by Barbara Fisher

Created on: March 03, 2007   Last Updated: March 09, 2011

Grandpa's Little Secret

"The good go too swiftly but thank God we passed this earth at the same time. We all must cry a short time for Dick and his family and then replace it with a smile for the shining example he set and try to follow in the blueprint of life that he left for us"

I once read that a friend may well be considered the masterpiece of nature. At the time, this made me think for a bit, but then I push it to the back of my brain. I have always had an abundance of friends, some of them very special, but none that I would consider to be a "masterpiece."

Then a few years ago, while attending college, I met Dick. My husband had known him for years, as he was the president of his high school graduating class. Since my spouse rarely comments on his feelings about people, I was touched when he spoke so highly of Dick.
"You will never find a nicer guy anywhere. He was always quiet, but always the first to help anyone. There is just no one else like him!"

Remembering these words, when I started college at age forty-five, I saw that Dick taught a Psychology class that I wanted to take. I signed up for the
course. Being the "old" one in the group, when certain topics were discussed, I was the most deeply affected. One day he showed a film on Alzheimer's, and I left the room crying. Both of my parents had this disease, and the film tore me apart. Dick followed me out of the room, and gave me a hug, and said that most of the others in the class were not old enough to have witnessed this yet, and he assured me that it was fine, even good for me to cry.

During the next two years, I was often sick or scared over something to
do with my own health. I have multiple sclerosis and lupus, and sometimes
when I needed someone to listen to me, Dick always had the doors to both his office and heart open for me. Once in a while we talked about my dying, and
there were certain things in my mind that I needed a special friend to take care of for me. He promised me that he would do them. I trusted him with secrets that I had never told anyone else, and I knew they would never be told.
Once when I was experiencing a very difficult medical time, he suggested I read Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. I read it, not only once but also time and again. The author's words still remain in my head. "When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will have to accept his sufferings as his task; his single and unique task. He will have to acknowledge the fact that in suffering

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