Bill

Our friend Bill passed away last night. We are relieved that his suffering is DONE. What a long journey, and we were so privileged to spend small group evenings with him, and enjoy glimpses of what a really incredible man he was. Contrary to what one might imagine of someone with his professional stature, he exuded humility and was utterly approachable. (We only knew Bill in the context of our small group, and I have a feeling we know only the tip of the iceberg of his long list of professional achievements and accolades; he was just Bill!) Perhaps my selfish favorite thing about Bill was that as we sat around our humble toddler-abused dining room table on Friday nights sharing supper and discussing C.S. Lewis, he routinely caught my eye and laughed at my jokes...I'm serious. Perhaps that makes his sense of humor a bit suspect, but it just made me feel special :) The night that his glass dessert plate spontaneously exploded into a thousand shards at the very moment he started opining about something was pretty funny too. We came up with a hypothesis that the cold air from the AC unit must have chilled the plate, and a rapid temperature change induced the explosion; the heat source being...hot air from Bill! He was the first to start belly laughing at the joke on him, and he was just that warmly humble kind of guy. It was really like medicine to have him come into my life almost exactly as I lost my Dad. Bill was dying when we met him, and watching him walk the road before him with faith and good humor...it filled in the pieces for me of the testimony I know my Dad would have wanted had he been around longer. I had a tangible picture of how I know my own Dad wanted to face his cancer and death, and tried to, in the short time he was aware of his prognosis. Sometimes I think it was easier to talk to Bill about death than my own Dad, too, so that only helped! The Lord puts us in each others lives on purpose.  Bill is an example of someone who lived and died well that we won't soon forget.

There is a lot out there about Bill, but here are a few links for anyone interested in reading about this wonderful man who will be dearly missed.  I really, really want to post the perfect picture that is up on a webpage about him.  But I don't want to steal it and I don't know if it's appropriate to repost it here; I think it belongs to his family.

His professional webpage:  http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/index.html?id=95

From Christianity Today: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/august/34.44.html

An interview: http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/You-Will-Call-I-Will-Answer?offset=0&max=1

Video interview:  http://vimeo.com/2936218

Harvard celebration of his life: http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/spotlight/criminal-law/william-stuntz-celebration.html

A blog that Bill used to participate in: http://www.law.upenn.edu/blogs/dskeel/

Bill and my Dad were able to meet once at Mass. General's cancer center, where they were both being treated.  I'm sure Bill will have a long list of people to meet and reunite with where he is now, but since earthly status probably isn't quite the deal in heaven that it is down here, I hope he and my Dad get to spend some more time together while praising the Lord in person.