Monthly Archives: April 2009

The death of a good man

I got the word yesterday that Pastor George Hollenberry had died of a heart attack. He was the pastor of the Little Church in the Valley, the church I attended. He was a good friend to Jeffrey and I. Jeffrey used to take him out on hikes through the woods and I know Pastor loved the idea of John’s Boys, the men’s group Jeffrey started. When I learned of Pastor’s death, all I could think about was that he and Jeffrey are now hiking together again, free from pain now.

When Jeffrey first got sick, Pastor gave me $100 out of his own pocket, so that I would have gas money to go see Jeffrey. I’m sure that he also got the church to give me funds to pay for funeral expenses. He went to see Jeffrey twice in the hospital and would have gone more often if he could. He was there with me, when I got word that Jeffrey had died. I’ll never forget his kindness to me. And I feel terrible for his wife Mary, as I know the pain she must have now. At least he had his family around him when he died.

Pastor was a true Christian, the kind that live out that life, not just preach about it. He always told us that we should support and encourage each other. He always tried to encourage faith in those that didn’t know Christ. He didn’t hesitate to do unpleasant work when needed. When the church basement would flood, as it did every year, it was Pastor that would wade in with a sump pump to clear things out. The church suffered a loss when Jeffrey died. It suffered a blow when we lost Pastor. I do not know how we can even come up with another pastor. There’s no way that anyone could replace him.

Vacation

I had a vacation of sorts, with perfect weather. We went down to Depoe Bay for the Wooden Boat show. We intended for it to be a day trip, as I had the dogs at the house. We met up with friends and they were staying at a condo in Newport, bay side. Since they had a two bedroom condo, they invited us over to spend the night. Got someone to take care of the dogs for the night and we were set. We had a great seafood diner and a nice visit. Drove back up highway 101 for awhile and played at being tourists. It really did feel great.

Moving

At long last, I am ready to move out of the mountains. I’m not quite ready to move to the boat yet, as we are still working on getting it in shape. So, for now, I’m going to move the cats down to the river. Likely they will be put up in the two story houseboat, next to our boat, for now. We plan to fix that up and use it for overflow space in any case. They will be comfortable there. And I will be staying, for now, at Lon’s place in town. I’m already spending about four nights a week there, so that won’t be anything new. I’m hoping to finish the move by the first part of May, when I have a three day weekend to work on this.

I don’t have any sadness over this, other than I will miss my church friends. The dream I had up there has gone and any good feelings vanished with our “friend’s” decision to screw me out of the down payment I put in on the place. I am considering legal action against him. I’m tired of dealing with the snow and cold alone. I’m ready to move towards a new life. But I am leaving Jeffrey’s ashes behind, down by the beaver pond. I don’t think he would want to accompany me into town. And this will be a place I can come back and visit later on. Today is the six month anniversary of his death. My old life truly died with him. I have to go forward with my new life. The blessing is that I have a new partner that truly understands what it is like to lose your spouse. We are both amazed at our good fortune and happiness. We still talk about Jeffrey and his wife every day. Yet we are both truly happy to have met. I guess life sometimes works out that way.

The move

I posted these on the Messabout list, so thought I should share them here as well.

Dan’s pictures of the move:
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