Losing people

It sounds really maudlin but we lost another one Tuesday.
Doug Hunt, who was a reporter for Crawfordsville's Journal Review passed away Tuesday afternoon.
It wasn't unexpected. Doug had been in poor health since before I met him in 1994. But Doug's health issues didn't make his passing any easier.
Writing the story of his passing fell to me and I'm afraid I may have botched it, despite my best effort.
My editor called to say I forgot to mention Doug had died in the story. I guess I was still hoping to find out reports of his death were premature.
I also wrote a column about the Doug I knew and I'm afraid it was too sentimental. I trust Jay Heater's managing editor magic to save both pieces.
Like Yogi Berra, I am feeling deja vu all over again.
When we moved to Elkhart many years ago, my wife said, "Now I can get to know your family." Within a few years my aunt and a cousin (who had been like a brother to me) had died.
I looked forward to returning to Montgomery County, Indiana, last year for many reasons, primarily family and friends but also to work with people like Doug.
I knew Joe Jarvis was too ill to work but Joe and I stayed in touch through e-mail and an occasional visit in his home. Then he called me to his bedside when he was a patient at St. Clare Medical Center before he passed away. I knew Harvey Keller was ill but we had opportunity to laugh together a few times before he passed away.
I admire Doug, Joe and Harvey for their contributions to the community and to my life in their various ways. Doug was a newspaperman. Joe and Harvey were radio guys.
When we moved back to Montgomery County in 1994, I was leaving the full time ministry and I remember someone asking, "What will you do now?"
I knew it would "work out" by God's grace.
It's been a wonderful and at times a bumpy ride in the past 15 years. I am privileged to have been an observer, reporter and for six years an editor, watching the passing parade.
I hope I can leave something in my wake when I am gone. Those three gentlemen certainly left me an example to follow.