Harley’s Crosses

Dan Kunz

The legions of saints added another member a few days ago.  My dear friend, Harley, passed away.  He was an 88-year-old widower who split time between Wisconsin and Florida.  He and his brother owned an excavating and house moving company at one time.  He was a very faithful Christian, rarely missing a Sunday or Thursday church service.  He and his wife had three children and a number of grandchildren.  To the casual observer, Harley appeared to be a pretty normal guy, but he was an exceptional person in many respects.

Harley and his wife, who passed away a few years ago from pancreatic cancer, traveled more than anybody I ever met.  There were very few places in the world they didn’t visit.  A regular attendee of our Friday morning men’s Bible Study, Harley would often interject a story about a remote country where they saw or did something which had a connection to our discussion.  Like his beloved wife, Carol, Harley was also diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  That particular type of cancer is usually fast-acting and fatal.  Again, Harley was exceptional.  He was diagnosed more than five years ago!  The chances of living that long with that diagnosis are very rare indeed.  Even more than five years later, he still had to undergo periodic treatments but was “beating the odds” daily!  With a name like Harley, a lot of people questioned whether or not he owned one.  He did.  He was still riding it on a regular basis until just a few years ago.  At that time, he decided riding his “hog” was getting to be a bit much, so he traded it in on a Can Am, a three-wheeled motorcycle which is a little easier to drive.  Not many people are still riding well into their 80’s.  Harley had one more habit which made him exceptional, though.

Handmade, small wooden crosses were Harley’s specialty.  He made them with the name, “Jesus”, as part of the design.  They weren’t necessarily works of art, but they were made with love.  Almost everywhere he went, Harely struck up conversations with people about Jesus, and, at the end of the conversation, Harley would invariably gift them one of his crosses. No doubt hundreds of people in western Wisconsin and central Florida own one of those “witness pieces” which Harley created.  In the last few years, because of his failing mobility, he often drove to Riverside Park in La Crosse and spent time walking along the Mississippi River and sharing Jesus with anyone he met or with whom he shared a park bench.  With his easygoing ways and his boyish smile, he made a lot of friends, but more importantly he witnessed, again and again and again.

Most people are lucky to meet one or two people in their lives like Harley.  He didn’t aim to be a role model, I’m sure, but he was one, nonetheless.  The Apostle Paul gave advice for people of all ages in the book of Titus, including older men.  Titus 2:2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.  Harley was just such an older man, exceptional in so many ways, but especially in sharing his faith.  Now he’s experiencing all the joys of that home which his beloved Jesus won for him and shares with him.  You can tell everyone Jesus has a Harley!  See you on the other side, my friend…