Saturday, April 6, 2013

Chaplains Corner - March 2013


On Monday, March 4, 2013, Rich Cobbs, SF member of our chapter, died after a short illness that came on suddenly. Pete sent out three emails and made an announcement at our March meeting with a call to the membership to attend to show our honor, loyalty and support to a fellow SF and chapter member and to his wife and family.

Pete, Steve Franzoni and his wife and I showed up because of our positions and our personal loyalty and support. Greg Brown, Sam Morgan and Ben Frias were there representing our general membership and to show their personal loyalty to Rich Cobbs and support of the family in their grief. Maybe some of you didn’t attend because you hardly knew Rich, who came to our meetings and sat quietly with a few members who shared their table with him at the after meeting lunch. This is where I got to know Rich on a personal basis when I joined him and Ben Frias at their table. After a few minutes of exchange of pleasantries Rich told me how much he appreciated my newsletter articles. He told me that my articles explained the Christian faith clearly and succinctly. He told me that after reading my articles, he was prepared to die because he knew that he would spending eternity with God, Jesus, family and friends.

In retrospect, I felt honored to have ministered to his needs for clarity and certainty assurance of spending eternity with God. As I sat there in the Scottsdale Baptist Church, I felt honored to show my respect and appreciation for Rich as a Christian and for his service to God and Country as a Special Forces Captain with 5th SF Group in Vietnam.

I hope that when a fellow or family member of our SFA IX dies that more of you will give a higher priority to your time and effort to show your personal loyalty and respect for our deceased member and support for his family. I left the Memorial Service feeling honored to have known Rich Cobbs and for the privilege to show my respect by attending his Memorial Service. I hope to see more of you at the next Memorial and/or Graveside Service.

Chaplain John

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