I love the White Hart. I am a single man (with very poor luck with girls, alas) who says to himself I need someplace I can go after work and maybe do more work or just socialize with random people. I was so happy when it reopened last Septemeber and am excited for the plans Abe has to expand and make it better. My point of this is I would meet random people some who would become good friends. One of those people is Earl Wilson. Earl went on to see the Jesus this past Sunday morning.
Earl started coming to the White Hart with Scott Fightmaster. They were both in rehab up the road for different reasons and had withstood temptation and defeated their addictions (with the Spirits help). They had become leaders in the rehab center and thus until they moved out would come down to have a cup of coffee and socialize and meet people. Specially Earl, Scott is a little more introverted.
Earl would always come and sit at the bar, the area I am almost always at. There we became close friends. I know he touched many lives with his personality and quick wit. I will in remembrance just list people at the end of people I am fairly sure he left and impact on. If I forget someone tell me and I will add them.
Earl when you first met him you would say he was a little femmi and as a hairdresser some at first would wonder if he was gay. Heavens no, Earl was a horney older man. He would always say something like if I was only younger about the young woman that would come into the hart, some of whom he would meet.
Earl had been a professional hairdresser in Virginia Beach most of his life. However he was a French American. His mother was a French lady whom a US soldier while based there seduced. They moved to the United States eventually. Earl had a dual citizenship. Earl has an older sister and two brothers. His father left early in his life so Earl was never close to him. His mother and his two brothers still live in VA Beach area, his sister I think live in Maryland.
He worked as a little kid in the docks in the Norfolk area (the air there was not watched and it is very likely that breathing in fumes of pollution and various chemicals brought about the cancer that led to Earls death. Earl eventually realized he like to cut hair, professionally, not at cost cutters. He owned his own Saloon, once with one of his former wives. Earl was married twice. He would always say he made wrong picks for wives, but he was at least blessed with one daughter.
Earl would always say he had made some bad decisions in life (such as the dismal marriages) and his addiction to liquor. He would then respond with despite bad choices, God still blessed him and took care of him. Earl was a Christian. He had been Roman Catholic most of his life. He would always mock the American version of the Roman Catholic church and how it was nothing like the one in France.
Earl was in rehab for liquor problems, some of what led to his divorces. He need to clean up and came to Lynchburg and with trust in Christ he was able to defeat it.
In the process of getting to know him and become a close friend with he was diagnosed with Lung Cancer. Earl was a smoker, always Menthol Pall Malls. However the doctors said his cancer was not due to the smoking but most likely chemicals he inhaled as a kid working in the shipyards. He eventually had to have one lung removed and went through chemo and radiation. They subdued the cancer, but did not stop it. When it started to flare up again, he refused to go through treatment, his words being I hated that chemo and God has blessed me with a good life so I will not fight God for my life. Scott whom he still lived with walked off to check some ice for Earl, when he came back Earl had stopped breathing while watching TV (on a TV I actually had loaned him). Scott is very hurt so pray for Scott as he is dealing with the Earls family (who from Earl I gathered are a little crazy).
In my friendship with Earl, we would have lunch almost every weekend. Sometimes it would just be me and him, other times some close friends would join us. I would pick Earl up and drive to Sheetz to get a carton of cigarettes then we would go to one of a few places. Sometimes I would take Earl somewhere else if he needed to run a particular errand. A couple of times Earl joined me at church. He like Redeemer Presbyterian because being a little formal some of the caticisms and stuff reminded him of the traditional catholic church, plus he said Mike was a great preacher. In the process we became close. We would make fun of Larry and Nickoli at Two Guys Coffee, talk about what at the White Hart needed to be fixed or changed, his honest opinion of different people we both knew as well as my thoughts on them, life in general such as the issues around the world or in the city of Lynchburg, his family issues, girls I was unsuccessfully interested in, my work, my life, just about anything. He had become a mix between a great uncle, godfather, much older brother and a very very trusted friends. There were things that I told him that very very few people know about me, my father was one of those people that knew all the little secrets.
For the other people Earl knew he just made a huge impact with his despite cancer and mistakes a positive look on his journey in life and his eventual life in the presence of Our Saviour. My father was the same way when he was approaching his death, thusly part of the reason I liked Earl so very much. I know many of you have stories and memories, please please feel free to share them in this blog.
So Earl has been called up by God, Earls time on Earth has come to an end. Earl left impacts on many of our lives. Earl developed friendship with many of us. I think this little town of Lynchburg was the best place for Earl to spend his last few years of life. I truly loved Earl and his friendship and our talks. I will miss him very very much as I know all of us will, just thanks God I have no doubt about where he is.
People to recognize Evan Camilleri, Dan Shevel, Asa, Ola, Meredith Hunt, Emily Graham, Kevin and Casey Knight, Elizabeth Hurt, Tim and Ben Patterson, Caleb and Aaron Turner, the Jonas families, Troy, Blake Reams, Abe Loper, Jeantter Beswick and Mitch Dalton, Grace Singletary, Jesse, Talyor and Sarah Thompson, Joshua Ross, Kendal Yoder, Mike McSherry, Patrick Rush, Stephen “Billy” and Mel Baker, the Chautas, John and Darcy Lancaster, Frank and Toni Bellone, Jilary Kline, Kayla Wilkins I know there are more and more, just tell me and I will add your name
