By Phil Riske, managing editor, Rose Law Group Reporter
After conversations among my circle of cronies, I find we senior citizens have more to look back on than forward.
I recently flipped through a family scrapbook, coming upon a newspaper clipping; the headline reads “2 seriously burned in fire.”
The two were a 25-year-old senior veterinary student and me, at age 15.
It was not until I reread the article that I recalled the name of the other burn victim. We’ll just call him Bill.
Without going into graphic details, Bill did a heroic act during the fire, but it resulted in my third-degree burns.
I have always wondered what became of Bill because no one would tell me about him from the time of the fire on. There were legal angles to the fire story, so perhaps that prevented me from gaining any information about Bill.
After I reread the newspaper account, I decided to see if I could find my fellow burn victim. I assumed, however, at age 82, Bill might deceased.
I checked obituaries from his home state, but none could have been him. I then contacted the alumni department of the vet college he attended to ask if it had any information on Bill. I was told they could not provide that, but if his contact information were current, a message that I was looking for him would be left.
I didn’t have much hope I’d ever hear from him.
On Monday this week, there was an e-mail that mistakenly went into my junk mail folder. It was from Bill, alive and well, retired and living on a ranch in a Rocky Mountain state.
I won’t share our conversations, but the point of the story is to encourage anyone who has cared about someone in their past and would like to reconnect, make the effort.
If you succeed, your life will be fuller.
