Who Was Doug?

   While looking at my "On This Day" feature on Facebook yesterday, I ran into a cryptic post from about seven years ago. It said, "RIP Doug". The only other additional information I had was that I posted it a 10:37 AM.  There were no comments and no reactions.
   I made a few deductions from this post. Doug had obviously passed away and was someone I knew well enough to remember him. The lack of comments or reactions meant that he was not a public figure or someone known to any of my social media contacts.
  Who was he? I tried to remember who I knew named Doug. No one came to mind.
   It was a little sad. The situation reminded me of some pictures that I found once at my parents' house. Someone has thought enough to take the picture. No one wrote the names of the people on the back. I had no idea who they were. They are sort of lost in eternity.
   I wrote a Facebook post about Doug and being unable to remember who he was. I mentioned that I felt bad about it. Later that day my friend, Mandy, commented. She asked if he was the little person who worked in my pharmacy.
   Something clicked. Yes. Doug was a relief pharmacist that worked with me once. He was an excellent pharmacist despite that challenge of being a little person in a pharmacy not set up for one with such challenges. I do remember that I heard that he had passed away a few months after I met him. I also remember that I had written about him in this column.
   I looked in the archives and sure enough, there he was. I had written about the first time I met him and I also wrote about him when he passed away. I had learned of his passing from an email sent by the scheduler. From this, I found his obituary where my eyes were opened. He was more than just a pharmacist. He was a professional actor and had started a children's theatre in his hometown. He was also an artist working in several kinds of media. He sang in the church choir.
  He had significant health challenges. Childhood kidney disease eventually caused him to require a kidney transplant. According to what I wrote in 2011, he had had four transplants.
   I was glad that I had found that information. He's no longer a cryptic post from several years ago. A name has been put on the picture. I wrote another post on Facebook about how I had now discovered his identity and gave Mandy credit for her help.
   At the end of the post I wrote about Doug yesterday I wrote, "I'm glad I remembered him then, I wish I could remember him now..." I do remember you, Doug. Wind to thy wings.....