And then it was Bellingham, WA (and a bit more about Bret our Seattle tour guide).
After our whistle stop tour of Seattle (thanks to Bret) Ann and I took yet another Trailways 'bus ride, this time to Bellingham, WA.
There we were to be the guests (sight unseen) of Les and Grace Nelson, upon the recommendation of their daughter Mary Ellen who I knew as a student at my Theological College, St. John's, Nottingham U.K.
Bellingham.
Ann and I were yet again feted with gracious hospitality.
The highpoint was when the Nelsons took us in their little boat to nearby Lummi Island.
What a gorgeous, semi-wild, and (then) unspoiled place. We loved it. Les and Grace made a barbecue one of the Island's wee beaches (just like the one above).
Ann and I, city folks to the core, could never have imagined a barbecue on a wee island off the coast of the State of Washington.
We savoured our hosts, the food, and the natural beauty. It was unforgettable. Oh how blessed and grateful we were.
Back to Bret.
He and I stayed in touch by mail, the more so when I came back to the U.S.A. in 1976 to serve a parish in Fitchburg, MA.
We thought that we might meet each other again and we did.
Not in the way either of us planned. In about 1979 he wrote to tell me that he was in Alaska; that he had been working on a fishing boat; that he'd been caught up in a fight on the boat; a fight in which he had stabbed and killed another crew member.
Bret had been found guilty of murder (or manslaughter), I cannot remember which.
By 1980 Bret was incarcerated in a Federal Corrections Institution in Englewood, Colorado.
FCI Englewood, CO.
As luck, faith, or God would have it I was in Denver on Church business in 1980.
I was able to visit Bret twice. It was then a low level security facility so we were able to meet face to face in a large and well lit room with comfortable tables and chairs. It was easy to talk to Bret and to pray with him.
We lost touch after 1980. By now he is probably in his late fifties, and has served his time.
I have no way of contacting him thirty eight years on. I hope that he is free, happy and surrounded by loving and faithful people.
I hope that so much.
There we were to be the guests (sight unseen) of Les and Grace Nelson, upon the recommendation of their daughter Mary Ellen who I knew as a student at my Theological College, St. John's, Nottingham U.K.
Bellingham.
Ann and I were yet again feted with gracious hospitality.
The highpoint was when the Nelsons took us in their little boat to nearby Lummi Island.
What a gorgeous, semi-wild, and (then) unspoiled place. We loved it. Les and Grace made a barbecue one of the Island's wee beaches (just like the one above).
Ann and I, city folks to the core, could never have imagined a barbecue on a wee island off the coast of the State of Washington.
We savoured our hosts, the food, and the natural beauty. It was unforgettable. Oh how blessed and grateful we were.
Back to Bret.
He and I stayed in touch by mail, the more so when I came back to the U.S.A. in 1976 to serve a parish in Fitchburg, MA.
We thought that we might meet each other again and we did.
Not in the way either of us planned. In about 1979 he wrote to tell me that he was in Alaska; that he had been working on a fishing boat; that he'd been caught up in a fight on the boat; a fight in which he had stabbed and killed another crew member.
Bret had been found guilty of murder (or manslaughter), I cannot remember which.
By 1980 Bret was incarcerated in a Federal Corrections Institution in Englewood, Colorado.
FCI Englewood, CO.
As luck, faith, or God would have it I was in Denver on Church business in 1980.
I was able to visit Bret twice. It was then a low level security facility so we were able to meet face to face in a large and well lit room with comfortable tables and chairs. It was easy to talk to Bret and to pray with him.
We lost touch after 1980. By now he is probably in his late fifties, and has served his time.
I have no way of contacting him thirty eight years on. I hope that he is free, happy and surrounded by loving and faithful people.
I hope that so much.
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