Luke Jensen

     Yesterday afternoon the folks whose lives had been touched by Luke Jensen gathered to say farewell.  By ones or twos or threes we arrived at the Chinook Gym, eventually filling it to capacity.  We were a disparate group of all ages and from all walks of life.  Mostly, we were from the peninsula.  We were the proverbial “village’ that had participated in, and now celebrated, the life of our twenty-three-year-old fisherman neighbor.
     Among us were Luke’s teachers and schoolmates, the friends and colleagues and relatives of his parents and sister, his neighbors from ‘the hill’ where he grew up.  There were firemen and fishermen, house painters and storekeepers, a poet, a pharmacist, a lawyer, a librarian, secretaries and bakers and his nanny from long ago.  And so, so many young people – young men and women Luke’s age.
     Many of his friends spoke.  Their hands shook at bit, their voices broke with emotion, they were, perhaps, uncomfortable with the microphone.  But their love of Luke, their memories of crazy, funny, reassuring, and ‘felt like they would last forever’ times – those were clearly stated.  These ‘kids’ (wasn’t it just a bit ago that they had been first or second graders in my classroom?) easily expressed their love for Luke and for Luke’s family.  They spoke eloquently of the gratitude they felt for having been part of his life.  It felt like they spoke for us all.
     It was an unforgettable afternoon.  Incredibly, those who knew Luke best left us with a feeling of reassurance that Luke’s life, though much too short, had enriched us all – had made a difference.  He will forever be a part of our community and a part of who we all are, individually and together.  Fish on, Luke!