May 19, 2020

I’ve gone to look for America.

We lost a wonderful friend on Friday.  Frank Epple was coming in to the deli before I started working here twenty years ago.  He would sit at the first table on the right of the dining room every morning and drink his coffee and eat his rye toast with liquid butter.  He knew exactly how many seconds the toast needed to be on the grill for it to be perfect.  Goofball.  Read the morning sun, I’m pretty sure every word of every article.  That was how he started the day.

Frank would talk to anyone about anything at anytime.  Was seldom wrong, but never made you feel that he was pushing his ideals or values on you.  He was always there to offer advice and guidance, friendship to others was a core character trait.  I cannot tell you how many Max and Emily’s staffers would sit with him over the years and become friends.  He was family.

Frank was a pilot and had a little four or six seat plane at the airport here in town.  He would take various member of the staff up for a plane ride every once in a while.  Took me a few times, always showing and teaching what he was doing, he was a good teacher.  Alisha, Anna, and Crystal all went up with him back in the day.  They all had a very special friendship with him.  Frank exemplified what it meant to us to have a guest vs a customer.  He was a wonderful human, kind to everyone he met.  I will miss seeing him out front working on sudoku, talking life to Dave, enjoying his time on earth.

Thanks for being a part of life on earth Frank.  It was better here because of you.

Today’s quote comes from my friend Paul.  

When you’re weary, feeling small

When tears are in your eyes, I’ll dry them all

I’m on your side, when times get rough

And friends just can’t be found.

Like a bridge over troubled water

I will lay me down.