The National Conversation (Raw)

Gordon Henry Lee, R.I.P.

  I knew Mr. Lee had once been a teacher, but I didn't know he was a scholar. I knew he was passionate about the Civil War but was shocked by his encyclopedic knowledge of the period. I knew that Mr. Lee was a Democrat but was unaware of the power and depth of his activism.

All was revealed in a four hour political beat down that was our first meeting. I got my clock cleaned... thoroughly and completely. One might ask why I endured the pain and humiliation. Simple. I loved his daughter.

There would be more battles. In time, I actually could hold my own against him but the first battle was the memorable one. I lost the argument but won life's lottery. A few months later his daughter became my wife.

Mr. Lee is a slice of that old style American-can-do-ism that is quickly fading from the cultural scene. He was a man ahead of his time. He and my mother-in-law adopted four children of mixed races in the 1960's and raised them in rural Wisconsin. Mr. Lee was a farmer, teacher (he taught inmates in prison as well as in high school), an entrepreneur, and an activist (There is a bluff outside of LaFarge, Wisconsin, where Gordon Lee planted about 10,000 trees in the late 1960s helping to reduce flooding in the Kickapoo Valley and in part negating the need to build a dam in the area).

Oh yeah, he was also legally blind, which was a great source of frustration in Mr. Lee's life because he never accepted his impairment. We have pictures of him driving tractors and riding mowers through the streets of his small town.

Mr. Lee was the great man who lived in a small towns. He was a good father. A fantastic citizen. Now he rests on a beautiful hill, overlooking a grove of trees, in a part of the state that still values family and embodies the protestant work ethic that defined his life.

Gordon Henry Lee, rest in peace.

Fun Funeral?

Well, no. However, I have never enjoyed a "going home" service as much as my friend's service on Saturday. I thought it was just me until I read the blog of another one of Uncle Ed's friends. I agree with everything he says. I also agree with his burning question...

"How do we get one of those?"

Check out Danny Clayton's blog to read his take on the service? 

Wenzler Leaves Lessons for the Industry

  

Edward Wenzler, president of William Wenzler and Associates-Architects Inc., died Saturday. His son, Christopher Edward Wenzler, will take over as president of the Milwaukee-based firm after working side-by-side with his father since 2006.

Christopher Wenzler said his father never let a bad day get him down and was the strongest man he knew. “It didn’t matter if he had the most horrible day yesterday,” he said, “he’d come in with a smile and a cup of coffee.” Edward Wenzler, 54, died after suffering a heart attack. A coroner discovered three blocked arteries in his heart. “He loved us all very much, and we loved him the same,” Christopher Wenzler said. “None of us have any regrets.”

Both Christopher Wenzler and Dave G. Voss Jr., president of Neenah-based Miron Construction Co. Inc. and Edward Wenzler’s friend, said he was the picture of health, and they were surprised by his death. But Edward Wenzler was a man of faith, and Voss said perhaps he was needed elsewhere. “There must’ve been a big construction problem up in Heaven,” Voss said.

Christopher Wenzler said his father’s approach as a boss was to be a humble servant to employees and clients. If somebody approached him with complaints, he would listen quietly, go home and pray about it. Usually, he would come in the next day, say he had failed the client or co-worker and begin looking for solutions, Christopher Wenzler said.

Voss said the best lesson Wisconsin’s construction industry can learn from Edward Wenzler was through his approach to working with contractors. Voss, who hired Wenzler’s firm to design Voss’ home and Miron’s headquarters, said Edward Wenzler would call on colleagues to ask their opinions about best construction methods or materials to use in his designs. “He was very, very emphatic that all of his architects call contractors to ask for their opinions,” Voss said. “There was never in Ed’s mind that, ‘I am any better or know any more than a contractor.’”

Edward Wenzler is survived by his wife, Georgine; sons, Christopher and Michael; father and mother William and Dolores; sisters, Deborah Wenzler Farris and Joan Wenzler Slocum; and brother, John Wenzler.

© 2008 Daily Reporter Publishing Co., All Rights Reserved

My Best Friend

Those of you who are friends of The National Conversation know him as Uncle Ed. He commented regularly on this blog. Every comment was kind, supportive and full of God's grace.

He was my best friend, mentor, advisor.... He was the brother that I never had... I loved him. Our families are so intertwined that it is impossible to unravel.

This morning Uncle Ed died in his sleep.

We are devastated.... But we know Jesus and that helps.

Ed Wenzler, my friend. Rest in God's eternal peace.

R.I.P. Isaac Hays

Born: 20 August 1942 in Covington, Tennessee.
Died: 10 August 2008 in his Tennessee home.

Signed to the Stax record label during the 1960s and 1970s, Hayes played an important role in shaping the "Memphis sound". First active for the label as musician and later songwriter/producer (usually teaming up with David Porter), he enjoyed his biggest success as a solo artist in 1971 with the soundtrack to the movie Shaft. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

As an actor, he is best known as the voice of Chef on the animated tv-series South Park (1997-2006).

He is also the reason why I couldn't listen to soul music when I was growing up... My father found my Shaft album... He smashed it right in front of me. Something about, "He's a bad mother...shut your mouth!"

Compared to rap these days... Oh well. Here's to Isaac Hays.

Info from Discogs website.

R.I.P. Bernie Mac

The world lost comedian Bernie Mac this morning. Apparently he died of pneumonia, in Chicago, at the age of 50.

In Memoriam

Today I am in the land of 10,000 lakes. The brother of a dear friend past away this week. His passing was  unexpected and tragic.

Life is so uncertain.

Kurt R. Erickson... Rest in peace.

My Condolences

My deepest heart felt sympathies go out to Charlie and his family on the death of his mother, Katherine B. Sykes. It is my prayer that the God of peace will comfort his family in this time of great loss.