“Something Saintly”

He was an ordinary man, on many counts: a husband, a father, a former Vietnam pilot. He worked his farm in Nokesville, VA, and gave hayrides to the local kids and built bonfires every fall; he coached soccer and basketball at my high school and laid the floor of our first real gym, which doubled as an auditorium and chapel. When there was a time of suffering in the community, he stood on that floor and led the community in prayer. And, morning after morning, he knelt in one of the back pews of the parish church, with Joseph, his son who has Down Syndrome, praying (and smiling and squirming) by his side.

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