Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

We had a memorial service for a co-worker today

I didn't really know David Halteman, even though we'd worked in the same hospital--a small hospital at that--for fourteen years. He'd been there 22 years, in fact. He worked as a prosthetic technician so he was mostly in the orthotics/prosthetics lab, a place I've never really ventured into, so I mostly saw him when he came out for smoke breaks, etc. Even so, he was a fixture there; it seems so strange that he is gone.

I wish I'd gotten to know him better. Today at the service, his friends and family came and there were so many employees who either took a break from their work or stayed late to attend, that they had to set out more chairs in our auditorium.

David had a lot of challenges in life--he used prosthetic legs and had one arm shorter than the other--but he overcame them and devoted his life to helping kids with similar issues. From the stories I heard today he was a great guy to hang around with, who wanted to make sure that what he did count. It sounds like he was a good man, and it's a shame that he died at the young age of 55.

I hope his soul finds peace and that his family finds comfort in what was said and shared today.

It occurred to me today that I am very lucky to work in an environment where people really care about each other, a sort of second family, full of mostly good people (I'm not privy to their personal lives, for the most part, of course, so I won't make a universal statement) who may have started out just trying to find a job to support themselves and their families, but who make a difference every single day in the lives of children, no matter what their function at the workplace is. Many went into their careers to help others. I have one co-worker who adopted a little girl from India; another who adopted one from Romania, another from Russia. My point is that many of the people I see every day go an extra distance to make a difference, without much recognition, and without seeking it, because it is just a part of what they do. But it is very special.

David apparently fit the bill of that sort of person, and I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to know him before he died. I know just about everyone to some extent in the hospital, except maybe some of the night people, but I try to chat with people and get to know them a little. I'm sorry I didn't get the time to know David a little better. Maybe the lesson there is to reach out to the people you see around you daily, because you never know what Fate has dealt them--or you, in terms of time on Earth.

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