The Muse is Loose

I have met hundreds of people in my lifetime. Most of them I quickly forgot and they did the same. I cannot say that of one person. His name was Rudy. I met Rudy as a freshman at Ouachita. We became fast friends. He was all the things I wished I were. Handsome, tall, a beautiful bass voice. First chair trumpeter in all-state band, a great speaker. We became roomates. Rudy worked for a well-known evangelist of his day as a musician. He encouraged me to learn to lead singing and gave me lessons. He lined me up in my first "youth-led revival". He took his 40' Ford to New York and we saw "South Pacific". We saw and climbed up in The Statue Of Liberty. But there were some serious issues in his life. His relationship with his dad was bad. His mother had died. Graduating from college we both had military commitments and were shipped to Germany but to separate army posts. We both went to the seminary after the service. Rudy married as I did and we didn't see each other as much. He called me one afternoon and told me he was taking his own life. I told him to hang on and I would be there quickly. When I arrived the house was filled with gas and he was sitting in front of the kitchen oven with it turned on full blast. I got him from the house and we rode around for hours. His marriage was on the rocks and he was confused about his life and purpose. I didn't hear from Rudy much after that. I heard he was working on a psychology degree. Years later I visited with his sister at Glorieta. She told me he had gone to Ireland and made it appear he had died. He later was found in Ohio. His son, named after me, went to see his dad and was told never to come back. He had erased all the persons from his past. Word came one day he had died while in a doctor's office. There was no funeral service. A circle of his friends up there in Ohio met and shared stories about him. I should have been there for no one knew him better than me, but I knew nothing about it. Tragically unforgettable is Rudy. Something went dreadfully wrong in his life. Perhaps many things. He was my dear friend and still is in death. I think he was a Christian, but I don't know that. Rudy. He was and is unforgettable.