An Old Friend

I have been in the work force full time for about twenty eight years and I have met so many people in that time. I have heard their stories and listened to their plans for the weekend. As programmers, we have to rely on each other probably more than some. We get called at 3 am and have to figure out complicated code. If we can't figure it out, we call our co-workers. If we are sick and can't get to the phone, we call our co-workers. And they call us when it is their turn. One of the guys that I worked with for over ten years died last weekend.

Jerry had a Harley in his parking spot and an Elvis clock in his cube. He always had a joke or a story, but he wouldn't always tell me punch line, if he thought it was too off color. He was what they call a 'character'. We would trade good natured zings at each other, and laugh... a lot. He was like the little brother that I never had, even though he was actually older than me, always ready to tease me like little brother's do. He sometimes would get on my nerves. I'm sure I sometimes got on his nerves too. There is not much privacy in our cube environment.

He was a 'good programmer', which is high praise in my circle. He and I were the only ones that could decipher ARD140, a monster of a program, with unintelligible field names and spaghetti code. If this program went down, I didn't have the luxury to wait till I'd had my morning coffee and a clear mind to fix it. I sometimes called Jerry. He sometimes would call me.

Jerry worked hard, met his deadlines, and wrote his lines of code. He also had a problem with alcohol. He had a couple DUI's and had to get a ride to work for awhile. People tried to help him, tried to talk to him. He seemed to do better. He seemed to be ok. He came to work everyday, year after year. He remodeled his house, went to Sturgess every year. He saved his money faithfully and was able to retire 'early'. He was so excited to be out of the race! But, without work as his anchor, Jerry seemed to struggle more and more. A while ago I heard that he had fallen and was really hurt. He had to be hospitalized and go thru physical therapy. Then, last week I heard that he was gone. I don't know what the cause of death was. It doesn't really matter. I am sad. He was a good programmer... and a good guy.