Mark Hammer Died

Most of you all probably don't know who Mark Hammer is, and that's ok.

He died a couple of weeks ago, and I avoided opening the email about it until tonight. I didn't know what I was opening when I read it, and when I read it, well, I sat down and cried for quite a while. I won't try and recreate it for you.

But sometimes you meet a man, and you know he has a certain weight. He has certain things to say to those that proceed him, and you know that he needs to say them while he is still fit and able. Mark Hammer was that kind of man. And I don't know if he was ever able to relate everything he knew before he died, probably not, but I hope he was able to impart something. I know he said a lot to me without saying anything at all, just whizzing his wheelchair up and down the hallway banging into things, and asking me to make salads for him, and opening the door to his bedroom, and lecturing me about the trade of reading up on what you presuppose to want to study.

And Mark, I won't go into it now, since I already went into it once before tonight, but you were greatly appreciated, and by those that can claim so, greatly loved. You were a man of many powers, which you could never let anyone forget, even without legs, and you will be forever remembered in the art of the thing you loved so much.

Good luck out there.