"How to Never Say Goodbye!"

This is a story about an old man, an old woman, an old silver coffee server and an old double boiler....written by an equally old friend and infrequent blogger.

I can tell you right now that the first two of the four named above will be the first to take exception to the designation "old" and I will probably catch "you know what"  once this blog finds its way to the front door of the Atlantic, Iowa Care Center where Robert Harry and Janice Ruth Williams currently reside! 

I am willing to take that chance and, anyway, it will "make the day" for all the other Seniors in residence who will find themselves fascinated by being friends with Bob and Jan who got their names in the Arcadia.patch column without a police violation being mentioned! 

To appreciate the significance of the old silver coffee server and the old double boiler, you need to know the backstory of the friendship that dates back to 1930 for Bob and I and to the early 1940's when Janice appeared out of "nowhere" to grab Bob's heart...yes, this is a Love Story. 

Bob's family and mine have always been tightly connected, his Mom was my oldest sister's best friend, his Mom was my Mom's Bingo Buddy and rival for the title of "Best Bean Baker" at all summer picnics held at Sunnyside Park most every week-end. (No vote was ever taken and there were enough compliments to go around that both women simply glowed for days after!)

His Mom, Irene (okay, so I liked her slightly-sloppy baked beans) was my second mother, my confidante and counselor as Bob's and my friendship went from "puppy love" to a friendship that has grown bigger and better and one that includes his high school sweetheart/now wife...my soulmate of sorts, Jan.  She calls me "Agnes"....friends can do that

For the past several years, changes in the lives of my two long-time friends were daily, challenging and heartbreaking.  Both were in need of more care than either spouse was able to give.  Bob moved first to the Care Center and quickly became the Official Greeter at the front door to visitors and residents alike, a role he had previously filled for Atlantic's Hospital at times, the Golf Tournaments he staged, and while strolling down Main Street with a growing clan of tow-headed boys in his company on a Saturday night when all the farmers came to town to do the same thing. 

As Jan would tell me during our monthly telephone calls, Bob would have "good days and bad days" and had accepted his new life as a Care Center resident with a new resolve to "brighten things up a bit" for as long as he was able.

The ex-Superintendent of Schools has not lost his winsome touch when it comes to representing his hometown and the slightly-disadvantaged area called "Buck Town" where he and I grew up.   I think it is also called "character."

Jan had been a resident of the Care Center for about two days when daughter Mary and I visited her during our July trip to Atlantic.   Due to her current health situation, she was now a resident whereas for months prior to that Wednesday, she was the Visiting Chief Cheerleader of all she surveyed on the days she visited her husband.   (Jan simply parlayed the cheerleading vigor she exhibited for four years at good old Atlantic High School into a role that uplifted the spirits of the aging community and amazed the office staff with her vim and vinegar, and that was what we saw in only two days time!   What an "Agnes!")

Now...about the old silver coffee server and the old double boiler.

On our last day to visit Bob and Jan, their daughter and her hubby, Jane and Doug DeVries of Des Moines, were in town to clear out all furnishings from their home, and it was not an easy task for the family.  What to keep...what to donate...what to discard.

As we walked out of Jan's room, she whispered loudly in my ear..."Agnes, take whatever you want..."  I was thinking a "hanky" would be just fine as that is what I had asked from my niece to remember my brother, Dutch, several years before. (Yes, I take it to Vegas and No, I don't always win...) 

Janie had already made several stacks of furnishings and sundry items...one to keep...one to donate...and one to discard.  

(Backstory...the previous day, Mary and I had visited a fabulous Antique Store outside of Atlantic where I spotted and was ready to bargain for a lovely and complete silver coffee service.  The price was right, it was shiny enough but Mary said, "Mom, I think you should wait."  I really did not need one, had given mine years ago to daughter, Dana, but I was "craving" once again.)

Entering the front room, Mary was the first to spot the old silver coffee server at the top of the "to keep (meaning family)" and not knowing that important piece of information, said to me, "Mom, there is YOUR silver coffee server!"  

Torn between what Jan had whispered in my ear and knowing that it should remain in the family, I knew that was not to be until Janie happened into the room while this conversation was taking place.   

Janie has the heart and soul of her parents and has long been aware of our  friendship since those Buck Town and High School Days...one treasured and honored.   Few words were exchanged:  none were needed.

There was no doubt in her mind that this badly-in-need-of-a-wax-job-and-with-a-dent-in-its-side old silver coffee server would occupy a place of honor in my home at 5529, and treasured...as well as the old double boiler, then in Mary's keep, that had seen its share of homemade mayonnaise cooked for many a potato salad for a Williams Reunion. 

The dented double boiler is now safely ensconced in Mary's curio cabinet, and this story will be told time and again at Yvonne's Beauty Shop where Mary makes women simply beautiful Thursday through Saturday. 

Since arriving by mail after we stepped off the plane at vacation's end, the old silver coffee server has been lovingly polished (just like Jan said Bob had done for so many years for special occasions).  It gleams, as does the silver tray that it rests upon.  Bob will be pleased...

It will always remind me, whether or not I ever serve another cup of coffee out ot it, of a friendship forged more than 85 years ago in a tiny town where people grow up and grow old together...between an old man named Bob and an old woman named Jan and an old woman impishly called "Agnes" who has really "never left home!"

'Til the next time...CG/CW