Time brings joy and sorrows. Today we lost our friend and classmate. The feelings we as classmates and friends experience cannot begin to reach the feelings the family is experiencing at this time and may God's peace be with them.
So many memories we have of our times growing up, going to college, reconvening for weddings and reunions. Fun in classes with Oldfield and Heinzmann. Basketball, baseball, wrestling. Parties on the week ends at Johnny Bob's. The classmates we have lost. The fire in Charleston. Moving all of the basketball team players cars during practice to the swimming pool parking lot. (Because everyone left their keys in their cars). Poems, stories, songs. Jay's on vacations. Mattoon, Eastern.
The graduation party at Diekroger's. Mr. Snyder. Prom, Homecomings. Cruising Vandalia. Rohlfing's bridge. Growing up. Reunions at the Country Club, the Shrine Club. Parties at Brenda's house. Bicentennial Homecoming float. Football and wrestling champs of 1975. Mr. Wells. Ship Captain Crew on college vacations.
All of our lives went in different directions and everyone kept in touch as they did. Those memories are for individuals.Yet in the heart of it all. For all of us who graduated in 1976 and the years before and after, there is a closeness. A feeling of safety and security and relationships that has extended for almost forty years. This root runs deep and each of us experience it in our own way.
For those reading who were a part of those years, we have all progressed in our lives. We are facing or have faced the loss of parents. We have lost classmates. We are in our middle years and thinking of the impact we are making in the world. We are living life to its fullest. We are living our bucket lists. Facebook has allowed to keep in touch and reconnect. Yet for today we are thinking of our friend. His smile, his leadership, his character, his sense of humor, his family.
Put on some red and white, say a prayer in the way you say it the best, and hug your loved ones tight. Blessings and love to the Mabry family and to you Curtis for everything you are to us.
