Rising to a Higher Level

I had meant to write sooner, but life has a way of getting busy, so here I am, better later than never! The day before Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to attend a funeral of an individual whom I met a couple weeks earlier while helping Daniel make some financial decisions related to his job. At age 48 Claye Robb died at the scene of a pedestrian-auto accident. He had just been called into our Stake Presidency a couple weeks before that, prior Young Men's President and predominant organizer of our Stake's Youth Trek to Martin's Cove a year earlier, and so I knew him from a distance. He was a financial specialist, but he was more than that, which became apparent after my two short interviews with him. As I poured over financial paperwork at home that he had given us and returned with questions the next day, he not only answered my questions, but in doing so indicated to me that I had a very analytical mind and was quite adept at the subject at hand. Of course I was---I had studied and researched it for a solid day and night, desiring to help Daniel make the best decisions regarding the choices at hand. Upon my departure, as he walked me through the network of secretarial desks to to doorway, he made one last comment something like this: "You be sure to tell that son of yours that he is fortunate to have a Mom that is educated in these matters and willing to spend time on her son's behalf." Daniel was working 5 or 6 12-hour days per week at that time!! Well now, you know that comment was totally unexpected and I walked to my vehicle just beaming, feeling very accomplished and recognized for the work I had put into this endeavor. In the course of our financial discussions he had even asked how Deanna was doing---he evidently knew she was our daughter and was inquiring about her recent marriage! Claye Robb loved his wife and 4 daughters dearly, as well as his only granddaughter. He loved the individuals in the community in which he worked. He loved the girls on his softball teams over the years. He was genuine. He was a humble man. He was a gentle man. He had a way of uplifting those he came into contact with in insignificant, common everyday situations. It was just the way he lived life. As I walked through the endless line at his viewing and spoke of the goodness of their father to one of the older children, she stated through her tears, "That's the way he was with everyone." You don't meet many really great people during a lifetime. Claye Robb was a really great individual. My brief encounter with him serves as an example to me regarding how I can interact with individuals in my life in a more Christ-like way. It is my feeling that Claye Robb was called to a greater work in the next life and he will be reunited with his loved ones at some point in the future, his Spirit lingering near them in their times of need while yet upon this Earth. It is my prayer that the young lady driving the vehicle that went out of control that night might gain that inner Peace that comes from knowing that in the Garden of Gethsemane Christ suffered her pain that she might be healed and go on to live an exemplary life, as well. It is my prayer that we all might become better people and strive to live exemplary lives patterned after our Savior, Jesus the Christ.