I am saddened beyond words to learn that a life-long friend has begun his journey to the other side. His name is Tom Williams and we have known each other for nearly fifty years. We met when we were both young men working for the Woolworth company and were assistants managers together in a large store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The store was so busy that we had three or four assistants on hand always. It was run by a tyrannical ogre who shall go nameless, but he managed, with his lack of human grace, to turn the place into a very close facsimile of the HMS Bounty. Tom and I took turns being Christian Fletcher, constantly being brought before the mast but always avoiding the full lashing. This was the origin of our bonding and it was annealed by the constant heating and cooling of that blast furnace that was our training. The fate of young assistants was to train and be trained to become tyrannical captains in our own rights so that we too, could be in charge of our own stores and go forth to conquer the seas of capitalism, or in other words make lots of money for the company.

And so we did, go forth that is, and in doing so we were sent to different places during our training process, and as happens in life, even with die-hard friends, we began to lose touch with each other. I would think of Tom through out the years and wonder what he was doing and what his life was like but it wasn’t until the internet that we were able to reconnect. Our first phone call could have been one of our daily conversations over coffee as we sat at the lunch counter taking one of our infrequent breaks years ago. It had been twenty years or so since we had seen or talked to each other, but maybe twenty minutes ago had you heard the conversation. We were instantly catapulted back in time and talked about how we had worked with and behind and over, the ogre. What our plans for the future were (none of them came close to turning out the way we thought) and what we were going to do on the weekend.

We spoke of our disappointments and our triumphs. His most gratifying triumph was marrying the girl of his dreams who he confided to me once, he loved with all his heart and would forever. She completed him, he said. I believed him because in all the time I’d known him, throughout all the jokes we played on  each other, through all the rude and profane things we said to each other as only old tested friends can do, he never lied to me. He managed to say that about his wife, Joanne almost every time we talked in one way or another. She is a wonderful woman and I know that life will treat her well and she will find peace and contentment, even after this. You have my utmost sympathy and compassion, Joanne.

It is a terrible, terrible thing to lose someone. Nothing makes up for it. The passage of time finally numbs the shock and pain but the ache is always there. It too diminishes but still remains buried deep in your heart. I want to think that it converts into a strong and pure memory that keeps your loved one in your life forever, and in doing so will be with you for the rest of your life. I believe the world was a better place for the presence of Thomas Williams and I will miss him.

Fair journey Tom.