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In cleaning out my car-less two-car garage,
I am finding belongings and keepsakes of a very special man, Walter Perry.
They were stored here in 1990! Walter Perry resided in a humble white
rancher on Gilbert Street in LeRoy,
New York, near Batavia, south of
Rochester.
Walter was my stepfather for nearly 20
years.
Although well-known on his street and in
his church, Walter was not rich or famous, no one very special on the
surface. He was 79 ???going -on-80??? but personally kept his house painted
and his lawn mowed. He also still worked for a local factory, as needed!
Amazing!
He was often needed. He had just bought a
new subcompact car, and was very proud of its high gas mileage. He always
wore the shoulder belt. Too infrequently my wife (and then daughter) and I
would make reciprocal visits to LeRoy, and he and my mother to Lewiston.
I took for granted that there would always
be that little house on Gilbert Street and always my mom and Walter
anxiously awaiting our arrival. She would always have something for us
(generally unneeded) which she had enjoyed buying with her social security
money, and certainly a new toy for our daughter. I remember their last
visit to us in Lewiston, as though it were last week. One day Walter
phoned to tell us that my mother had suffered a stroke and was in the
hospital. We found her communicative and in good spirits.
Time would reveal that her stroke had
caused enough injury to require a nursing home. Time would reveal that that
she would decline from mini strokes. She was placed in a nursing home in
Batavia, with a truly dedicated staff. Unfortunately, it was a one hour
drive for us and 15 minutes for Walter. I know that Walter was expecting
that she would be able to come home. But more about Walter... As a child
he had a disease that left him ???learning- disabled???. If you visited his
little book-filled den/study, you would never guess that. On his desk was
always a new book opened, on the strangest mix of topics: history, logic,
literature, economics (!), geography or science.
As a common laborer, without a high school
diploma, he was more of a true ???lifelong learner??? than many ???educated???
people. This always amazed me. And then there was his service to
others. He had remained a bachelor, in order to nurse an ailing mother and
aunt, until their passing. Then he met my mother.
But when he said that he had to help the
???old people??? down the street mow their lawn or do heavy chores, I always
wondered how old they would have to be in order to make 79 young! And then
there was his faithfulness to my mother. Every day after work he would
drive to see her and spend with her the entire evening visiting hours. I
suspect that very deep down he realized that she would never go back
home. Then one night in October of 1989, after a day??™s work and a long
visit, he complained to the nursing home staff that he was very tired from
a cold.
He went to his little car and fastened the
seat belt. And later he just fell asleep at the wheel. At 2:00 a.m. we
were awakened by a call from the Genesee County Sheriff??™s Department.
Walter had suffered a terrible car crash and had not made it beyond the ER.
As my mother was later able to say, ???I lost my husband and my best friend.???
My wife and I had lost our rock, the one person upon whom we could depend to
keep my mother as happy and alert as possible. After my mother??™s passing, I
helped the movers to pack the very things so special to Walter that I am
now finding in our garage. I look at these things??”old cards, antiques,
souvenirs, dishes, knickknacks??”and I wonder their meaning to Walter.
I??™ve learned about appreciating others
while we can, about the amazing things done by seemingly very common people,
about generosity and service to others (Walter??™s ???old people???), and
something spoken by the clergyman at Walter??™s funeral service. ???When in
Heaven God met people who had experienced good lives on earth. He would
ask them about their lives, and they would complain.
Sadly, God told them that then they would
not like Heaven, either.
When God greeted Walter Perry, He asked:
???Walter, how did you like life on earth????
Walter immediately replied:
???Very well!???
?© 2005 Vance Agee |
