Straight Paths-A Chip Off the Ole Block

A Chip Off the Ole Block

Loren Hardin

The Ashland Beacon

This is the fifth and final part of a series about Michael Powell, who was born Sept. 20, 1947, and departed this world for his heavenly home on April 23rd, 2010.  Michael was a family man with a wife and two grown daughters. He retired as a chemist from the Sunoco Chemical plant in Haverhill, Ohio. Michael was an outstanding high school and college baseball player and pitcher, girls’ softball coach, and a true mentor-leader. But most importantly, Michael was a “man after God’s own heart,” (I Samuel 13:14). 

             Michael’s father, Bill, and I met Tuesday mornings at Bob Evans, over a several week period, to collaborate on this series. Bill adamantly insisted, “Now don’t you mention my name.  Keep me out of it.”  Well Bill, I’m sorry, but I just can’t keep you out of it. After all, Mike is just “a chip off the ole block”. 

            Bill and Michael’s relationship reminds me of the lyrics of a song by Lauren Daigle: “I could tell you all the details of who I am, but then again, to know me, you would have to know my friend…the more you love somebody, the more you have to lose, but when they leave this world, they leave their fingerprints on you,” (YouTube, “To Know Me). Bill and Michael left their fingerprints on one another. Therefore, to know Michael, you have to know his father, Bill. 

            Bill’s wife, Michael’s mother, had also been a hospice patient. Bill recounted: “Joyce had pancreatic cancer and was at the James Cancer Center back in 2000. They said there was nothing else they could do for her, so they called SOMC hospice in for her from up there.  By the time we got home everything was already set up. She knew she didn’t have long so she asked me, ‘What are you going to do when I’m gone?  I hope you don’t stay out in that old building by yourself making toys for the kids in the neighborhood.’ I asked her, ‘What else am I going to do?’ and she told me, ‘Do what I used to do, volunteer your time. Volunteer for hospice. Go to people’s homes and sit with them so their families can go shopping.’  I told her, ‘I can’t do that.  I can’t talk to strangers like that.’ Then she told me, ‘Yes you can!’ And she didn’t smile when she said it.” 

             Bill reflected, “It was harder for me to lose Mike than it was Joyce. You think your child has so much more to do and you feel like their life was cut short.  And I knew that Joyce got what she wanted.  We dated each other since we were fourteen years old.  Neither one of us ever dated anybody else because we knew who we wanted. We prayed together every night and for years her prayer was, ‘I hope I go before you because it would be too sad for me to be by myself.’”

             Bill continued, “The day before Joyce died, she told me, ‘I want to listen to the song, “For the Good Times”’.  I played it for her, but I told her that I couldn’t stay in the room.”  I’m confident you’ll understand why Bill couldn’t stay in the room when you read the following excerpt from the lyrics: “Don’t look so sad, I know it’s over, but life goes on and this old world will keep on turning. Let’s just be glad we had some time to spend together…Lay your head upon my pillow, hold your warm and tender body close to mine…For the good times.”  Bill concluded, “Then Joyce told me, ‘If at all possible, I want to die in your arms.’  Joyce died at 6:45 the next morning with my arm around the back of her neck.” 

             In case you are wondering, Bill took Joyce’s advice and enlisted as a hospice volunteer on April 16, 2001. Bill became one of the most active volunteers in the history of hospice, serving patients and families until he was nine-six years old. Beverly, our volunteer coordinator, described Bill as, “A phenomenal volunteer! I wish I could clone him.” In conclusion, I think Michael had a pretty good “ole block” to be a chip off of, don’t you? 

     “Live your life in such a way that the lives of others are better off, not only in this world but also in the world to come; no matter what, whether or not they ever know that it was you that God worked in and through to manifest His name,” (Anonymous). 

     Loren Hardin was a social worker with SOMC-Hospice for twenty-nine years and is presently an active volunteer. He can be reached at 740.357.6091 or at lorenhardin53@gmail.com. You can order Loren's book, "Straight Paths: Insights for living from those who have finished the course”, at Amazon.