Harry Gates

I miss "Uncle" Harry (I married his niece, so he was Uncle Harry to me). He had more stories in him than anyone I ever met. Eventually those stories filled two books, but he could have filled two more at least with the rest of his tales.
This photo sits framed on my desk at work. I look at it from time to time, and I've always gotten a smile from looking at it -- a smile like the one I'm wearing in the picture. This picture is how I'll remember Uncle Harry, down on a knee in a huddle with his "team." Today I was looking at this photo and thinking about my friend, and how I miss him. It has now been two weeks since he received his summons home to heaven.
Tomorrow it will be 19 years since the above photo was taken, on the occasion of his marriage to June. There we were, a collection of "Gates Men" gathered around our mentor, our friend, our brother, our father, our uncle, our counselor, our coach. Gates was all of these to us. I think about the other men in the picture, some I hear from occasionally, some never. All of us, though, were touched by the life of Harry Gates, and wherever we are today, I'm convinced that we have all been shaped to some degree by our friendship with him. From now on when I look at this picture, I'm going to say a prayer for each of the other six "young" men in the picture, because I suspect that's what Uncle Harry would have done when he looked at the picture. So here's to you Charlie, Mike, Joey, Chuck, Joe, and Dan. I'll be praying for you.