It had been the talk of the town. The old doctors widow had married a man she had just met while on a cruise. It wasn’t just the fact that she had quickly married this man, but that he was different. He had a beard and goatee. The first time I saw him, he reminded me of a diminutive Mitch Miller. I was living in the small town when I first met Edward.
Years past before I got a chance to know him. He would come to my dealership once a year to get his vehicle inspected. I would try to start a conversation, but he was reserved and we never got past the small talk.
Our relationship changed after I made a service call to his home. It was just a dead battery. I jumped the car, replaced the battery and returned it to him. A week later he came in with his wife and ordered a new car. I hadn’t seen the doctor’s wife in years. I was in the same class as her daughter in high school and attended a party or two at their home. She always impressed me, as she was one of the few adults that didn’t talk down to younger people.
Now she was sitting across my desk with her new husband. It only took a few minutes to see that she was in an advanced stage of Alzheimer's. She just sat there smiling. The car was ordered and delivered a month later. It wasn’t long after I delivered the car that Edward stopped by my office in an obviously disturbed state. He had to have his wife placed in an assisted living facility. He had passed his 80th birthday and just could not take care of her any more. For the first time we talked at some length and he was obviously depressed about being alone. My wife saw how he was feeling and invited him to our home for dinner.
That evening at dinner, we began to understand what a gem of a man he was. He had traveled and read extensively. Unlike most tourists that only travel so that they can brag to friends, Edward had traveled to study and learn. His mind stored data far greater than any computer.
After that first dinner, our friendship blossomed. Our business was in a decline and we had time and Edward started coming to our office several times a week. Each time he would come in with a little notebook with notes about things he had read about since our last meeting. My wife was suspicious that he was just memorizing some tidbits of information and then coming to impress us with the newly found facts. One day, as a test, she brought up a different, totally unrelated topic to see how he would react. To her and my surprise, he gave a delightful and knowledgeable commentary on that topic. He started having dinner with us several times a week. Other days my wife would cook extra and I would take the meal to his house. One winter evening he had been gone for about half an hour, when we got a call from the local police. He had stopped on a street in town and was lost. I took him home and after that, we would pick him up when ever he came to eat with us.
We had many wonderful evenings together. He got to where he stayed later and later. After some h
After many months we started learning about his personal life. His work as a graphic artist for the Methodist church.He had created the Methodist Logo.
He had joined the local Rotary Club, but found their conversations shallow. He frequently thanked us for being his friends.
I will never forget the day we told him we were closing our business and planning to move away. He normally had a sparkle in his eyes but now it was gone as he asked. “If you leave, what am I going to do?” I didn’t know what to answer, but my wife quickly said. “You can move to Indiana where your daughter lives”. He looked shocked. We talked a little and then he left.
He came in early the next morning and he was unusually agitated. “ I didn’t sleep all night!!” he exclaimed. “You know I think your right and I can move!!”
The next few months got busy. He would fly to Indiana, so his grand daughter and son in law came to pick up his two vehicles. We helped him pack and contact a mover. We drove him to the airport for his flight to Indiana. He thanked us and the last thing he told me was that he felt like he was escaping.
We took a trip to Missouri to visit an aging aunt later that year, and then decided to extend the trip to Indiana to see how he was doing. Edward had rented a small apartment near the University and was enjoying participating in cultural events there. His daughter lived near by and it was a comfort to him.
He only lived a few more years, but they were happy years for him.
©2010
