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Our Dear Friend Ollen Rogers
Dear friends,
This morning I learned that the man who drowned this week in Noonan's Lake was Ollen Rogers, one of the Home Van's dearest and oldest friends, from the first year we were out in the woods.
Ollen was born in Alachua General Hospital. He lived in this area for his whole life, except for his years of military service. For many years he worked for a carpet cleaning business, was married, and raised a child, his son Smokey. Like many veterans, he struggled with the disease of alcoholism. Alcohol hurt Ollen but it never kept him from being a kind, loving and caring man. He was universally known, out in the woods as "Pops" or "Dad" and the folks out there often said, "He is everyone's father."
Nonviolence was very important to Ollen. He told me that he grew up hunting and fishing, but after his military service was over, he set a goal to never again hurt another living creature. He told me it was something he prayed about every day.
Ollen was devoted to his son Smokey. When Smokey went to jail (for stealing copper wire from a demolition site) Ollen went to every court appearance, every visiting day, and worked day labor to make sure he had money to put into Smokey's canteen account. If there was no day labor ticket to be had, he would fly a sign, to make sure Smokey had some money.
About two years ago Smokey asked Ollen to stop drinking. From that moment on, Ollen enjoyed long periods of sobriety. He came to visit me about a month ago and he was sober, happy, and looking very healthy. He was out of the woods and had a job housesitting. From the newspaper accounts, it would appear that alcohol played a role in Ollen's death, but that's not the important thing. Whenever one of my friends is beating himself (or herself) up for falling off the wagon, I tell them that every sober day is a gift and an accomplishment. What is important is that Ollen, spurred on by his love for Smokey, worked very hard at staying sober during the last two years of his life, and succeeded for most of those years.
The Home Van is having a memorial service for our beloved Ollen on Thursday, July 2 in the downtown plaza at 6 p.m. Please join us to honor this wonderful man, who was both a veteran and a man of peace.
arupa
This morning I learned that the man who drowned this week in Noonan's Lake was Ollen Rogers, one of the Home Van's dearest and oldest friends, from the first year we were out in the woods.
Ollen was born in Alachua General Hospital. He lived in this area for his whole life, except for his years of military service. For many years he worked for a carpet cleaning business, was married, and raised a child, his son Smokey. Like many veterans, he struggled with the disease of alcoholism. Alcohol hurt Ollen but it never kept him from being a kind, loving and caring man. He was universally known, out in the woods as "Pops" or "Dad" and the folks out there often said, "He is everyone's father."
Nonviolence was very important to Ollen. He told me that he grew up hunting and fishing, but after his military service was over, he set a goal to never again hurt another living creature. He told me it was something he prayed about every day.
Ollen was devoted to his son Smokey. When Smokey went to jail (for stealing copper wire from a demolition site) Ollen went to every court appearance, every visiting day, and worked day labor to make sure he had money to put into Smokey's canteen account. If there was no day labor ticket to be had, he would fly a sign, to make sure Smokey had some money.
About two years ago Smokey asked Ollen to stop drinking. From that moment on, Ollen enjoyed long periods of sobriety. He came to visit me about a month ago and he was sober, happy, and looking very healthy. He was out of the woods and had a job housesitting. From the newspaper accounts, it would appear that alcohol played a role in Ollen's death, but that's not the important thing. Whenever one of my friends is beating himself (or herself) up for falling off the wagon, I tell them that every sober day is a gift and an accomplishment. What is important is that Ollen, spurred on by his love for Smokey, worked very hard at staying sober during the last two years of his life, and succeeded for most of those years.
The Home Van is having a memorial service for our beloved Ollen on Thursday, July 2 in the downtown plaza at 6 p.m. Please join us to honor this wonderful man, who was both a veteran and a man of peace.
arupa
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