Outside Reading #2(Forestry News)--Meredith Elliott

Recently, a great friend of mines dad died in a freak accident. He was driving to help his broken down sister-in-law when a huge piece of scrap metal came through the windshield of his truck hitting him in the head which made him brain dead with no chance of ever coming out of the coma. I’m from a very small Southern Virginia town where everyone knows everyone so his death was a very big deal. However, I’m a huge Google fan and was looking up things about him the other day and found an edition of Forestry News dedicated to him. This entire article was around “a greater love hath no man than” Alex Williamson.
In the article it stated that, “A greater love hath no man than Alex Williamson for his family as a husband, father and brother”. This section did nothing but talk about the importance his family had on his life. It also talked about how important God was in his life saying, “A greater love hath no man than Alex Williamson for God”. The author goes on to describe how before every meal, Mr. Williamson would bow his head to thank god for everything he has been given. Even if they were on a tailgate, Mr. Williamson would always stop to pray before he ate.
The next section discussed was, “A greater love hath no man than Alex Williamson for his country”. Mr. Williamson served in the armed forces and went over to Asia, but would never discuss what exactly he witnessed over there. However, he was a patriot and was proud to be from the United States of America. Following this it said, “A greater love hath no man than Alex Williamson for the Virginia Department of Forestry”. Mr. Williamson served thirty plus years and was the chief forest warden.
This isn’t all the article went onto discuss. There was much more and although this is not like any other outside reading response I found it important to discuss. How amazing is it that he got his own edition in memory of him? Although his family and friends mourn for his loss this would definitely show how special Mr. Williamson was to the community, to the United States, to his family, to the fire department, to EVERYTHING. Death is an awful thing, possibly even one of the scariest things, but with things like this reminding his family that he will never be forgotten makes it a little easier. Mr. Williamson was a great man and I’m truly glad they made this edition as a reminder that there still are many great people contributing to this place we call home. Halifax County will never be the same without him.