Goodbye Doug

I was sifting through the emails at work when I found a memorial notice from the scheduler. I see these once in a great while when someone in the pharmacy division or a close relative of someone in the pharmacy division dies. I opened it up to see who it was and if it was someone I knew. I read the name and was taken aback. I double check to make sure I had read what I had really read. Sure enough, it was the right name, Douglas Sander. I know him, not real well but I know him. He was the pharmacist who came to help out in January when my boss went on vacation. You know him too, I wrote about him in January. I felt myself tearing up a bit. He wasn't that old and he looked perfectly healthy. The last time I saw him he was doing well and seemed happy. Now he's gone, what could have happened? I looked online and found his obituary. There were many surprises there. He developed kidney disease at age 10 and had undergone not one, but four kidney transplants. I also learned that besides his pharmacy degree he also had degrees in communications and business. He was also an actor. Not just a community theatre actor, he was a full fledged member of the Screen Actors Guild and also started a children's theatre in his hometown in North Dakota. I would never have guessed that of him. As gutsy as I thought him to be for working in retail pharmacy, working as an actor takes even more courage. It's a precarious career for a normal sized person and even more so for a little person with significant health issues. Doug was also creative in other ways too. His obituary mentioned that he made pottery, jewelry and glasswork. He belonged to a local arts association. He also sang in a church choir.

Obviously he was much more than he seemed.

Wind to thy wings, Doug. Wind to thy wings......