Remembrance and Reunions

In the last few months I have attended at least three memorial services for people I worked with a more than twenty years ago at KOMO-TV in Seattle, in some cases nearly fifty years ago.  Bill Strothman was a news photographer who was one of those guys who made it an art telling a story with his camera.  He and the pilot he was flying with in a news helicopter died when the chopper crashed in downtown Seattle.  Milt Furness was a newscaster at KOMO and also a veteran who passed about six months ago after a long illness.  And Bruce King, an all-around-nice-guy, was sports director for many years at KOMO died early in December after a long fight with cancer.

Now, I know that most of you reading this did not know any of these fine gentlemen, but their passing has made it possible for many of us who worked at KOMO-TV and Radio to have sort of mini-reunions after their memorial services.

This can be a reminder for us that we should maintain relationships with those with whom we worked lo these many years ago.  There were perhaps fifteen or twenty former colleagues at these memorials, so it was great fun seeing them again, many after more than two or three decades! 

To this last point I must make a public confession...I have two older brothers, Dave and Paige.  Unfortunately, Paige passed away in 2001.  However, I had maintained contact with Dave over the past few years, but I had made the conscious decision not to actively continue with that relationship since I had prostate cancer surgery nearly 6 years ago. 

Because I have been thinking about the memorials and seeing so many friends from the past, and seeing the old classic movie “A Christmas Carol” with Alastair Sim, Dave has been on my mind.  The day before yesterday (his birthday) I called him to ask his forgiveness for my severing our connection.  We had a great conversation and will begin rebuilding our bond as brothers.  In fact, Dave wrote to me “The best gift I got for my birthday was getting back together with you.  It means a lot to me.  We'll get together soon.  I miss you.”

Also, on December 19^th a couple of us who worked at the TV station went to visit a man who was news director and had left KOMO in the 1970s; we had literally just found him living just north of Seattle.  He is 87 and we are both in our 70s.  What fun to sit and reminisce about “the old days”, remembering names of people we had long forgotten about! 

I want to say that no matter how old we are (and we’re all getting older as the days seem to fly by!) it’s not too late to reconnect with old friends!  Thanks for letting me ramble on about remembrances and reunions.  I hope I didn’t bore you too much!