Goodbye Arnie, and angels come to greet you.

Dan, Erin, Shannon, and I had the sad task today of attending the funeral of an old TEC friend, Arnold (Arnie) Brucks. We had known Arnie for at least 20 years and have been on many TEC weekends with him. He was a great guy who had married later in life and he and his wife Barb had adopted two beautiful Chinese children. Barb was also Erin's boss at the NICU. Arnie had taken his son David to the Mizzou basketball game Tuesday night and close to the Arena, after the game, suffered a massive heart attack while driving home. The car went into a ravine but David was OK, he must have been strapped in. We heard about the accident the next morning on the news as we were getting ready for work. We heard the name Arnold Brucks and just went cold, hoping it wasn't our friend. But it turned out to be. Erin said his heart condition was undiagnosed, so this whole thing has been a terrible shock to his family and friends. The funeral today was in Boonville at a small funeral home. The turnout was enormous. We had to sit in an overflow room with the service projected on the wall from close circuit television. The staff were bringing out their own office chairs for people to sit in and there were still many people standing. Instead of flowers people were asked to donate to the children's college fund. It was a sad, sad day and the kind of thing that makes you want to ask God why? But all things come to good for those who trust in the Lord, so we pray for Arnie, for Barb and the children, and for us who have lost a friend and the example of this man who loved his family, his Church, and his Lord. May the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace, Amen.