Goodbye, Don

Don Bowen died yesterday. He was 51 years and two days old - a bit older than me. He died of a brain tumor. I took the picture of Don you see above in San Diego's Gaslamp district on July 30. Don was attending my company's conference, and a lot of his friends held a party for him in the evening at a local restaurant.

The crowd lined up to see Don that night was huge. If you'd met Don, you'd know why. You can't meet him any more, of course, but you can get an idea of why all of us loved him. He chronicled his two years of living with cancer on his blog. What comes through the details of the story is Don's optimism, his faith, and his love of his friends and of the everyday reality of life. The very last entry sums it up; I imagine Don had prepared this well in advance:

On October 31, 2009, my Lord threw His loving arms around me tightly, invited me to enjoy life in this new world of His and pronounced me cancer free. He promised you and me a miracle if we prayed BIG, and He has kept His promise.

Memorial services will be held at 10:00 am on Saturday, November 28, 2009 at the Northwoods Community Church, 10700 N. Allen Road, Peoria IL 61614

Praise the Lord for His goodness!

Don

For the whole story, you can start at the beginning and read it in order. Goodbye Don. Don't worry about us - we'll be fine too. And we remember.