Finding the words isn’t always easy

It's been over a week since Kaye Pilmore passed along the word to me that Bob Sirrine had died. There's been ample time to formulate the sentences and phrases for a column about an individual whose vibrant love of life touched the hearts and minds of countless area residents when they were most needy - at the death of a loved one.

Yet even with that much time to think about it, finding words that can adequately express the depth of feeling so many of us had for Bob is nearly impossible. Each time I've attempted to pound out an opening paragraph on the keyboard, my mind flashes back to a photograph that the Sirrine family had displayed during the visitation - Bob, in his sparkling white, Navy dress uniform, dashing up the aisle with the love of his life, Dorothy Jean Osgood, on their wedding day in 1944. That picture captures the essence of Bob Sirrine for me. He was a man of boundless hope who quite literally emitted positive energy to every person he came in contact with - and that's a lot of people.

Bob was the living definition of a "people person." He had a genuine care and concern for every person and each family that he dealt with during many years at the Osgood Funeral Homes - it was a gift that he shared freely and willingly. Those interpersonal skills were delineated well by a friend and colleague of mine, Jean Martin, during a "email conversation" we had following Bob's death Oct. 1.

"As I was standing in line at the book the day of Bob's funeral, I was wondering what to say to Dorothy Jean," Jean said. "I thought that if Bob were there, he would know exactly the right thing to say - he always did; I believe that was his greatest gift."

A pair of personal experiences recounted by Jean also serve as wonderful examples of the memories of Bob that so many families in Clinton County will always carry with them.

"My mother died at the age of 53, just after midnight, and few people in town even knew she was in the hospital. Of course the hospital called Bob to tell him that he had a customer. It was their custom at that time to leave the body at the hospital overnight and pick it up the next morning.

"Bob told us that he and Dorothy Jean couldn't get back to sleep after the phone call, so about 3 a.m. he decided that he might as well get dressed and go and pick up the body because there was going to be no more sleep that night anyway. I always thought that was the nicest tribute to my mother - 'So live that when you die even the undertaker will cry.'

"Years later, when a sister-in-law died, we took her children (aged 6 and 3) up to visit before anyone else came in to the funeral home. Bob was there. The kids asked all kinds of kid questions, and Bob answered every one of them thoroughly and patiently.

"And you just know that this happened over and over again. He dealt with 40-year-old people who had never seen a dead body until their mother or father died. There were horrible accidents - and remember that Osgoods used to operate an ambulance service. He had to pick up those bodies and deal with the families over and over again. And always he was calm, collected, warm, yet professional.

"He was a hometown boy who found his calling right in his own backyard. I think that amounts to a blessed life."

I couldn't agree more. And, as much as we will all miss Bob's good humor and easy manner, it's comforting to know that his spirit will always live on in a very visible way through the Sirrine family members who are keeping his "people person gift" alive at the Osgood Funeral Homes. Dorothy Jean, daughter, Angie, and the entire Osgood staff are up to that challenge. They will help us remember a wonderful man and his special gift.