erastes

Just found out that Baritone Jeff died yesterday. It’s a really sad piece of news for me and I’ll miss him so very much. He was such a big soul—he had so many health problems and yet he generally kept his chin up and was encouraging to so many people, touched so many lives. Never missed a congratulations on one of my sales, or an encouraging word when I felt down, or sympathy when my day with Dad had got too much for me. Yes, he had bad days when he would snarl about his life, or his partner, but they were pretty rare and his love of great music, his lovely dogs, his fish, his canary and Charles, his partner of 17 years were all consuming. He even found time to help Mary from downstairs, even though he spent half his week in dialysis.

I’ll miss him so much. It’s strange how people you’ve never met – will probably never meet – can touch your life so completely – so much so that the sudden removal of their internet presence really really hurts, and I’ll never have another email from him, or another silly comment, or another post about the dogs, or his endless finds at the antiques shops around Wooster.

Heaven will have a new choir master this week, and I know there must be antique shops in heaven, because Jeff is there, pinching all the bargains.

Love you, Jeff.