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Special Thanks to ML Blalock and DHS Friends for help with this memorial.
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AgapeCoffeeHouse
After Nam many soldiers were stationed in Germany, many of us in Wuerzburg, Germany where we hung out at the Agape coffee house.
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Harry Green died a couple of weeks ago. He was a beloved member of the Dunn High School Class of 1956.
Harry was a couple of years ahead of me in High School but always hung out with my class and buddies for some reason. It might have been that he felt more comfortable with us.
Harry had his drivers license and on occasion a car and was a welcome addition to a group of testosterone maxed-out boys.
We hung out at Harry's house often. His Mom had a "drinking" problem, I think, although at the time, we didn't have a clue what any of that meant. It was simply a neat place to hang; we had little supervision which allowed us to be slightly over the top, i. e., taking a sip or two of beer-pretending it was great when in fact, it was awful.
Harry kind of raised himself. I really don’t know much about him after High School because we all scattered; but, for those moments in time, during High School, he was great and our hero.
Below is a story about Harry Green...
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One night, we are in Harry's (we called him Sniff) Mom's big old 98 Olds. (This is a story that is essentially told by Bobby Nordan.) We are just "tooling" around and decide to go to the little town of Falcon.
Falcon is the State Headquarters for the Pentecostal Holiness Church.(My brother owned a big grocery store in the community.)
We knew some girls and were always joking about the Camp Meetings held every summer.
The shouting and speaking in tongues kind of intrigued us. Plus, we told rampant lies about the girls to our classmates about their shouting and speaking in tongues. Mainly it was our imagination but we were only fourteen or fifteen.
Like I said, we arrive at Falcon. I think that Bobby and I are in the back seat and Sherwood Lucas is in the front while Sniff is driving. We drive by the girls' houses, but don't have the courage to stop.
Bobby and I got to tussling in the back as boys do. Sniff turned around to look at us and the next thing we know, we have crossed a ditch and knocked down a light pole.
The entire front of his Mom's Olds was damaged and suddenly the entire community of Falcon goes completely dark. Bobby looks at the car and takes off running down the street. Somehow we get the car turned around, find Bobby, and take off back to town.
It definitely is one of those "you had to be there" stories. I'm not sure how we passed the car off with a giant dent in the front, but Bobby says we told that someone backed into us at the movies. And, the wonderful little community of Falcon didn't get their lights back on for days. | |
The following commentary was contributed by a friend which seems appropriate for Harry's Memorial:
I keep thinking the problem isn't with dying, which all of us do sooner or later and which, really, we're born to do...it's with how we view the dying, the loss.
The Irish celebrate someone's life with drink and stories -- but, heck, they do that all the time anyway. I don't have enough active brain cells to phrase this well, but if we were all taught to accept or even welcome death (certainly not the pain that so frequently accompanies it) as an incredible journey, or even the ultimate trip - like getting on a plane and going on a vacation that turns out to be so perfect that you can't even believe it.
I'm rambling, and I know the feelings of loss that the survivors have in losing a loved one (wow, do they ever) - but shouldn't we welcome the passage back Home? And since so few do, don't we need a societal shift to think of death in a better light? Maybe we don't welcome death because all we know of it is what the survivors feel, which is a loss beyond words. ES
My friend’s comments are wonderful and relate to my sadness in the passing of my good friend, Harry, who meant so much to me at a young age. What we miss is our loved one's presence.
Death is so final. The person we have known is gone, literally gone and no return. It is why saying "goodbye" is important. I'm sorry I didn’t get a chance to say so long to Sniff. Harry, here it is, travel well my good friend. jda
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Commentary
