John Herbert Lewis. We never 'hung' together and seldom talked away from High School but I remember conversations outside of the high school where John, sporting his ducktail haircut (mildly done) and slicked back, would chat with me. He and I were natural friends and just how that happened, I don't know.
Maybe what I appreciated about John is that he was real, satisfied with what he was and satisfied with others and what they were or purported themselves to be. I will never forget him standing there, our conversations that I have now forgotten but are a part of me in ways I probably don't realize.
When after many years we became friends on Facebook it was just the same, he said what he had to say and I did the same and that old feeling of friendship remained. Via our friendship in social media I saw the photos he posted of his family and his sons many times and those made me very happy. His well-deserved pride was evident as were his memories of growing to adulthood in Drumright, Oklahoma, as he often said, 'home.' Yes, it was a special place, made the more so to me because I knew him.
John Herbert Lewis, your legacy is good, the memory of you even more, and I will never forget my good fortune of having known you.
Your friend, Earnest Shoemate
