I don't know if any of you remember but not too long ago I asked any of you if you have heard from Billy Kimberlin (a long-term member of the Quad list). I had not heard from him in a long while and we used to e-mail back and forth or I would see him on the few occasions that I log into Facebook.
Perhaps I am "Lori come lately" with the news and following information about Billy and his passing but others on Facebook know about his death. I began to have the gut feeling that something had happened to him. So I just logged into Facebook now to see his homepage and, sure enough, he passed away last October. A Facebook friend of his wrote the following: I'm deeply saddened by the loss of my dear friend Billy Kimberlin <https://www.facebook.com/billy.kimberlin.5>. In tribute to the kind, gentle soul he was I would like to share a bit about him. My friend spent most of his life serving others in one capacity or another. He fought to keep our country safe as an Army Police Drill Sergeant and as a State Trooper. That is until one day a terrible tragedy struck. A bicycle accident that left him paralyzed. In testament to the kind of person he was, in the 15 years that I’ve known him, I have never heard him complain about the raw hand he was dealt. He even wrote this piece in his “about me” section on Facebook… “unlike a lot of people I am lucky enough to be prematurely retired. All I’m doing now is making sure that I’m constantly busy, so I don’t get too bored.” He considered himself “lucky”. His way of staying busy was giving back to his community any way he could. He volunteered on a number of our neighborhood boards and committees. Everyone he met was his friend. He didn’t shy away from uncomfortable questions about his handicap, but instead he would educate them in his ever so gentle manner. Including my young inquisitive children. He always had a welcoming smile on his face regardless of how some days he just didn’t feel good. For me, Billy will always be one of the most respected human beings I will have ever been fortunate enough to have had in my life. -- "Petting, scratching and cuddling a dog could be soothing to the mind and heart and deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer." ~Dean Koontz
