Thoughts & Memories of Del Raby
It was a Del-ebration
Our scheduled speaker, John Jones, graciously postponed his program about his summer adventures for a future meeting.
Our program from last week was dedicated to coping with our grief as we shared memories of past President, past District Governor and friend, Del Raby, who passed away peacefully on the morning of September 12th. Peter Hoberg wrote this in his announcement, "Although the last few days were challenging for Del, they were not all bad. I had the opportunity to ask Del several times yesterday if he was in any pain, and each time he said no. Yesterday afternoon, he was telling stories and laughing with several Rotary friends. He was having a little trouble enunciating his words, but when someone said something funny, he let out a long loud belly laugh. It was the biggest laugh I ever heard from him."
President Debra Robinson thoughtfully navigated the mood of the room and invited up members who previously expressed a desire to speak about Del. First up was Kent Seegmiller, followed by Paul O'Rear reading the progression of Del's life.
Del's long-time good friend and visiting Rotarian, Charlie Howard-Gibbon, shared his experience of Del's influence in both Scouting and Rotary. Shauna Lorenzen told us how Del & Harriett became very special in their lives when Del and Harriett would weave together. Shauna showed us her son, Cole's, baby blanket that Harriett spun and del weaved, a tangible memory of Del that will always be cherished! Next came Eloise Tweeten, Randy Seelye, Rich Randolph, Harry Coffey, John Jones and Stacy Ducker-Andress.
Peter Hoberg gave a heart warming acknowledgment of Team Del. Final thoughts of Del were shared by M.J. Gerard and Kent Seegmiller.
Earlier in the meeting, Kent read from a book of Poems that Del's wife of 24 years, Harriett, who passed away in 1998 had written. Here are three of them:
POEMS by HARRIETT
"TO"
I know you are gone,
But sometimes I catch myself
Glancing along
Down the dusty road.
Or listening for your singing,
Perhaps thinking
You came through the gate
When the wind
Left it swinging.
"STARDUST"
Stardust? – I have
Never gathered any,
But I have seen it
on the crest
of an unborn wave.
"WHIM"
I prayed that you would be strong,
Like the oak.
If I had known that you would not bend
Before Life and Laughter,
I would rather you had been
A reed.
To view a limited time recording of the Del-ebration, click HERE.
