Thursday, August 5, 2010
My world and outlook was wonderfully improved by knowing Gerald Wideman. His generous unmistakable laugh and big grin are pleasantly blazed in my mind. Gerald was a good friend both at work where I first got to know him and away from work. He was intelligent, witty, a good story teller, and would help anyone. I bought two great running boats from Gerald and he said if I was ever on Lake Keystone and needed some help to call him, which I did. I was stranded on the pontoon boat several miles from Gerald's favorite boat launch when the motor refused to start. I left a message on his phone to please come get me and within time I saw far away a boat headed for me at full throttle. And there he came zooming up to my boat with this big toothy grin on his face "Whatta ya doin'?, he joked. I got towed to his place and there he determined it was the starter that went out. Gerald had a good mechanical mind, and loved cars especially his corvette, it seemed he changed cars almost as often as someone would change underwear. He also had a great mind for electronics and did some teaching on that in a classroom. Gerald absolutely loved watermelon and when I have some you're right there with me ol' buddy. And his great recipe for salsa which he hand-made and took to work, about two gallons I thinkhe knew it was gonna be good, and it was, and devoured in a couple of days. We lost touch a few years ago when I moved to Texas but there was never a week gone by that I didn't think of something he said, the purposely funny way he would say things, or some story he told, or advice he gave, or some of the many positive things he said about his family. I honestly think Gerald could find humor or a positive side to every situation he encountered. One of the things I know he was very serious about and that was his relationship with Jesus Christ. He was the firmest believer one could ever meet. We talked about religion a few times and I heard him say once "I'm going to heaven." I asked him how he knew for sure he was going to heaven, he said "I just know I am...that's all!" And that was good enough for me.
