I love writing about old friends. When I lived in Boston I became friends with Nick Parino thru his daughter who was a talented musical performer on Broadway. Nick was a member of the first graduating class (1948) of the Schillinger House in Boston, which became the Berklee School of Music. Nick was a talented guy in his 80’s when we met, he had worked his career in the sheet metal industry but also held patents for computer chip designs. In his spare time he played the accordion for gigs and sometimes for parties at church. Nick wanted to learn more about the bible and wanted to become a disciple of Jesus; me & my late friend Walter Sprague, another old codger in his 80’s at that time studied w Nick. As a teen Walter had been a cook at an inn in Bar Harbor, Maine back when John D Rockefeller owned the local island now Acadia National Park. Walter told me that Admiral Richard Byrd walking past Walter’s home one day accepted a kitten as a gift from Walter; the Admiral later sent a photograph of the kitten on his ship traveling on his expedition to the South Pole. Nick & Walter were amazing men and beloved friends. I had earlier studied with Walter, helping him to become a Christian. When I had previously studied the bible w Walter’s son we had a driveway conversation; I asked Walter if we could read the bible together so I could help him to know God…he responded, “that can never happen, I’ve done too many wrong things”, but a short while later Walter’s son and then Walter were baptized into Christ. We often think we are the worst, not good enough for God to bother with us; next thing you know we are telling someone else how we surrendered to God and allowed Him to save us in spite of ourselves. Walter taught Nick, I was just there to look pretty:) We read the bible together and Walter shared how God “rescued him from the empty way of life handed down to him by his forefathers” (1 Peter 1:18), how God had filled the emptiness which pervaded his life for many years. Walter was blessed to marry a woman who was an amazing prayer warrior. I spent lots of hours visiting Walter, praying with him, listening to tales from his life and laughing together. We had a great time getting to know Nick and learning about God together at Paul Gagnon’s home in Haverhill. Nick was baptized, and later his lovely wife Mary who passed away earlier this year. After Nick passed away I often visited his widow Mary at her home; I would take her soup, visit and just remember what a great friend Nick had been. The reason I began writing this was remembering Nick’s brother. Last week we had a wonderful time w 2,000 single brothers & sisters from around the world in Denver at the ISC. Marriage is always something on the minds of single people, and statistics indicate the median age of people getting married has gone up sharply over the years. I went with Nick to the funeral visitation of his brother who died at age 96. I met his brother’s widow; they had been married 43 years, which means they married when he was 53 years old. Few people these days enjoy 43 years of marriage; me & Gail have been married 42 currently and hope to make it to be married 80 before death do us part. I remembered Nick and his family, I thought it might encourage those married and still single who hope to have a long, wonderful marriage; it doesn’t have to begin when you’re 20 years old to still build a long life of fun together. To all of us, we really need God to find the happiness He intended marriage to be. And like Walter & Nick, we are not so old or so sinful that God cannot save us from the empty way of life into which we have allowed ourselves to descend. Fortunately “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). I love each of you, but far more important He loves you much more. I miss you Nick & Walter, and Mary; you are among those who shaped the fabric of my life – Jack
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 00:53:28 +0000
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