What is the measure of a man

How do we measure success?   Is it by the size of a bank account?   Do we really equate the success of a person with the size of a portfolio?  Is it the man who has the expensive car, the gated mansion or sleekest boat?  Or, is it really by how many lives they have touched?

Without warning, my little brother passed away on May 28th of a heart attack.   In the days that have passed as I deal with the shock, the grief and the sadness, I am comforted to find the support from his many, many friends.   These are not just people that knew him but truly many, many people he called friend; people he gave himself to in friendship; people he cared for; people he supported in work; people he gave his time to; people he went the extra mile for without a second thought; people who he touched by his gentle way and generous spirit.

If only we judged the measure of a person in this way, my brother was the most successful man many of us will ever have the privilege of knowing.

Jon and I, 1961

Jon and I, 1962

Jon, Kindergarden

 Summer fun, my dad, me and Jon

The rose between the thorns, me, Jon and our sister Barbara, circa 1962

 Crazy eyes or beer enhanced!

 Nephew Bill and Jon

Jon, Polar Bear Plunge, 2012

 Half brother Bill, Jon, Barbara and me, 2015

Jon and co-workers from Mannington Mills, 2016

Key West, 2018

Key West, May 2018

It has been hard to wrap my head around him not staying with me on his next trip north, not seeing him at holidays, not talking on the phone or just never seeing him ever again.

Jon deVries Dunn

10-17-1958  -- 5/28/2018

Ride on little brother