Good-bye Mr. Edwards

It was a 10 minute walk from my house to Floyd Dryden Junior High School. Rain, shine, or snow. Down the bike path past the Baptist church, across the street and cut through the woods by Petrolane. Not a long walk, really, but the same path every day. It sure seemed a lot shorter once I met Missy. The new kid at school lived right on my way. We started walking together every day.

We got to be good friends. She hung out at my house. I hung out at hers. Missy, Patty and Kathy. The 3 musketeers. In fact, it was a purposeful plot by our physics teacher to split the 3 of us up that stuck me on the same science team with another new kid at school, a scruffy-lookin' kid named Edwin.

Missy was great to hang out with. She got me out of the library into the Alaskan outdoors. Hiking, swimming, beachcombing, boating, skiing-- we did it all together. A sailing trip where Kathy and I crammed as many marshmallows into Missy's mouth as we could earned her the nickname "the Rabid Captain." We took all our classes together, went to youth group activities together. Her mom taught me to tat. Her dad taught me basic Coast Guard patrol regs.

We lost touch with each other after my wedding. I haven't seen her or heard from her for over 15 years.

15 years, maybe more.

Last week I wrote to her parents to try to get her address.

And 10 minutes ago, I got the news that her father died. Probably on the very day that I wrote to him.

Good-bye, Bill Edwards. You were a good dad, and a good friend's dad. You touched a lot of lives. God bless your soul.