I am sitting here at my desk in tears as I have just learned of the death of Joseph Bordelon. I have no idea what to write. But I knew I had to get something down, in order to, in some way, pay respect to my long time friend.
I had a class with Joseph EVERY day of my High School career. We took French for 4 years together. I messaged Barbara Fatheree Gilbert as soon as I read the news this morning. I know she will be heartbroken as well.
If we were all asked to describe Joseph in one word, hundreds of words come to mind. Quirky. Eccentric. Just plain weird. In High School, he was a sports fanatic. He had composition books filled with data and statistics. I remember one book he compiled that had every professional sports stadium in America. It had the construction dates, seating capacities, type of playing surfaces, It had everything. He had spent hours and hours compiling this data. Remember, there was no Google then. I have no idea how he gathered all this information. And that is just one example of dozens of composition books filled with hundreds of hours of research.
But I will not remember Joseph with the words of quirky, eccentric, and weird. I will remember Joseph with words like compassion, love, encouraging, and available.
I don't know that Joseph had a single negative attribute in his soul.
He was the first to post an encouraging word about any life event. He expressed an absolute genuine interest in ALL of us and I know you have all been beneficiaries of his words of encouragement.
He loved the Class of '83, and all the other classes of RLT. He was the driving force behind our class reunions. At our 30th, I thought I was dancing with Donna Calhoun. In reality, Donna Calhoun and I were dancing with Joseph. It was absolute joy!
I know the word. It just came to me. It's only a four letter word. Joseph Bordelon, Jr was the human embodiment of the word KIND. It's just that simple. Kindness was all he knew!
Kindness is missing in our world today. And the world will not be the same without Joseph's expressions of kindness.
In his memory, I want to commit to being just a little more kind. Joseph was the best example of it I have ever known. And right now all I can think is that I want to be a bit more like Joseph!
