I Didn’t Even Know His Name [Confession]

As a radio announcer, we attend several events throughout the year.  Think about it: festivals, Mardi Gras, sporting events, fundraisers, concerts - the list goes on.

At most of those events, we work with others: usually, there is a security/police presence, medical/ambulance, vendors, listeners, co-workers, etc; so many times through the years we see the same faces.

My problem is this: I have a hard time remembering names and, sometimes, even remembering where I know someone from.  I've even met up with relatives in the grocery store, and I've had to ask "where do I know you from".  Yes, it is sometimes that bad.

Where am I going with this?  Well, here it is:  I know that I need to work harder at remembering names.  That really hit home last night while I was looking at Facebook and I saw this post from Tra Sims:

When I saw the picture, my heart sank.  Even though I didn't know his name, I recognized his face right away: he used to work for Acadian Ambulance, and he was a Lafayette Parish sheriff's deputy.

16 years ago (or so), while working for the Louisiana Icegators, he checked me out after I (zigged when I should have zagged and) got run over by a hockey player.  I was fine, a little knot on my head, but everything was OK.  He joked with me about it almost every time I saw him after that incident.

Though I didn't know his name, I would see him at other games, Mardi Gras, other Cajundome functions, etc.  In all, I'd been seeing him around for 20 years, and I didn't even know his name.

Reading through his timeline, I scrolled back to last year, around the time he passed away.  The number of people posting, and the heart-warming stories they all shared, made me realize that it was my loss that I never learned his name.  I was always "busy", or had to "get to work", and didn't take time to get to know him.  I never even learned his name, and, yes, I am embarrassed.

His name was Keith Fargo, and he had a fatal heart attack while driving in Texas on August 12, 2014.   He left a wife and a child behind and, from what I've gathered from the Facebook posts I've found, many friends.

He was VERY good at fixing things, and excelled at everything he did.  He was well-respected by his peers, co-workers and family members.  He was a true family man, and took care of them first and foremost.  I learned all of this from reading the posts on Facebook and by reading his obituary, which I found online; I should have learned these things from taking time to get to know him.

I guess my point to telling you all this is that I, for one, need to take more time to be a friend.  Every evening before leaving work for the day I remind you to "tell someone you love them before it's too late"; I need to practice what I preach, and that starts with taking time.

I want to thank his wife, Rhonda, for allowing me to post this.  I reached out to her today, and when I was asking her blessing to post this, she replied with these words:

My biggest fear is that people will forget Keith, and I don't want that to happen. He was an incredible person. Loved to play pranks on people. But he mostly loved helping others whenever and however he could. - Rhonda Fargo

Kids, we are all going to die - every one of us; we just don't know when.  Let's take time to know one another.