Celebrating the life of a wonderful man today. He was a man of faith who loved his wife and family and fellow man dearly, too.

When we first moved here in our 20s with young children, my husband worked with a lady about our age who was newly pregnant. She was a delight to know, and her father or mother often dropped by to take her to lunch and we quickly got to know her dad. After her baby was born, her dad would often pick him up from the sitter and bring him to the office during lunch. I was often called on to come in and pick up some of the extra work they had seasonally, and got to know her and her dad pretty well. I instantly liked him because his stature and red hair looked like my Daddy walking away, and he had the same unusual sense of humor, so we got along great. At the time, he was working as a sheriff's deputy and we would often see him out and about. He doted on our children and they on him.

A few years later, I got a job in a government office and was thrilled to find out that he had taken a job there as an assistant to my boss after retiring from the sheriff's office. I loved working with him. The children would beg to come spend time with him and he would welcome them into his office to teach them all kinds of things when they dropped by. He was a great mentor to me and my children, and I found that he was an even greater man than I had already known.

If anyone was in any kind of need, he was there to provide whatever they needed that he was able to provide, even if he had to take out a loan to help or he would keep on until he found them help from another source if he couldn't help.

He worked as a volunteer with the Search and Rescue squad and has rescued many people, never thinking about the peril to himself. While I was working with him, he started having heart trouble, taking nitro glycerin tablets frequently. he eventually had to have heart surgery and yet he never stopped helping people and only took a short break after surgery from Search and Rescue.

After working long enough to retire again, I saw him about town often, and he always left not just me but everyone with a smile or a chuckle. He never quit helping others in any way he could. I don't think he ever met anyone that he didn't consider an instant friend, and everyone felt the same about him. It will be sad that he is no longer here, but I am so grateful that I got to know him and call him a friend for 41 years.