Friends - Losing & Reuniting

Over the last week or so, I have learned about losing two friends from my past, but in the same period I had the pleasure of reuniting with six people. I am not trying to keep score or anything (although my math background loves to add up things), but making the point that it is important to reunite with people before they leave us for good. 

The first lost I heard about was an old Vermont friend who died from an accident at work. He had been living in Maine but I had seen him a few times while visiting Vermont. His name was Alan Pratt and he was in the same class as my brother Tom, graduating MUHS back in 1973. Alan was a natural athlete and excelled at football, basketball, and baseball. I had the privilege of playing baseball with him in HS. Like most athletes, golf becomes a passion later in his life. Here is Alan getting a bucket of balls for his round at Neshobe. I did not say he was very good at golf. Boy, do I look good in the window!

Alan was a very gregarious guy. He was easy to talk to and he had that great New England Accent saying things like "Yep" and "By the Jesus..." Here he is driving the cart with another great friend, Roger Paquette. One year during the Neshobe Member-Guest, Alan was staying with Roger at his house close to the course. Alan had brought a load of lobsters and clams down from Maine. We had a great feast with many stories of our youth.

A year ago, I wrote a tribute about my good friend Vern Riley who has passed away. I had included a picture of me with Vern, and the other guy happened to be Alan. I showed it to another friend and he became superstitious and said bad things happen in threes. I told him I am sorry for the guy who photobombed our picture. Boy, I am going to miss never seeing Alan or Vern again. But this photo will always make me smile...

After my brother John died, I went to Vermont for a Memorial. I talked to Alan about baked beans. I did not know it, but I guess John always made a batch of beans for Alan. I know they were great beans, and it just shows some of the weird connections you can have with people. I went down to Mr. Ups with brother Tom and we ran into friends including Alan (green shirt), Roger Paquette (blue hat) and brothers Kyle and Kelly Kelton. I have not lived in Middlebury since 1979, but I can still go into a local bar or restaurant and meet up with people I know. Small town friends are the best, and I am sad that I have lost another one. 

As I was contemplating life and death, I was told by a friend that Erik Magnuson had passed away. He worked at ENSCO although I never worked with him, I knew him. I had found this photo of Erik (on the left) with coworkers Barbara, Nancie, BJ, Nancy and Allan. We were celebrating his 40th Birthday at Taco City in Cocoa Beach. He died at 59, way too young.

As I am finding out about the deaths of some friends, I was hearing that other friends were going to visit the area and wanted to spend some time with me. After two years of a pandemic, I have kind of got use to not having people over. But Ron, my first room-mate here in Florida, was visiting his friend Philine in South Florida and were planning to drive to Brevard for a few days.

We spent a few hours catching up on people we all knew and how things were going with families and travel. Ron had spent the morning with friends Emy Dohner and Gordon Kraft. They were going to meet for dinner and be joined by another couple, Phyllis and Fred Riewe. I thought it was smart to bring my camera along but I forgot to take pictures of the people. 

Emy & Gordon have built a new home on a canal in Satellite Beach which Emy gave me a tour of since I had never been there. We then walked down busy South Patrick Drive to get to Long Doggers for dinner.

I did not get photos of the other six people at the table, but I did get a great shot of my Ahi Poke Bowl.

We headed back to the house and I was able to get a shot of the sun setting over Samson Island at the end of the canal. Luckily, Ron, Emy and Gordon were in the picture too.

There was a water snake in the canal...

And a Green Heron on the neighbor's dock...

And Emy has cats, including one from a neighbor who spends a lot of time here...

Another cat...

Philine with two of the cats...

And one with the cat on the canal behind a flower pot...

Well, not too many pictures of the people but it was great seeing everyone. Ron lives and works in Pennsylvania. Gordon is working back with ENSCO. Emy & Fred both retired from ENSCO and Phyllis retired as a Public Defender/Lawyer. Here is a photo from 2011 of Emy, Phyllis and Fred at Fred's retirement party at Tuscany Grill. Al Siegel was the Division Manager and MC at the lunch.

I need to start visiting more people. There are people I would love to see before I hear of their passing. I thank Ron for making his effort to see people which allowed me to see the same people. Don't put it off any longer. You may miss out on a fun time...