I had a busy morning today at work, our regular weekly team meeting from 8AM until 9AM then the patent attorney came in at 9AM and I was in there until 11. When I ran back to my desk to get my business cards and some prototype parts for the patent attorney I saw the red light on my phone that tells me I have voice mails but I didn't have time to check it before my meeting. When I returned to my office at 11 I checked the voice mail, it was from one of the guys I worked with at my previous job back in Mississippi. He asked me to call him immediately and it didn't sound good. I had two thoughts, he had either lost his job or our former boss had passed away. Wrong on both counts. Actually, the designer I worked with while I was there had passed away. A massive heart attack some time between midnight and morning.
Damn.
His name was Welton Lanier, he started at Viking Range Corp. just two weeks before me and he sat in the cubicle next door for the entire time I worked there. He was only 40 years old, his son had recently turned 18 and Welton had been really looking forward to his son being able to spend more time with him, maybe even moving in with him. He had remarried almost a year ago and seemed to be as happy as he had ever been. No health issues, no warning. Just... Damn.
The irony was that I always joked with Welton about taking out a life insurance policy on him and naming myself as his beneficiary. He rode a powerful sport bike and he rode it enthusiastically. We had a big, mostly empty parking lot where we worked and most evenings he would fire up the bike and let it warm up while he put on his helmet and jacket. When he got on it and pulled out he carried the front wheel at least 40 yards, until he had to set it down to make the turn out of the parking lot. One day he set it down on a patch of sand and dumped it but he was mostly unhurt. A heart attack?! I'm still in shock. |
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