Sharon and I lost a good friend this past week. Weston Daw was our bishop when we moved into the South Cottonwood Ward four and one-half years ago. He was released three years ago at age 80. It was his second time serving as bishop of the South Cottonwood Ward. He also served as a mission president in South Carolina and the president of the Philippines MTC, as well as in the Little Cottonwood Stake Presidency many years ago.
Bishop Daw was an inspirational man who had the ability to show unconditional love to everyone. Whenever Bishop Daw got up to address the ward members or make a comment in priesthood meeting or Sunday School, you perked up and listened because you knew that he had something to say that would benefit you in your life. I had the opportunity to alternate teaching Gospel Doctrine with him for over a year. His ability to teach by the spirit and make the simple truths of the gospel lessons come alive was a great inspiration to me. He was the epitome of what we seek for in a teacher. We will miss his cheerful smile and attitude a great deal. Unfortunately, his sweet wife, Beverly isn't with us any longer either for all intents and purposes. She has been suffering from Alzheimers in recent years. We will miss them both. (P.S. the family picture at the heading of this blog was taken in the Daw's back yard.)
On another note, I want to talk about another friend. When we are raising a family, our circle of friends tends to be quite small, with family being the center of our worlds. The BFF of our youth many times do not endure our later years. When we lived in Sandy and had small children, I had what I considered a best friend, Ralph. We had many common bonds including University of Utah sports. Ralph had grown up in the ward next to mine as kids, had married a girl from my ward and also graduated from Granite High School. Ralph was the first person I know to buy a VCR back in the late 70's. Our first VCR ended up being the first one that Ralph had. It cost us $600. We had football tickets at the "U" for years, and played softball on the ward and a county rec team that Ralph's employer sponsored.
After Ralph and Nancy moved and then we moved to South Jordan, we saw less and less of each other, and lost most contact when I gave up my football tickets about seven years ago.
Ralph made some bad decisions in his life, decisions that led him to lose his career, his marriage and for the last 2+ years, his freedom. During all of his problems, probably when he needed friends the most, Randy was MIA. I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing. I recently wrote him a letter expressing an interest in renewing our relationship. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had told me to buzz off, but his response was just the opposite. While not condoning or excusing in any way what he did, I sense that he is trying to get his life back on track. I hope that I can be a better friend at this time in his life than I was before. I am certainly going to try.
Friends are a treasure that we can lose in different ways. Let's not do anything to drive them away. We might need them sometime.
No comments:
Post a Comment