"After Almost 50 Years, a Precious Photo of my Dear Uncle"

On 1-21-2021, if God is willing, it will be 50 years since my Uncle Steve died suddenly at age 29.  And yesterday, I was GIVEN my very first photo of him!!  Here's what happened.

My uncle died when I was 16, in January 1971.  He was NEVER one for having his photo taken, so I only had my memories of him, which were fresh in my much-younger mind at THAT time, to treasure. And as I've said before, HIS sudden death and the sudden death of a classmate later that year were my first up-close-and-personal experiences with Death, and God used them to cause me to begin to seek HIM for SALVATION.  But, I digress.

Fast forward to 2001, the 30th anniversary of Uncle Steve's death.  I happened to be working in Morris County, NJ that day and visited his grave for the very first time. I had this photo taken of me there...

....and I put it on the cover of a collection of my poems "Dust, Stone, and the Blanket of Grace" which I distributed PRIVATELY to friends and family.  The poems expressed my grief about not having any other photo of my Uncle who I had such fond (but FADING) memories of.  (I think I still have a copy of the poems in the attic, but I'm not sure....you see, I've moved three times since 2001).

I shared the poems with Steve's SON, who liked them a lot, but HE didn't have a photo of his dad EITHER, and then he moved out-of-state and we totally lost touch.

Being something of a part-time ARTIST as well as POET, in 2016, the 45th anniversary of losing Uncle Steve, I decided to DRAW him...from my fading memories of when he played chess with me as a kid.

It was a good idea, I now felt I had SOMEthing to remember him by!! But then yesterday, Steve's DAUGHTER (who I had no idea still lived in Jersey) contacted me through Facebook Messenger and asked me if *I* had a photo of him because she only had ONE to show his grandchildren!! I had never, ever heard from her before yesterday!! Well, I sent HER the DRAWING and she sent ME the PHOTO at the top of this blog...that's my Uncle Steve all the way on the right.  The picture is from 1965. so he was only 23 when it was taken.

I don't recall the song, but I remember the LYRICS (at least I think I remember them right) when Simon and Garfunkel sang these words...

"Long ago, it must be
I have a photograph
Hold fast your Memories
they're all that's left you."

Yes, as the title of this blog says, "After Almost 50 Years, (I Have) a Precious Photo of my Dear Uncle"...and, THANK YOU LORD, that's how it happened.