Recalling another 'regular' person, Jerry Henning - and time passages

Several weeks ago I wrote about a lovely woman whose strength of character and helping hands touched the hearts and lives of many people during her time here on earth.

Irene Witt served as a representative for countless other equally fine 'regular, everyday' people who have passed from human view.

This past week, one more good and decent individual was added to that list when Jerry Henning passed away.

Probably the biggest public honor Jerry received in his 74 years was serving as Grand Marshal of the St. Johns Mint Festival in 1998 - and it was with some reluctance that the modest gentleman accepted even that accolade.

'For a man with over 50 years of mint farming in his blood, you’d think serving as the 1998 Mint Festival Grand Marshal would be a breeze,' Larry wrote. 'That’s not the case for Jerry Henning. The reserved, quiet St. Johns resident isn’t an attention-seeker.

'"I’m not that kind of person," he says.

'His reflections on working with his father and an uncle in the mint fields - along with 11 siblings, numerous cousins, and his own four children as the years progressed - brought about a change of heart.

'"I thought what better way to honor the whole family - I’ll do it for them,
Jerry says."

And so, he did.

Like Irene - and all those other 'regular' people who try their best every day, and are a blessing to many in the process - Jerry's love of family and self-less nature set a wonderful example for us to follow.

We're grateful to have had the pleasure of his company.

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Reflections on the passage of time always seem to accompany life events - birth, death and all that space in-between. What are we to make of it? Each person must find his or her own answers for that question, but one observation is often cited - time seems to be moving faster.

This is surely not true - at least I don't think so - but it does feel that way.

A friend recently commented on the speeded-up time phenomena. How could 2001 be nearly gone? What happened to the year?

Someone else with a similar view had the opinion that the events of Sept. 11 were increasing an already heightened awareness of the swift passage of days, weeks, months.

There may be some truth in that, I think. Maybe we're all making more of an effort to use time wisely - that may be a positive outcome of a continuing tragedy.

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One final note on time.

A telephone call that came into the office this past week asked if we had noticed that holiday decorations were already in place at the Clinton County Courthouse. Yes, we said. In fact, we were at the courthouse on Tuesday when workers were installing the big, lighted wreaths at both entrances to the building.

Getting Christmas decorations up before Halloween was pushing the season a bit too far, the caller thought. Thanksgiving is more and more lost in the shuffle, and even worse, the 'real meaning' of the season is increasingly diminished by all the rushing around to get things done 'while the weather is good.'