One of the Best Men I EVER Have Known

I have hesitated to write this because it sounds more eulogistic than it is meant to. I just think it’s important to send flowers BEFORE and not as important after.

Further down in this blog is a dissertation on ages of life. This relates to that.

Earl H Redlin is in late life. We are all going to end up there. And, in this age he is struggling with health issues many of us will face. I pray for him. God’s will is going to be done. It always is and it’s always good. It’s not always in line with our will but it’s always good. In that we can take ultimate comfort.

Earl H Redlin is one of the best men I have ever known or loved. He has been a protector to me and my brother and sister in a time of need. He has provided a strong symbol of strength for decades. He has stood for and with those in difficult circumstances. In my mind’s eye is a strong handsome man upright and confident in his resolve to do the correct thing. He will always be.

Here are just a very few of the things I remember him best for:

• As Mayor of Ellendale he took mass criticism, even hatred for doing what was right
• Running for Governor of ND he made accurate and unpopular statements about the state of monopoly agriculture that cost him support. He since was proven correct. I do my best to carry on the tradition of speaking the truth even when it’s unpopular.
• Earl made much of his living doing right deals at the right time. It’s a reassurance that when lesser men were trying to stretch their social security check he was providing for his family by working to 80 yrs old. If he had been able to he would have gone longer.
• When he didn’t have to he invited my siblings and me into his family and treated us with respect and support thru what were difficult years for everyone. He provided the parenting we lost when our folks were killed in 1959.
• He encouraged all of us to reach hard for our potential. He did more. He led the way.
• I watched carefully as he nurtured his ailing son John for years of illness born of Diabetes to the day John died. That said more than words as to the kind of man he really is.
• He has faced his own difficulties in these late life years with humor and grace. When others might have complained, he has stood firm and strong.
• He has been the stability in his family’s life. I guess you expect that but he has done it without imposing his own will or influence above what a loving father would bring.

The world is a better place for his time on it. He is leaving a legacy of making the woodpile higher than he found it. He has paved a path many of us travel in big footprints worthy of imitation.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then my flattery has been disguised as love and admiration of one of the best men I ever know.

Earl H Redlin