We are accustomed to loss at our rescue, Homeward Bound. It is an inevitable part of what we do and so we prepare for the sadness while focusing on the joy. But this week was different. We lost one of our own, a member of our team – a true friend.
Dick Brothers, a long-time volunteer, a board member, and our Vice President had a sudden heart attack and passed away at the rescue. He was taken from us suddenly and much too soon.
Dick and his wife Jean have been involved with Homeward Bound for more than ten years. He was the kindest, smartest, most modest and soft-spoken man you will ever meet. And as our president says with love “he was the ‘honey’ for all of our ‘honey-do’s.’ ” He literally had a hand in everything, from raising buildings and funds – to raising hope.
Our hearts go out to his wife, Jean and to his family. He is mourned by our Homeward Bound family and the entire community to which he gave so generously of his talents and time.
How we go on without him we do not yet know, but he would insist we do. I read that he was a fan of the Cat Stevens. I don’t know if it’s true; I never got a chance to ask him. But I have a feeling that gratitude for the beauty of each and every day as expressed in this hymn memorialized by Cat Stevens would express his wish for us as we attempt to carry on and ensure his legacy is sustained.
“Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the world
Sweet the rains new fall, sunlit from Heaven
Like the first dewfall on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where His feet pass
Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God’s recreation of the new day”
Gardens For Goldens 