Rest in Peace Dear Friend
Dennis Lubbes 9/4/2020
I met Dennis when we were both young men. It was a time of hope and opportunity. We were lucky in those days. We hit it off right away! I'll miss his happy go lucky voice. Bless his family in their time of loss. I had no chance to say so long. Gone like dust in the wind -
Dennis was a friend of Barret Tillman. Anyone who read Jeff Coopers column back in the day of magazines will remember Coop often referring to Mr. Tillman and his Buffalo Wallow shooting events. Dennis was a part of those epic times. He personally knew the guys from Credence Clearwater Revival. They were from Troy Oregon, same stomping ground as Dennis.
Remembering Who I was - Thanks to Dennis!
Story Time: One day, back in the fall of 1994 I went out into an apple orchard behind my house and sat down upon a stump. Just to be among the trees and breath the fall air. While sitting there in a mindless state I noticed a pickup drive by. Then it came back by and then again and slowed down. I thought "oh no, now what"? The fellow inside the truck asked: "Are you Jim Keating"? I answered with a YES. He said "Jim I'm Dennis your old friend, don't you recognize me'? And did not at first.
I explained I had been hurt. Lost most of my past, no memory. So he set about telling me who he was and who I had been. And how we were connected. Like a slow dawning of some kind began inside of me. As he talked a thousand pictures inside my brain began to take form where no form had existed for years. Faces, places, those times we had shared and so much more flooded my mind. Tears filled my eye's, the lost past had been reclaimed through the help of my friend Dennis Lubbes. All by chance - or perhaps not. All in all quite miraculous! I will always be indebted to him for this great gift of healing the rift in my world. Thanx bro -
From then on we kept in touch. We had our time again - this time as older men with families. No longer the single - wild young men of days past. Dammit - I already miss him, a empty place is now in my heart. This cannot be mended, Nor do I wish it to be. Adios Dear friend!
Vaya con dios - You did damn good! Thanx Dennis!
