Uncle Herman

What a Character! Bushy eyebrows, long nose, and a funny "huh,huh" little laugh. I can still see him sitting in his favorite spot at the local donut place. "Well, fancy meeting you here," he would say. (I think I was his favorite niece.) He often told me, "I drove your mom to the neighboring little prairie town hospital before you were born. Lucky you didn't arrive early, on the way,huh,huh."

He never seemed to be in a hurry and loved to just "shoot the breeze", talk "prophecy" or politics, but was sadly lacking in style, social graces, education and parenting skills. He lived in the same rural community for sixty years and his farms are still recognizable by a perimeter of planted evergreens with naked, pruned trunks.

But, there was another amazing side to his personality. He had a heart for the underdog, the socially overlooked, the widower, the disabled, the slightly weird. He touched a lot of lives in his own unique way.

Whenever we would meet him at the coffee place, he always had a friend with him.... an old bachelor, a neighbour, a brother-in-law or someone who needed a ride. After his wife passed away, he would often drive his little pickup truck to the donut place for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When the waitresses saw him coming, they would have his "usual" waiting when he entered the door.
On the day of his funeral, no-one was allowed to sit at his table, because there was a floral arrangement placed on it that said,"In memory of our friend, Herman."
We all touch a circle of people in our own unique way, that nobody.....nobody else does.