Life's just too short

Clint Bolinger RIP

Paul attended a work meeting in Corning Thursday and learned that the brother of two Creston friends passed away. Clint Bolinger, brother of Craig and Bill, had suffered from ALS for the past couple years, but very few people knew. That was how he wanted it.
Clint's Obituary

Paul and I didn't know Clint. He worked for an out of town contracting company - traveling and working on large building projects. We have known Clint's brothers and their families for many years. Craig and Ruth with their son Jesse, who is a few years older than Amy. Bill works as a technician for NRCS - so he worked with Paul for the past 20+ years. Since he's a huge hunter, they had lots besides work to discuss!

Clint was married to Amanda (Mandy) Berning - of the Bernings Hotel/restaurant in Creston. Mandy was the school nurse at St. Malachy part of the time the kids attended there. Clint and Amanda's two kids  Austin and Audrey attended St. Malachy, Austin is 5 years younger than Jud and Audrey a year younger than her brother.

Paul felt strongly about attending the visitation - to see his friends and express his sympathies. So after work yesterday we headed southwest to Creston and Powers Funeral Home. It wasn't something I wanted to do. I don't know Bill and Craig very well. I hesitate to put myself in painful positions if I don't have to. I'm selfish that way. But I decided I should go in support of Paul - and I was glad I did.

When we got to Powers Funeral Home, I got to see my dear friend Lamona Bilderback, who works at the Home part time assisting families at this difficult time in their lives. You'd never know she used to be a hard-assed loan officer at First National Bank, until she retired! Well..Mona wasn't ever really all that hard-assed. I loved working with her all those years ago though at FNB - and that was when we built our long friendship. It was fun to catch up with her.

We proceeded to line up to be greeted by the family. We spoke to several people we knew - some from Paul's former office. When we reached Bill, I could tell he was so pleased and surprised to see Paul. He told us his brother had not even told family about his illness - but when last year's tornado his and Clint was not around with his chainsaw, assisting with cleanup, they all knew something was up! By last week, Clint was having breathing problems and he went to the hospice just a day before he passed. A blessing really. Lou Gehrig's disease has to be one of the most rotten of all illnesses. His moved very quickly. Paul and Bill switched to a lighter topic - hunting of course after that discussion!

Next we moved on to talk to brother Craig, who is older than Bill. I'm not sure how we got to know him, but Paul bonded with him early during our time in town. He ran into Craig just last year in Des Moines at the Deer Classic - they really enjoy each other's company. Clint's children and wife Mandy were next in line. They were hardest to speak to! How badly I feel for them - to lose their father and life partner at this young age.

Austin has just finished a year at the Air Force Academy. I was surprised to see that as last I knew he was at Iowa State. I told him about my cousin Amy's daughter's boyfriend. He is attending there to play baseball. That caught his interest - and was a nice distraction from the usual death discussion...I told the kids who we were and who Amy and Jud were. Austin remembered being a buddy with Jud on some St. Malachy project. That is one thing we loved about the school - the mixing of younger and older students. Our kids enjoyed it when they were the young ones anyway. Austin probably remembers Jud as a kicker too as that was something he did. Audrey just finished her frosh year at NWMSU (Maryville) and she runs track.

All of them seemed to be holding up so well - but their lives these past few months - watching their dad/husband die a slow death had to be hell. This almost has to be a relief for now. The finality of it will hit them later. Prayers for this fine family are welcome!

As we headed out, we spoke to others we knew. Ryan and Jennifer Hoyt and their new baby boy - we had them as a marriage ministry couple, prior to their wedding. They recently moved back to town - Jennifer is a pharmacist at HyVee. She's a year older than Amy. It was great to see Mandy's folks - Bob and Frieda Berning - a couple we got to know through our church and through the St. Malachy Foundation. They gave us hugs and said they miss us. We miss them! Frieda laughed when I told her that we enjoy living together full time again - and still like each other! Paul got cornered by Rich Wenzig, a dirt contract before we got out the door. But he saw my look and didn't take too long!

Despite the reason for the gathering, the visitation made me miss Creston a lot. We're pretty anonymous in West Des Moines. That's our fault! I know we'll make friends and it just takes time. But we built our relationships there over 26 years - I miss and value that.

We headed to McFees and helped Bobbie and Jeff load their Suburban up. Kimmy is going back to school. She will pick up a 2nd major in Genetics - her goal is to do research. Jeff says this is IT for him and moving kids. We'll see! Donnie came over and we got pizza. Diana was off getting pretty (haircut). We sat outside on a gorgeous August evening - unseasonably cool. We got home to WDM about 10:15 p.m.

This morning? Waveland - I had a hankerin' for cinnamon French Toast. Then the Farmers Market. We saw Bob and Pam McKee, Mike, Judy and Maddie Moffitt - Crestonites! And my college roomie Jane Flack Conn and her daughter Morgan. We scored sweet corn and tomatoes are here! BLTs this weekend. Fresh bread, blueberries, and dutch letters for tomorrow a.m.