Leonard Herman: One Last Mission

I just got a phone call from Linda Collins, Leonard Herman's daughter who has taken care of him for so many years. Her beloved father, and my beloved friend, is preparing to go to the angels this evening after suffering heart failure earlier today. Please pray for Len, that he may go without pain and that God will gather him to Himself. I pray that soon Len will be with his dear wife Polly. He took such good care of her in the last years of her life, when she was suffering from Alzheimers. He was such a sweet man. He told of one time, when Polly did not know who he was anymore and he was taking daily care of her. She had him sit down next to her on the bed, and said, "You are such a very nice man. I'm married, but do you think my husband would mind if you lay down and I put my head on your shoulder for a while?" And Leonard lay down next to her and said, "I don't think he'd mind at all, Polly."

Pray for the Collins family. They live in Georgia, far from the support of the family up in Philly. There are many things to be done. Linda has done such a good job with her dad this past year as his memory failed him.

I thank God I was able to go visit my pal Len this summer in Columbus. We had such a great time. We went out to eat Chinese, and he out-ate me. He had a funny habit of sneaking his dentures into his napkin. I pretended I didn't notice. We went to a movie, but left early because Len thought it was terrible. But we ended up at Barnes and Noble, and had a great afternoon looking at books about the air war. We also had many hours of enjoyment just sitting on the couch, talking. Leonard was the perfect friend. We spent so many hours enjoying each other's company. We always ended our talks by saying "I love you", and I'm so glad we did.

Len just turned 92 this past month.

I will never, ever have another friend like Leonard Herman. In fact, a person is very blessed to have one such friend in a lifetime.

I love you, old friend. May God welcome you with open arms into your eternal reward.

Amen