A Little Mystery

 

When I was growing up on our family farm, one of our neighbors, Ronny, was a bachelor who lived by himself in the house that had once belonged to his parents.  By the time I was about half-way through elementary school, he met and married a widow with two children, and went on to have two more children of his own.

Ronny was the kind of neighbor you could always depend on to help out, no matter what.  It seemed to me that he was always happy and in a good mood.  There was always a lot of laughter when he was around.  He went out of his way to get along with people and tried to avoid confrontation.  In high school, I spent part of a summer babysitting his step-children and discovered that along with being a good neighbor and friend, Ronny was a good step-dad.  Later on when he had his own children, he took on that role with the same love and gusto that he put into everything he did. 

Years later, when I had children of my own, Ronny was their bus driver and I entrusted my little treasures into his care every morning and every afternoon.  He was always joking with the kids and he greeted his students with good-natured teasing most mornings when they stepped into his bus.  He was always vigilant about bullies and allowed no bullying.  He took the care of his riders very seriously and students knew they were safe riding with him.

Ronny passed away suddenly two weeks ago at the age of seventy-eight.  It seems that over the past couple months, I have written too many columns about good people who have died.  It is true that I have likely been to more funerals this year already than I attended in the entire last year.  However, Ronny’s story is special not only because of his great attitude towards life, but because of a “twist” which was revealed at his funeral.

Ronny started his last day like any other normal day on the farm.  He and his wife went to a business in a neighboring town and as they were walking into the building, he fell and later than night, he passed away.  At 2:45 a.m., to be precise.

Ronny had a pocket watch which had been in his family for a long time.  It had not worked in years, but he apparently loved that watch and kept it in his dresser drawer, neatly polished and always ready to be admired.  When the family was gathering items to take to the funeral home, his daughter-in-law found Ronny’s much-loved pocket watch and took it out of the drawer.  When she opened the watch, she saw in disbelief the time in which the watch had stopped, the time where it had sat in waiting all these many years.  The watch was stopped at 2:45.  The family had it prominently displayed at the funeral.

Sometimes things happen for which there is no explanation.  I think this is one of those occasions.  A man, who loved to laugh and tease, who always put his family first, and who was a great friend and neighbor, has left behind a little mystery for us to ponder and remember him by.  Pondering life's little mysteries . . .  it's a good thing!