READER’S DIGEST
May• 2019 | 65dedicated people. There remained
nothing, really, for him to do.
He returned to the West Coast
to try to interest the networks in
turning the movie into a televi-
sion series. In the autumn of 1982,
Tom was hospitalised with acute
pneumonia complicated by a viral
infection. Several of his now-grown
boys f lew out to see him. Tom was
on a respirator, unable to speak.
Twenty-six-year-old Mark, the one-
time glue-sniffer turned respirato-
ry therapist, came – and his trained
eyes dimmed with tears.
TWELVE DAYSbefore Christmas,
Tom Butterfield died. The memorial
service was thronged with most of the
150 men and women who had passed
through our portals. In the first row
were Andy, now married and working
on a farm, and Dan, who cooks in a
restaurant and does volunteer work
with the elderly. Billy was there, too,
a married homeowner and well-paid
technician. Mike wasn’t there. He had
died in Vietnam.
After the scheduled remarks, the
minister asked if anyone else want-
ed to speak. Johnny Kates, now 31
and a minister, rose: “Soon after I
came to the farm, a couple of the
boys and I pinched a car and went
joy riding, not once but twice. We
wrecked one car. When the police
brought us back, Tom said we were
going to get the licking of our lives.
We did, but as he paddled us, tears
streamed down his face.
“I’ll always be grateful for the
home Tom gave me. I still feel part
of the farm. I can always go there
and feel good, because it’s my
home.” Johnny stepped back.
Then something happened that I
had never seen or heard of at a
memorial service: everybody stood
up and cheered.From Reader’s Digest,
November 1983HOLIDAY SNAPS ‘SEALED’ INSIDEScientists in New Zealand say they found a USB memory stick
containing holiday photos inside a frozen seal poo.
The scat, which is valuable for studying the health of leopard
seals, had been stored in a freezer for a year. However,
the stick was in good condition “considering where it had
come from”, said researchers.
REUTERS