A Touch of Nature

On Sunday afternoon, in Catonsville  Maryland, a small group gathered to dedicate a bench that will be placed along the nature trail at Charlestown Retirement Community. It will be located near the stream and in view of a covered bridge.

A group of residents raised the funds for the bench to honor my late father-in-law, Sam McCready, in gratitude for the numerous performances he had given at Charlestown.

 

Sam’s love of nature was well known to them. They included this quote from Shakespeare in the inscription:

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.

We were told that this is the first memorial dedication ever made for someone who wasn’t a member of the Charlestown Community. These residents felt such a connection with Sam and his gifts of acting and music and his desire to share them at Charlestown that, in a sense, they adopted him as one of their own.

It is so hard to lose someone that you love. On Sunday Sam’s family gathered with some very generous and kind-hearted people to visit that loss again. Yet the moment was leavened by the knowledge that others knew “our Sam” and loved him. And felt his loss keenly enough to make a place in his honor.

Many thanks to all who made this moment and the memorial possible.