Prov. 18:24 A man of many friends might come to ruin, but there is a Loving One who sticks closer than
a brother.
Oh, how much could be said..perhaps books could not contain it all.
I will make a feeble attempt to explain just a fraction of what it all entailed.
I first met met Bob (William Robert Hedge) freshman year at AC. We were both given employment on the Gardening Crew, and assigned to work together on the "Flower Power" crew as some called it. (Age of the Hippie).
Bob and I found we had a common foundation...both had humble beginnings. We both took German and practiced with each other while working.
He went through college in four years (actually five as he was sent to Field Ministry to Pittsburgh, PA, area for a year.
We didn't spend time together until FOT in Hot Springs, AR. I found he had served in the ministry, then got a
degree in English at U of Alabama. I also found he camped each year...but not just camped. He would climb trees and put up cables and a huge tarp so he (later we) would be protected during all kinds of weather.
I immediately joined him as that was my life style as well. So we did not go "out to eat" at fancy and expensive restaurants. Instead, we would buy the highest quality of food we could find...even bringing items
from our garden havest at our home to the festival.
What comes next may sound incredible, but it is true Bob was one of the best chefs I ever met. He would do
most of the food preparation, as he was as a professional. We would invite guests...other festival attendees...to share with us the "blessings of our harvest."
I recall, so often Bob, knowing we had invited guests, would sample his creation, and then proclaim, "That's too good for guests." I can see him yet...he would then throw his head back and laugh. We always did share with our guests.
So here we were...two elders sharing a campsite. Some festival goers would come to our camp to "pick our brains." After all, we were both AC trained...trained to be Ambassadors.
We had scriptural discussions in camp every day...instead of engaging in other more "entertainment" activities.
In all the fall festivals I have attended...and my first was at Squaw Valley, CA, in 1963, those festivals were
more like what I understood in the Scriptures it should be than any other.
(Bob is gone now, but I continue those practices to this day...though I am not the chef he was.)
That continued for nine years...at Hot Springs, AR, one year at Lexington, KY, and then through 1999 at Table Rock Park in Branson, MO.
Something happened in spring 2000 which need not be mentioned here. I will just say it was a difficult time
for Bob. Bob married on March 15, 2002, In connection he mentioned to me "beware of the ides of March"...
seems Julius Caesar was assasinated on the "ides fo march."
I didn't see him again. I will just say, there was a lot of water running under the bridges in those days...and perhaps some of those bridges even "washed out."
In 2007 I learned he had liver cancer. I wrote him and he responded...but he relied on someone to put his letter in the mail and I did not receive his reply for four months.
He told me two elders had asked me at different times if he had heard from me. He told me on both
occasions he responded with three words, "I betrayed him."
Yes, Bob died March 9, 2009. But in the end he knew we had "mended fences."
Now he too sleeps with all hopes of the Resurrection.
Daniel (Formerly Dennis) Cafourek (1966)
...Closer than a brother.
Prov. 18:24 A man of many friends might come to ruin, but there is a Loving One who sticks closer than
a brother.
Oh, how much could be said..perhaps books could not contain it all.
I will make a feeble attempt to explain just a fraction of what it all entailed.
I first met met Bob (William Robert Hedge) freshman year at AC. We were both given employment on the Gardening Crew, and assigned to work together on the "Flower Power" crew as some called it. (Age of the Hippie).
Bob and I found we had a common foundation...both had humble beginnings. We both took German and practiced with each other while working.
He went through college in four years (actually five as he was sent to Field Ministry to Pittsburgh, PA, area for a year.
We didn't spend time together until FOT in Hot Springs, AR. I found he had served in the ministry, then got a
degree in English at U of Alabama. I also found he camped each year...but not just camped. He would climb trees and put up cables and a huge tarp so he (later we) would be protected during all kinds of weather.
I immediately joined him as that was my life style as well. So we did not go "out to eat" at fancy and expensive restaurants. Instead, we would buy the highest quality of food we could find...even bringing items
from our garden havest at our home to the festival.
What comes next may sound incredible, but it is true Bob was one of the best chefs I ever met. He would do
most of the food preparation, as he was as a professional. We would invite guests...other festival attendees...to share with us the "blessings of our harvest."
I recall, so often Bob, knowing we had invited guests, would sample his creation, and then proclaim, "That's too good for guests." I can see him yet...he would then throw his head back and laugh. We always did share with our guests.
So here we were...two elders sharing a campsite. Some festival goers would come to our camp to "pick our brains." After all, we were both AC trained...trained to be Ambassadors.
We had scriptural discussions in camp every day...instead of engaging in other more "entertainment" activities.
In all the fall festivals I have attended...and my first was at Squaw Valley, CA, in 1963, those festivals were
more like what I understood in the Scriptures it should be than any other.
(Bob is gone now, but I continue those practices to this day...though I am not the chef he was.)
That continued for nine years...at Hot Springs, AR, one year at Lexington, KY, and then through 1999 at Table Rock Park in Branson, MO.
Something happened in spring 2000 which need not be mentioned here. I will just say it was a difficult time
for Bob. Bob married on March 15, 2002, In connection he mentioned to me "beware of the ides of March"...
seems Julius Caesar was assasinated on the "ides fo march."
I didn't see him again. I will just say, there was a lot of water running under the bridges in those days...and perhaps some of those bridges even "washed out."
In 2007 I learned he had liver cancer. I wrote him and he responded...but he relied on someone to put his letter in the mail and I did not receive his reply for four months.
He told me two elders had asked me at different times if he had heard from me. He told me on both
occasions he responded with three words, "I betrayed him."
Yes, Bob died March 9, 2009. But in the end he knew we had "mended fences."
Now he too sleeps with all hopes of the Resurrection.
...for years, a friend closer than a brother.