My friend Roger

This morning I emailed my friend Roger in New Jersey to ask him how goldfinches could change from drab grey to bright yellow in less than a week.  Roger in his later life became an amazing birder and photographer of birds, and I figured he would know.  I also asked him about Zillow, the real estate company.  I wanted to know how it worked, and I figured he could tell me, since he had been a realtor for most of his life.

At noon I got a call from his wife, and I had a bad feeling.  She said their daughter had read my email, and she wanted me to know that Roger had died last evening from heart-related issues.  

I met him my first year at Ursinus College, when he was a sophomore.  We lived in the same dorm for three years.  When I went to grad school at Penn State, Roger was an MBA student, and we were apartment mates.  We each had one daughter, and we kept in touch for the last 60 years, occasionally visiting and emailing.  

My father died when he was 91.  He said the hardest thing about getting old was seeing your friends die.  I had five really good friends from my Ursinus days.  I’ve lost touch with two of them, and the other three have died.  I didn’t see Roger that often, but I will miss him.