Passages: Steve Lester

Though the format for these pieces is the most personal form of writing—daily journal entries or reflections on the events or thoughts of the day—they're usually less personal than that. When possible, I try to make them relate to Blacklick Valley and share place names and perhaps experiences most of us on the list for these postcards can visualize or otherwise relate to. Today, however, and perhaps several more days, I'll be more personal. Sad and unexpected news received on getting home from work Monday edges out all other topics to lead me to share some comments on a lost friend.

A valued friend, Steve Lester, died early Monday morning of complications of heart transplant surgery last year.

...After leaving my nearly 20-year career in youth and campus ministry in 1984, Steve, without knowing many particulars of my background, found and pulled me out of my psychological gutter, dusted me off and set me on the way to most of the permutations my writing/teaching career has taken since then. I was 42 in 1984 and Steve was in his late '20's, a very ambitious and bright young man who had told his wife (who was close to my age), that his goal was to make his first million dollars by age 30. I remember that because Meera (his wife), told me that to explain the slight signs of depression he showed at turning 30.

I first met Meera as a student in a night class on writing for publication I was teaching through the nearby community college, and through that acquaintance I was offered a bit of work with her and Steve in their typesetting business. I then owned a typesetting business that brought in part-time income, one of an interesting mix of pursuits and experiences we shared. Before I met them, the Lesters had published a San Jose-area entertainment magazine for a while; I had done a similar magazine from Stanford University. Both they, and I, got into typesetting to support our publishing "habits." When I told the class in which Meera was an eager student that I had a dream of building a writers' association in the Bay Area and was putting out a fledging Bay Area Writers Newsletter, she relayed that information to Steve and subsequently he launched the Writers Connection and hired me to my first full-time salaried position in more than 15 years*, to be its director and editor of its nationally circulated newsletter.

Obviously, these reflections are only getting started and the postcard is full, so I'll continue tomorrow.

—Webmaster Jon Kennedy

*In those years I had been in a campus ministry supported by free-will contributions. We took no salary all those years, but the ministry provided our housing and other necessities.

"Old is when" (third of three)

. . ."Getting a little action" means I don't need to take any fiber today.

. . . "Getting lucky" means you find your car in the parking lot.

. . .An "all nighter" means not getting up to pee.

—Sent by Trudy Myers

Judging

A man looked at some pictures in a famous gallery and said, "I don't think much of these pictures." The reply of the attendant: "Excuse me, sir, the pictures are not on trial." The people who viewed them were! Jesus is not on trial now. We judge ourselves by our judgment of Him.

—Anthony Coniaris
Daily Vitamins for Spiritual Growth

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