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
Thank you for honoring him in any fashion, and for sharing with us here. Goodness should never be forgotten, instead held for all to see. I rejoice for his good acts and the virtue that allowed you to respect him in such high graces.
Posted by Bella Bee (Member # 7027) on :
This is what we've always done - standing up and telling what we know of a person, spoken by the people who knew them. Little pieces of a jigsaw life put together by those they touched.
Thank you for telling us about Mr. Drake, and what he meant to you and your family. You and he are in my thoughts.
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
I have to agree with Belle. There is nothing more fitting for this week than to give thanks for lives who have touched are own. I hope that when I am gone, there will be those who remember my life with joy and gratitude.
Posted by Armoth (Member # 4752) on :