One was that, even as a kid, he was always very polite. That remained true about him as he got older, too. He never made me feel like an old lady that he had to be nice to. Instead he had what I believe was a gift of making even old ladies feel like talking to you was exactly where he wanted to be at that moment.
Secondly, I never ceased being amazed at how he could find things….anything that anyone needed, no matter how bizarre it seemed. I remember one particular weekend that he was helping with a preteen retreat and Jim R. was teaching. Jim mentioned during a break that it would be cool if he had a cement statue of some kind to make his point. JD was ready to take off sure that he could have it and be back before the break was over. Well, Jim didn’t send him on that run. But there were several times when Jim would hand me something he had “borrowed” from my resources. I would ask how he got it or knew that I had it. He would always say something like, “You don’t need to know.” When I would press him about getting into places without a key, he would say, “JD doesn’t need a key!”
I suppose there is a third thing that I will always be grateful to JD for and that is the mark he left on David. I see so many reminders of JD in him – the sweet spirit, the hard worker, the politeness, the ingenuity, the ability to problem solve, the impish grin, and more.
Thank you, God, for Jonathan and the sweet memories we can still enjoy as we think of him.
-Barbara Brown
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