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A Remembrance
Although it was 40 years ago this year, I still remember it like yesterday. I was a Southerner, newly arrived from Texas, to begin my graduate studies in Pittsburgh, Pa., at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. On this warm September day as I walked to my new residence, the Mudge Graduate House, I passed a fellow dressed in a gray flannel suit with matching tie. This surprised me somewhat, since most other students were dressed more casually. He struck me as a Californian, where "casual" is defined, who had anticipated how people need to dress "back East" where it is cold--and perhaps had over-compensated. That turned out to be a good guess. His name was Gary Shoemake, a graduate of Harvey Mudd college in the LA area, and as time went on we became close friends, and even roomates during our second year in grad school. (We had the largest room at Mudge, formerly the mansion of a Pittsburgh oil magnate. Our room was originally the master bedroom. It was so large we often played frisbee baseball in the room to relieve the tension of studying quantum mechanics etc.)

We had a lot in common in those days, not even including our roots in Texas (where I believe his grandmother lived). We were in the same classes in graduate physics working for our Ph.D.'s. We loved to play board games like Stratego and Blitzkreig, and we even worked as graduate student "slaves" for the same advisor, John Rayne, an Australian professor with a passion for metals. (My metal was mercury, but that's a whole other story.)

And we both fell in love with coeds. He with the cute blond Karen Landau, and I with the gorgeous brown-eyed Susie Sanders. So in 1965, on June 19th Gary and Karen were married (I was their best man) in Pittsburgh, and on July 10th, Susan & I were wed in St. Louis.

After graduation our paths took us in different directions. Gary and Karen settled down in Fort Worth while Susan and I headed for a "short" stay in New Jersey, which lasted for 22 years. As our own families grew, and we became focused on new friendships in our new venues, we lost touch with one another except for occasional visits when we returned to stay with my parents in Dallas. Sometime during that 22 year period Karen underwent a major conversion experience. Her personality was the same: a wide-eyed positive approach to life; except now she was driven by her love for the Lord, and her passion to serve Him in her church and her family. She was a great believer in prayer, and ironically the place where she prayed frequently you might have read about. It was the prayer tower of the Calvary Cathedral, which was destroyed by the tornado that hit Fort Worth in March, 2000. You can see a picture of the remains of the tower here.

Yesterday, after we returned home from Susan's latest chemo, we picked up a voice mail message from Karen's sister Janet. In October Karen was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She declined rapidly, and last Wednesday she went home to be with the Lord. Her obituary can be found here. Throughout her illness she was lovingly ministered to and cared for by her faithful husband and my good friend Gary.

In remembering Karen's life, which I admit seems all too brief, there is one verse from Matthew that immediately comes to mind:

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven."

I have met few believers who matched Karen in her joyful and open sharing of her faith in her Savior. What a scene it must be in Heaven even this day as she is fully acknowledged by her Lord!

Other Pop Writings:
Caddo! (5/2002)
Raising Cane (4/2002)
Ask Anything? (3/2002)
The Race (3/2002)
The Hill (3/2002)
A Remembrance (3/2002)
Christmas, 1941 (12/2001)
Endo II (3/2001)
Endo I (10/2000)
The Course (5/2000)
The Rope (1/2000)

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