It really is. Thank you, Chuck.
It’s extraordinary, and so sad, that his life resonates so much with Brokeback Mountain. But also beautiful that he found comfort from it.
But he died so young - I knew he wasn’t very old but hadn’t realised he was only in his early sixties...
Just reading these statements from John puts a lot more of his life in better perspective for me now. So thank you from me, too, Chuck.
Sara, what you said really hit home for me. I had been wondering how old John was, and this makes it clear that he wasn't that old at all. It's a shame that his illness took so much out of him so soon.
I've been thinking a lot about John during the past week. His words "I was more shy back then than I am now" resonate well, because even when I knew John, he was so quiet. I was just telling my sister about him in an email to her, and said that John was "quiet, kind, helpful, with a bashful smile." He didn't talk a lot, but he might sit in a corner listening, and you might not even know he was there because of the more boisterous conversations among other people, and then John would come out with a single sentence that let you know how well he'd been listening. Sometimes it was a dry, or wry, humorous statement, and there might be a twinkle in his eye.
I missed some of the early Brokie gatherings that Chuck mentioned, like Linda's (Auntie's) BBQ in Texas, and the Bay City gathering. Although I did see the recording of John and the rest of the band playing in Bay City, and from that, I especially remember Trish's singing. Guess John didn't have to say a lot when playing the piano, either.
I first met John at the Estes Park gathering, which took place over Memorial Day weekend, 2007. And I last saw him at the Tucson gathering, which I believe took place in 2016 (?), when we gathered to watch Brokeback Mountain on the big screen, during a film festival. Both times, I stayed at Mom's house in Denver before going to these gatherings....I drove her car to Estes Park, and I flew from Denver to Tucson on Southwest Airlines. Mom died in January, 2017, but I think she was still alive at the time of the Tucson gathering. In any case, what I wanted to say was that Mom knew of Bay City John. She knew about some of my other Forum/Diner friends, too, especially Chuck and Linda (she even talked to Linda on the phone once in 2007 when Linda called the house looking for me; and Chuck was the person I texted from the hospital just before Mom died), but Mom knew of John Trudell, or Bay City John. To her, he was "Telescope Man." That's because, as Chuck mentioned in his earlier post, John brought his telescope to Estes Park and set it up in the parking lot where we were staying, and showed me the amazing rings of Saturn.
That was just one example of John's kindness and caring, helping me to get adjusted to the telescope so that I could see through it properly. I also remember that at our last gathering in Tucson, I told a few people at breakfast about having seen something black on the floor before going to bed the night before, and it looked like either the electric cord for a cell phone charger, or possibly a scorpion, except I couldn't find it when I tried to look for it again. "It might have been a scorpion, down here," John said, rather seriously, although allowing for his dry sense of humor, I supposed it really hadn't been a scorpion. But I took it that he was trying to help me understand whatever the problem had been.
I saw John a number of times over the years, and he would tell me....very briefly....a little of his plans. I was so glad when he found a good job out in California. I was glad he stayed with the Forum in some capacity after he told me he was thinking of not being so active. Somewhere he gave me his work address north of San Francisco, but it never made it into my address book, so he wasn't on my Christmas card list. I'm sorry I never sent him a card when he was sick. But earlier this week, in looking for another number in my cell phone's Contact List, I did come across the phone number for John Trudell. I suppose it will be another one that I won't ever want to delete, along with the number for Jackie.
Just one more memory, and that is of Christmas 2007. I rarely went to visit family in Colorado at Christmas because it snowed so much that Mom didn't want to have to worry about out-of-town relatives flying in and then not being able to drive to Christmas dinner locally. So Linda invited me to come stay with her in San Bruno for Christmas, along with several other Brokies, and she cooked a delicious Christmas dinner, which I believe was a spiral ham. I stayed in her guest bedroom. Rob flew in, and I believe that John, Linda and I went to pick him up at the airport....probably the Oakland airport. Jimmy and Michael came to dinner. John was sleeping on Linda's couch in the living room. Some of the details are hazy by now, but I remember that I didn't bring any Christmas presents with me in my suitcase, flying across country. But the others did, and in particular I remember that John brought little Christmas presents for everyone. He did care about making people happy.
And that's how I'll always remember him.