Oh, my! After four days without email of phone service, we stopped to check email at the Bozeman, Montana Public Library. Found an email from my dear friend, Jeff's mother with the devastating news that he died on Sunday. I cried aloud and immediately had tears streaming down my face. No doubt the people around me were alarmed, but my response was visceral.
Jeff was such a dear, dear person. He was one of the kindest souls I've ever known. He had such a zest for life, and was an avid traveler. I loved living vicariously through his many trips abroad until his health kept him closer to home.
I feel lucky to have known him, and will cherish my memories of time spent together: All-State Chorus in Tuscaloosa where we met in 1972; military dance at West Point; beach trips to Ft. Walton Beach; a ten-year wedding anniversary trip to NYC, where Larry and I stayed at Jeff's empty Brooklyn Heights apartment; visits in passing as we met up while our family traveled to Alabama; meeting in Pensacola at the Air and Space Museum a few years back; his long, wonderful trip to visit us in Portland just last year.
He will be desperately missed by the many friends who loved him and the family he left behind. He was a wonderful son; his parents will be lost without his constant care and attention.
I miss him already.
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