Mark Graham died yesterday morning. Mark was my neighbor who lived upstairs over there. He was fifty, single, and a graduate of my old high school. I knew Mark less than three years.

About a year ago Mark presented with colon cancer and it was pretty well advanced. He had many bouts of radiation and chemotherapy, but it only made his suffering worse.

(Why, when cancer shows up in advanced form, do the medical people insist on making the suffering worse by irradiating the patient and suffusing the patient with lethal chemicals?)

All winter I would awaken on snowy mornings to the sound of Mark's shovel scraping off the sidewalks. He always did mine so early that I couldn't get out to do it myself.

Mark had to go into the Medicaid system. That meant he could not work or earn any money. He was an electrician, and the fact that he was not allowed to earn any cash drove him to do things like scrape the snow off the walks.

Mark was catholic. He walked up the hill to St. Mary's every morning to do what you do in the church when you are asking for divine intervention. The cancer showed up in Mark's brain, lymphic system and other places.

Eventually, Mark couldn't make the walk, or even drive his old beat-up pickup truck. So as the cancer had spread, about a month ago Mark was moved over to St. Francis home where he could be cared for. He asked if I would care for his small plot of tomatoes, bell peppers and carrots. I said I would.

The notice in this morning's paper was the short one. Funeral arrangements are pending. I believe tomorrow will be the visitation at a funeral home, but it did read that the services are on Friday at St. Joseph's.

I will go to both to say goodbye to him.

Now he doesn't suffer. He is with the Lord to whom he prayed for help. I am sure he doesn't care about the snow, or the garden, or the old beat-up pickup truck any more.

I will miss that sound come winter snows. Every time I pick up the shovel I will think alot about Mark Graham.

Bless his soul.