Thursdays With Willy
“So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they’re doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” – Morrie Schwartz, Tuesdays With Morrie
Hello Dear Friend,
After high school and throughout college I worked in a privately owned pharmacy where Thursdays became affectionately known as “Willy Days.” You see, Willy was this pharmacist that would come in once a week to give our boss the day off and Thursdays happened to be Willy’s days with us.
On Thursdays Willy was always the first to arrive, always. He would literally be in the parking lot sitting in his black Cherokee Jeep waiting for you every time. When he’d see you pull in beside him he’d greet you with a big ol’ smile and ask if you were the one with the key. If you weren’t then the two of you would wait for another scheduled employee to show up with key so that everyone could get in and get to work.
Willy loved the small stuff. He loved to smile, he loved food, siestas and ice cream but he also loved the important things in life like his wife and lifetime sweetheart June, their children, and the life they had built together. He loved to take their grandkids to school it morning since it gave him such great joy to see them off. He loved being a Gideon in his church and often mentioned having a Gideon meeting to had to hurry off to attend right after our shift. He loved the work that he did in the church and he definitely loved people. But most importantly, Willy loved God.
Willy lived his life out loud in every moment. He willing shared the love he had for his Father and the love God has for us. He always took a genuine interest in anything that you had to say and he always cheered for you when something good was happening in your life. He was always ready to share insight or give you advice if that’s what you were searching for. Other times he’d simply just laugh along with you as you shared your anecdotes with him. Willy really loved to laugh.
When Willy would smile or laugh he’d set the room on fire. He had this childlike way about him, sometimes his smile was a little mischievous and you knew he was up to no good. Of course half the time that may have been because we were pressing and encouraging him to partake in the pranks we would play on each other. To be honest, I always believed Willy remained a teenager at heart. There was always a part of him that reflected James Barrie’s character of Peter Pan. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Mr. Barrie based Peter Pan off of someone like Willy. Much like the Peter Pan character there was a part of Willy that never truly grew up. He was always seeing and appreciating the small treasures that God strategically placed out for him daily and he continuously embraced all that life had for him. Every adventure, every new experience and discovery – even his shortcomings, whatever, whenever, he always took it wearing a smile and ready for a good laugh living his life in the way most only dreamt of, happy and free.
Willy Buckner lost his battle with cancer in the winter of 2011 and on that day the world cried. Literally, the heavens opened up and showered us with buckets of raindrops as if God Himself were mourning what we had lost here on earth. Had he lived, he would have turned eighty that following summer. It was during that time, towards the end, that old age finally crept up on him and although his body grew to be more and more frail, his youthful spirit never died.
“Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.” – Ted Geisel, Dr. Seuss
I always smile when I think back on those days that I had with him. You could say he was like a surrogate grandparent to me since I grew up so far away from my own grandparents. Those days with him quickly became my favorite day of the workweek and I'll always cherish the times I got to spend with him, the conversations we shared and the memories we created. Those days with him were pretty special not just for me but for all of the pharmacy technicians he worked with. Laughter would fill our little pharmacy as he would tell us story after story from his past.
I remember we'd have to yell when talking to him because we were never sure if he'd turned his hearing aid back up or not after “listening” to a customer jabber to him over the phone. Week after week we'd take turns sliding up beside him to ask if he knew what time it was. A childlike smile would spread across his face and his eyes would twinkle in response and while his head would bob up and down he’d answer, “It’s time for ice cream.” Then he’d pull some cash out of his pocket and hand you enough to treat everyone working that shift as you grabbed a pen and paper to take everybody’s order, he’s say, “You know mine.” To which we'd immediately joke and answer, “Strawberry Sundae with nuts. Right?”, and give a wink to one of your coworkers. “No nuts!” he'd always say.
As weeks passed, more and more, we’d catch him sitting by our drive through window in the middle of a nap. I swear he could feel your eyes on him as his would immediately open and look up at you with a smile. When you’d asked, “What are you doing, Willy? Taking a siesta?” He’d smile and respond with a nod of the head as a yeah escaped his lips.
One of my favorite stories he told us was one about him and June. The story started out with him saying that he used to have to go to school on Saturdays, “But this one Saturday, I had a date with June so you know what I did?...” I shook my head no, urging him to go on, “I went to class but this room was on the ground level and it wasn’t like it is today. There were no bars on the windows or anything and it was a nice day so the windows were open. So, I’m sitting in my chair and as the teacher is calling role waiting for him to call my name. He said, ‘Buckner?’ and then I answered, ‘Here!’ and you know what I did after that?”
Again I shook my head no and asked, “What?!”
He responded with that famous Willy eye sparkle and laughter hanging in his voice, “I jumped out the window and went to meet June!” and with the last word he couldn’t contain his laughter any more as it roared throughout the room.
This is just a tiny glimpse of what my Thursdays with Willy looked like. Hopefully you’ve gotten a taste inside the kind of life that Willy led and what it was like to know him. Written in loving memory for my friend, Wilfred “Willy” Buckner, 07/09/31 – 03/23/11.
With love,
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