Goodbye, Friend
An alternate title for this post could be "Role Models, Part 2." Back in June, I wrote about Brother Taylor and how much influence he had had on both Adam and Matt while he served as their Young Men's leader. I am very grateful when my children, or Mike and I, have the privilege to associate with good people. I don't take that gift lightly, and I feel like we have been very blessed to have many amazing people in our lives to inspire, befriend, and encourage us.
Recently, another man who has been a very positive role model for all of us went Home. Yes, capital "H." Russ Rowley lost his battle with multiple myeloma a little over two weeks ago, and we are feeling his absence immensely. Russ was a member of our bishopric up until he could no longer serve due to his fight with cancer, and he got to interact with my boys very regularly. They loved him.
We met the Rowleys around fifteen years ago. Their daughter, Ali, was the exact same age as Rachel (26 minutes younger we once figured out), and they played basketball together on several teams. Russ was even the coach for their Y-ball team in second grade. As Rachel said, "I think we were the only second grade team in the valley to be running actual plays." He was a good athlete, but he was also a fun coach and a joy for anyone to be around.
Rachel and Ali were baptized on the same day, and our paths continued to intersect. When we were finally in the same ward with them, I was thrilled, and when Russ was put in as a member of the bishopric, I thought, "He's perfect for the calling." Happily, I was right. He served with diligence, faith, optimism, happiness, and endurance. I think I was most amazed when I went to visit him in the hospital after he had a bone marrow transplant, and he diligently followed up on speaking assignments that he had issued to me and Adam. I'm thinking, "Wow, Russ. I think we've got this. You just go back to fighting cancer, and we'll handle our talks." Amazing.
One night at Young Men's, the boys and leaders were playing kickball. Before Adam even returned from the activity, Mike got a call from Russ, asking if Adam was okay. Apparently, there had been a collision close to home plate, and Russ landed on top of Adam. Russ wasn't a petite man, and Adam did say his foot was killing him. However, he didn't dare tell Brother Rowley that it hurt because he didn't want him to feel bad.
I don't know if Russ was feeling guilty about the accidental collision or what, but when it came time for Adam to do his Eagle project, Russ signed up immediately to help the whole day. He showed up early, stayed through the whole backbreaking, dirty process, and did it with a smile on his face and a frequent laugh and constant words of encouragement.
When I went to look back at pictures of that service project, most of the ones I found of Russ were of him with his head down, just working and doing more than his fair share without acclaim or acknowledgment. That was pretty much Russ, a hard worker who didn't need people cheering him on to do the job.
A couple of days after Russ passed away, I came downstairs to find Adam wearing this rather odd T-shirt. I'm thinking, "What?!" When I asked him what it was all about, he said that Russ had brought it to a white elephant Christmas party a couple of years ago and that he had won it. "I just feel like wearing it today." I completely understood.
An alternate title for this post could be "Role Models, Part 2." Back in June, I wrote about Brother Taylor and how much influence he had had on both Adam and Matt while he served as their Young Men's leader. I am very grateful when my children, or Mike and I, have the privilege to associate with good people. I don't take that gift lightly, and I feel like we have been very blessed to have many amazing people in our lives to inspire, befriend, and encourage us.
Recently, another man who has been a very positive role model for all of us went Home. Yes, capital "H." Russ Rowley lost his battle with multiple myeloma a little over two weeks ago, and we are feeling his absence immensely. Russ was a member of our bishopric up until he could no longer serve due to his fight with cancer, and he got to interact with my boys very regularly. They loved him.
We met the Rowleys around fifteen years ago. Their daughter, Ali, was the exact same age as Rachel (26 minutes younger we once figured out), and they played basketball together on several teams. Russ was even the coach for their Y-ball team in second grade. As Rachel said, "I think we were the only second grade team in the valley to be running actual plays." He was a good athlete, but he was also a fun coach and a joy for anyone to be around.
Rachel and Ali were baptized on the same day, and our paths continued to intersect. When we were finally in the same ward with them, I was thrilled, and when Russ was put in as a member of the bishopric, I thought, "He's perfect for the calling." Happily, I was right. He served with diligence, faith, optimism, happiness, and endurance. I think I was most amazed when I went to visit him in the hospital after he had a bone marrow transplant, and he diligently followed up on speaking assignments that he had issued to me and Adam. I'm thinking, "Wow, Russ. I think we've got this. You just go back to fighting cancer, and we'll handle our talks." Amazing.
One night at Young Men's, the boys and leaders were playing kickball. Before Adam even returned from the activity, Mike got a call from Russ, asking if Adam was okay. Apparently, there had been a collision close to home plate, and Russ landed on top of Adam. Russ wasn't a petite man, and Adam did say his foot was killing him. However, he didn't dare tell Brother Rowley that it hurt because he didn't want him to feel bad.
I don't know if Russ was feeling guilty about the accidental collision or what, but when it came time for Adam to do his Eagle project, Russ signed up immediately to help the whole day. He showed up early, stayed through the whole backbreaking, dirty process, and did it with a smile on his face and a frequent laugh and constant words of encouragement.
When I went to look back at pictures of that service project, most of the ones I found of Russ were of him with his head down, just working and doing more than his fair share without acclaim or acknowledgment. That was pretty much Russ, a hard worker who didn't need people cheering him on to do the job.
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| Working shoulder to shoulder with the Young Men |
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| Not afraid to get dirty. . . |
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| This one makes me tear up a little. I'm SO grateful for the influence Russ had on the youth. Priceless. |
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| Who needs to have fun on a Saturday when you can help Adam Young dig ditches? |
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| This is probably my favorite picture of Russ that day. Just hanging around, waiting for all of us to catch up with him. |
As tough as it was to say "goodbye" to Russ, it made me happy to have a packed house at his funeral. Just me and seven hundred or so other people to celebrate his life. Goodbye, friend!
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