Dale Crockett

When I was a Freshman in High School, I had to take Western Civ. It was one of those basic level courses everyone took their first year. Our first day of class in walked my sister's friend, Dale. He was a Senior, but I guess he had transferred in Sophomore year and never bothered to take the class.

Dale was a bright guy. He took a lot of AP courses. I didn't. But for some reason, he sat at the back of the class with me and treated me like a peer.

He and Jill ran in the same circles. He played the saxophone in the school's show choir and Jill sang in it. Somehow, when they lost a trumpet player, Jill convinced the choir director to let me in.

I was physically ill the first day we practiced together. No lie. In the bathroom stuff. I was a little Freshman, this was the school's hottest choir, the band was filled with rock stars. They were like god's to me. Dale treated me like I belonged there.

When the choir would travel, Dale would let me hang out with him and his buddies. In New York there was a harmless juvenile prank at the Statue of Liberty that may have gotten some folks, (Dale included) suspended a few days. My part in the event was never disclosed and I was spared Jeannette's wrath.

I've never been a big guy, but was pretty good in Judo and wrestling and for some reason Dale always wanted to know, just how good. So, whenever he'd be over at the house for a party or to visit Jill, he'd always grab me and try to pin me to the ground. He was three years older, bigger and stronger, but I was a lot quicker and trained.

There we were in the front yard pounding on each other. I would get the best of him sometimes and he could never quite hang onto me which his High School boy ego, just couldn't stand.

He graduated, went to college, became a doctor and joined the army. Somehow we stayed loosely connected over the years, probably because of Jill. When we went into missions, we had a year of language school in South Texas. Dale was now living in San Antonio, so we stopped in to see him on a trip up north.

By then we were in our 30's. We had two kids, he had just had his first. And before we left, he grabbed me in his front yard and threw me to the ground. This doctor, wrestling a missionary in suburbia San Antonio. I won't tell you who won, but the support checks started coming to Reach Beyond after that.

Dale died last week at 52 of a suspected heart attack.

There is a lot I could say here about the tragedy of his passing. I'll let others tell those stories, they aren't mine to tell. What I will say is, Dale was my friend. I'm not sure anything that I've written here is very coherent or honors him well. I'm just still trying to come to terms with his loss and how a guy, who I've had little connection with since High School, meant so much to me.

Since our time together in San Antonio, he and I have only connected occasionally and I've seen him only once. He, like all of us, walked through some deep water over the years. Some of it we walked together, from a distance.

So when Facebook started lighting up with news of his passing, and tributes to his life started pouring in, they only confirmed what I had learned in High School. Dale was a guy who accepted people and cared for them, just like he did with the awkward, little Freshman.

His passing reminds me again, safety and security are a myth. We have no idea who or what will be taken from us and when. Live today well. Love people well. Dale did. And I miss him.