Lost a great man

I received the sad news from friends. Mr. Lauger left us yesterday. His leaving was expected, but it came too soon for all of us who love him and respect him. He was an amazing man. I respect him, forever.  

How do I know Mr. and Mrs. Lauger? Here is the short story about us.  

Mr. and Mrs. Lauger are one of the nicest couples I have ever met. When I arrived in Flagstaff for PIE in the Fall semester in 1996, I couldn’t move into the dormitory right away. Luckily, the secretary in PIE, Ann, was a friend of Mr. Lauger. He and his wife were traveling at the time.  So, he opened his home for students to stay for free. I ended up living in the house for three weeks without meeting them. Later in November, I was invited back as a guest for Thanksgiving. It was the first time I met them.  

After Taiwan and Missouri, ten years later, we moved back to Flagstaff. I had a few opportunities to hang out with them a bit. Especially before Bill moved to Tucson because both of their health issues, I would stop by at lunch time to visit with them.   

People come and go; their house has helped lots of people when they needed a place.

No surprise, Mr. Lauger donated his body to the research lab of Alzheimer at the University of Indiana. 

At the end, he still thought about others: how to help people. 

We lost a great man!

I will always love you

We were invited to our very special and “old” friends, Mr. and Mrs. Laugers 60^th marry anniversary party.  He is 83 and she is 81.  Family and friends filled up their house, where is a good size house.

After Mr. and Mrs. Laugers moved to nursing home out of town, I saw them just a couple times since.  It was a very nice party.  Their wedding pictures, from 60 years ago, were passing around.  The pictures are old, but are preserved well.  Also, the two songs from the wedding were played, and a “wedding cake” was prepared for desert.

Friend’s daughter plays violin for years.  The night, she performed two songs from the wedding 60 years ago, per Bill’s requirement. One song was “The lord’s prayer“, which is pretty and holly.  I love it.  The other one is “I will always love you”, which is a sweet song. 

The desert was their wedding cake, angles cake.  What happened was Mrs. Lauger’s mother baked angles cake for the weeding. She baked about 12 at the day! What the huge job!  I can image that was the way to show her love of the bride.

We asked, what is the secret to maintain their marriage for these years?  Without thinking, Mr. Lauger said “only 3 works”: Love, Respect and trust. He then continued: respect is the most important. 

I couldn’t agree more.

And then, we asked him, where did they go for honeymoon? He said they didn’t have a honeymoon. They moved into dormitory soon after wedding. Then, he turned to Mrs. Lauger, who sat next to him and suffered from Alzheimer Diseases, and hold her shoulder, said “we are in our honeymoon now! And, I will always love you”. He looked into her eyes. Not sure if she understood, Mrs. Lauger just being shy and smile.

We don’t know what to say or ask. We were all so touched.  

I am very happy about my marriage, still, after fourteen years, as of today. I don’t know if we have 60 years together…. If we do, I hope our love and trust will be as strong as Mr. and Mrs. Lauger. 

The promises at the wedding day, is the promises forever, I believe.  

PS.

I found this unfinished article from 2009, “I will always love you.” I was so touched what I saw/felt at their anniversary party.  2009 was a difficult year for me. Can’t remember why I didn’t get it finished.  So, I finished it now. As my memorial to Bill.